So for context I breastfed my 9 year old son back in the day for 18 months, I now have an 8 week old boy. With my son my body refused to lose any weight. It was only after I stopped breastfeeding that I started to lose weight.

I thought this time around id try harder and that maybe last time I was just lazy.

WRONG.

Im constantly hungry and i crave terrible things all day. Its like being pregnant on steroids. Yeah you burn an extra 500 calories/day or whatever, but i probably eat like an extra 1000-1500, not even kidding. I dont bother keeping track because I know its bad lol. Today was the first day I tried "dieting", and by that I just mean eating healthy and within normal limits, slightly higher. I am embarrassed to say that im still hungry.

It doesnt go away. Please tell me that im not alone, lol.

My baby is 4 weeks old and when I pump I usually get around 1-2 oz. I’ve heard of hydrating more, power pumping, pumping after ever feed, and so many other option. What worked for you? Would ask my counselor but she never responds lol

Well I didn't realize weaning would feel this way.

I have an almost 3 year old that I'm now weaning slowly because we are trying for a second. It was only around sleep anyway but... Ya.

She's handling it great. She fusses a bit but is easily distracted. She does ask about boobie throughout the day and I let her hold them, play with them, etc so that she can make her peace in her own way.

It never hit me how much this would be the end of a bond tho. Not a mom-daughter bond because that will never go away, I know. But a special kind of connection.

I remember right after she was born, I felt sadness because I knew she would never be as close to me ever again, as she was when she was inside of me. Her movements and kicks were my favorite part of pregnancy. I still remember those sensations.

Now this feels like another connection, physical one, that is fading away.

And I know this is a part of parenthood. They slowly separate from us. But man it's so real. Never again will I lay with her on the couch, with her nestled into my boobs, she in her eternal bliss with boob, me in mine with her cuddled into me as I watch my favorite show.

Cuddling and hugging her is fantastic, don't get me wrong. But it just isn't the same.. (thanks breastfeeding hormones..)

Idk. I'm hoping someone will understand and I'll feel some solidarity and validation. Feelings are tough.

❤️

Hi fellow BFers, I’ve been nursing my daughter (14mos) since she was born. I started weaning at 12 months and took a feed away every 2 weeks or so. I’m now down to 1 feed at night before bed, which I would like to continue as long as it’s working for both of us. I have crushing fatigue lately and believe it’s related to weaning. I also have stronger waves of anxiety and sometimes rage, which I also think is related.

My question is - is nursing once a night prolonging this period where I feel super tired and anxious? As much as I love nursing her, I’d rather just wean all the way than feel this way any longer. But I’m not sure it will help to stop nursing either. Anyone have experience with this? TIA!

FYI in case relevant: 23 days ago, I got my period for the first time since she was born, and I just got it again today.

I’d love to hear from other parents’ real-life experiences! I’ll also ask our pediatrician at our upcoming appointment.

My baby is almost 4 months old and has been exclusively breastfed. We’ve recently gotten more consistent with bottles of expressed milk, but I’m unsure how much he should be taking. Google says 3–5 oz, which lines up with what he’s transferred during weighted feeds at my hospital’s breastfeeding support group.

He has a mild tongue tie that makes bottle-feeding hard work, and although he’s improving with practice, he seems to tire after 3 oz. But then he seems hungry again sooner afterward.

Should I stick with 3 oz until bottle-feeding gets easier, then gradually increase? I hate wasting breast milk when he doesn’t finish a bottle within the 2-hour window.

Hopefully that makes sense! 😅

Hi all - FTM to a one month old. Baby girl was born 2-3 weeks early emergency cesarían. From very beginning had a hard time latching onto me, and all LCs said it’s due to her being so small; it’ll take time just keep practicing. To make sure she was fed, I pumped and we gave her syringes and bottles.

Fast forward to now, she’s been taking expressed milk in bottles only; we specifically are using the slowest flow nipples for the EvenFlo Wide neck glass bottles so she’d get used to a slow flow and bigger nipple in her mouth.

She’s also been able to latch onto me and suckle, but yet to fully suck and draw milk for a full mouthful. She gets frustrated and starts to cry which then makes relatching her to continue nursing even harder.

Does anyone have any tips to get baby to suck? I have a good supply, she’s a good eater, and she can drink from the bottle no problem. I just don’t know how to get her to drink from the tap (aka my breast).

Basically the title. We have started watching wake windows, have a predictable bedtime routine, and she nurses on demand during the day. I’ve resorted to co sleeping because I honestly was not okay mentally getting up that often with her. My husband works nights and is not available to help at all and she doesn’t take a pacifier. Most of the time when she’s waking she’s not eating for long just seems to need that to go back to sleep. Any other moms experiencing this with their BF baby? Anything that helped?

9 weeks into breastfeeding and JUST when I think I’ve got it, something new comes up. First my baby wouldn’t latch because we had introduced bottles too early. Then we went to a lactation consultation and we tried some other positions and he latched for a few days. By the second week, he stopped again and would only latch on for like 2-3 minutes before becoming frustrated. Then he went on a nursing strike for a couple days so I did another virtual LC and tried the football hold again which had him latching for a couple minutes for ONE DAY. Then I decided to catch him with the dreamfeeds which was working! Now we only give bottles at night but he still gets frustrated. I realized somewhere along the way that I had a fast letdown so he would get overwhelmed and pop off so I started pumping a bit beforehand and it has been helpful. Now I’m suspecting he has a high arch and my breasts are huge but my nipples are not so I think he gets frustrated with that. I’m just tired and ultimately want us to get to a place where we can go out in public and I don’t have to worry about having milk beforehand, since I have NO stash despite the fact that I pump 5 oz in one sitting!

I always had to pump before I give him to his grandparents or aunties but now I want to be close by so I can nurse him so he doesn’t develop a bottle / flow preference again.

OH and he was loving the right one for 3 weeks then two days ago I tried to put him on the left and now he prefers that side and gets fussy on the right! I don’t understand lol

My 11 month old recently started biting me as I feed him to sleep for bedtime. When he bites me I stop the feed and tell him no firmly. Today it got worse, he started refusing the breast with all feeds except for when first woke up - he let me feed him for a few minutes then bit me when I moved him to the other side. I dusted my pump off and started using it again and gave him some milk from his bottle with a straw which he drank with no problem. Other breastfeeding people - how did you survive this phase? Did you pump and give milk another way? Did you just keep latching even though they’d bite? How long did it take for your kiddo to stop biting? I was hoping for a long breastfeeding journey and hoping this isn’t our end.

I’m 4 weeks PP and get super anxious at night when feeding. Like fight or flight anxiety. Any tips besides meds?

Not sure what’s going on, looking for advice/solidarity. Baby is 3.5 months and for the last 2 days he has been super fussy on the boob, refusing to feed. When he finally gets sleepy and I start to rock him to sleep, only then will he take the boob. We’d been following feed, play, sleep so during the day at least he’s never been fed to sleep, only when waking for feeding during the night. I don’t understand what’s changed and I’m quite worried.

Hi All - looking for advice from those who have done this.
My 5 month old has been EBF till now. I have recently transitioned back to work and my next client requires me to be at client site (In Switzerland) Monday and Tuesday on alternate weeks. There is some chance that I only have to do this for 3-4 weeks and then I go being fully remote. I have a small amount of milk frozen (about 15 feeds).

I am in two minds about continuing to EBF. I would like to try it but also don't want to risk not being able to do it so wanted to get the baby started on a feed of formula here and there. I have also read up on airport policies on carrying frozen milk and seems it is left to the individual airport security personnel to decide on case by case basis.

What have others done in this situation? My main concerns are:
1) Will my supply dip if I'm not feeding for 2 days
2) If I start formula, the midwife told us that because formula is heavier, breastmilk doesn't fill the baby up as much anymore and they always want formula. Is there truth to this in people's experiences?
3) To maintain my supply during days I'm away, what is the minimum I may need to pump? Every 4 hours or could I do less frequently?

Thanks all in advance!

My baby is a little over 3 weeks old. He gained his birth weight back in less than a week. Every appt (2 days, and 2 weeks) and in the hospital told me he has a good latch and suck. At the two day appt they did a weighted feed and he transferred 20ml in 20 mins. He has more than enough poop and pee diapers. However, I weighed him today and he is not gaining much now and is in a lower percentile. We introduced a bottle a couple days ago so I can get a bit of sleep. I still pump in the middle of the night to replace a feed and keep my milk supply up. I usually pump between 80-100ml. I also have been trying to get a small stash so I pump about 30-45 min after his morning feed. He usually spend 12-15 mins at each breast. He is swallowing even though sometimes he does fall asleep. Today we topped him up with a bottle of 20ml after a feed since he was crying and we wanted to see. He instantly fell asleep. Am I not feeding him enough? Even though he’s at the breast and let’s go himself. Also sometimes I will hand pump after a feed to see how much I get and I barely get any so I feel like he’s really emptying me out and he’s satisfied. But again he started to not gain weight as fast.

Pediatrician recommended pumping for 3-5 minutes before bringing baby to breast to get rid of excess foremilk because baby is having digestive issues from consuming so much of it. Has anyone had success with this?

I’m currently feeding my baby on demand and only pumping when I feel engorged and she isn’t hungry. I’m not really interested in building a freezer stash since I’m home with my baby and don’t have to worry about being away from her.

She’s gaining weight and growing well, so I feel like breastfeeding is going great! However, I see so many posts about mamas having to wake up in the middle of the night to pump, and it has me wondering if I should be pumping more often, too.

My baby currently eats about every 2 hours, but what happens when she starts sleeping longer stretches? Will my supply decrease if I’m not pumping during those times? Doesn’t our body naturally adjust and make the amount of milk our babies need?

I’d love to hear from mamas who exclusively breastfeed and don’t regularly pump! Did you maintain your supply without pumping? Am I overthinking this?

My 6 week old has been very effective at feeding at the breast. She typically does 5-10 minutes at the breasts and is satisfied. She’s gaining weight perfectly.

That said, the last two nights at her 5/6pm feed she has been ravenous. She will nurse fully from both breasts and then get frustrated. We then topped her off with 4oz bottle last night and 3oz tonight. My husband has given her the bottle while I pump.

Has anyone experienced this? What did you do? I had low supply with my first so I’m really scared this is the start of that.

I had to cut out dairy and eggs due to by baby not tolerating. Before that I ate really clean (and would like to continue to). We ate meats, eggs, dairy, fruits, veggies, and that’s pretty much it. We do eat some breads, but only what I make, like sourdough loaves, tortillas, etc.

I would LOVE all the recipe recommendations (bonus points for easy dinners with a newborn) with this new diet. I’m sure there’s a lot of other moms who were shocked to have to make this adjustment to their diet suddenly too. Everything has cheese lol. I’d love to hear recipes/swaps/encouragement etc!

Dad here.

Our little boy is 14 months and has never been a good sleeper. A good night for us is down about 7-8 and then 2-4 wakes getting up at 6

He doesn’t feed for hunger anymore. Never feeds during the day but does look for it if he hasn’t seen mum in a while and he is needy but this is usually quite easy to distract him with play or a snack.

Night time is a whole other ball game.

I can put him to bed most nights without needing a feed from mum. Has always been the case. Bath, story time, sing a wee song then into the cot drowsy or asleep.

But It’s next to impossible for me to get him down from a wake up. Sometimes I can if it’s the first wake up around 10-11pm but that’s very hit and miss.

I can be trying to console him for up to an hour at times and he ultimately always gets a feed from mum. It’s full on red face screaming with very little break. He will sometimes take some milk or water from a bottle but then immediately goes back to crying. Lights on with a book again doesn’t work. Songs won’t work. Letting him play won’t work. It’s always tears until mum comes in. The only thing that will keep him quiet but still won’t put him to sleep is looking at my phone and we want to be strict about screen time and not replace a habit with another. Soon as the phone goes off he’s right back to screaming for mum.

My wife hates the idea of the cry it out method and can’t say I’m a massive fan either. He so stubborn and I can’t stand to hear him upset.

We are doing well at taking him off the boob at shorter intervals but it doesn’t seem to making any major progress.

I used to be able to get him down from a wake up but now it’s impossible.

I don’t even know what I’m asking here or why I’m posting. I just need some sort of advice or reassurance or people to share their own horror stories to make me fell better.

Especially as a dad I feel useless.

Hi all!
We recently welcomed our second little one and breastfeeding has been going very well!
I exclusively pumped with my first and she loved the Philips Avent bottles. I naively thought our second would as well but she’s almost exclusively breastfed and only tolerates the lansinoh bottles.
Since I bought a bunch of the Philips Avent bottles, I’d really like to use them for breastmilk storage in the fridge, but I can’t find storage lids for these. ANY advice is welcome. It’s super annoying that Philips doesn’t make storage lids for these bottles like EVERY OTHER company does.

Sick to my stomach typing this out. I’m to the point where I literally never want to see a bottle again. We are using up my entire stash, I’m given no time to pump throughout the day, and my baby prefers to starve rather than even look at my boob right now. How do I handle getting him back on the boob? I don’t want to run out of milk. I don’t want to formula or combo feed. I want… I NEED him to get on my boob and eat it without any bottles. Today he took my boob once. I had an entire panic attack because I could NOT figure out why he was crying. Got his farts out, he had slept, he didn’t want my boob so I assumed not hungry, cuddled, wore in a wrap, went outside… finally tried a bottle and he was 100%. Took it right away. Same thing happened each time he wanted to feed today except ONCE. I can’t keep this up. I’m having to hand express anytime I get a free second because I’m unable to just up & pump when I need to. I fear my supply will dry up and we will use up my stash and my journey will be over. I was advised it would be too dangerous to try for another kid so this is it for me I guess. If I don’t figure this out then it’s just another thing on my plate to be depressed about.. and I don’t think I can handle anything else.

Trying to understand how I’m supposed to fit in naps and play (tummy time, etc.) if I’m feeding on demand and there’s no set time between each feed.

My days feel like a mess because my two month old has no routine at all and I know that I can’t fit her to a clock, but there’s gotta be a way to have somewhat of a routine right?

The title refers. I prefer to let them be free. I was a 34b before pregnancy and a lactation consultant said to wear a nursing bra 24/7 to prevent my boobs from sagging. Truth is they’re not comfortable. I do sometimes and other times, no. I’m however kinda worried. Moms, do/did you wear a nursing bra all the time and when you didn’t, did they actually sag?

Hi all! Im genuinely feeling discouraged about my BF journey. From the start i feel like i was set up for failure by the hospital IBCLCs that didnt guide me well on my baby’s latch and I left the hospital with cracked and ulcered nipples. I saw an outpatient IBCLC who showed me proper positioning (yay!) but told me my baby had a minor tongue tie that could be watched or could be released. I continued to have pain despite proper positioning and latching the baby as I was shown so i decided to get the tongue tie released.

The ENT who did baby’s frenotomy stated there was “no evidence that post-frenotomy exercises actually benefit or prevent reattachment”, so we didnt do exercises. As time went on, latch pain improved…. And then in the past week or two, latch pain has worsened yet again + baby is increasingly fussy and frequently unlatching at the breast after about 3 minutes of nursing.

I go to an IBCLC and she states it looks like baby is resorting to a “piston” suckle likely due to tongue restriction that's causing him the frustration b/c he does not have the ability to push his tongue into the breast to help massage more. She suggests I can either consistently swap baby back and forth between each breast multiple times to have him ride the letdown (where he doesnt have to work as hard), have him do tongue stretches now, or be reevaluated again for a possible release.

I’m distraught and dont know what to do. Is this restriction something that he will grow out of, or do i genuinely need to go back for a re-release + exercises? This feels like such a waste of time and money. I also worry simply swapping him back and forth between breasts is a bandaid solution and fear baby wont be able to BF anymore once my supply regulates and he actually has to “work” to eat.

For my ladies with PCOS or other hormonally linked conditions (like over/under active thyroid) how do you navigate breastmilk supply. Bonus question : do you use supplements - if so, does anything work for you ?

I heard Legendairy products may be counterproductive if you have hormonal conditions.

I’ve been relying on simply emptying my breast as much as possible and latching baby as much as possible. My supply building but slowly. I’m 13 days PP via c-section and make about 12-15oz a day. I pump 9oz a day plus whatever baby drinks from breasts. But I need more because he’s a big eater !

FTM, and our breastfeeding journey was rough. My son had issues latching from day one, and we needed to use nipple shields for the first 6 weeks to get him to latch. We introduced a bottle around week 3/4 so my husband could help with the nighttime feeding. Our son had a bad case of colic and I needed the extra rest at night.

Everything was fine using breastfeeding or pumped then frozen milk until month 4. We had a few weeks of a busy schedule and ended up exclusively bottle feeding (I found breastfeeding in public stressful)- which led to nipple confusion. I fixed it by exclusively breastfeeding for a few days straight, but it was a very loud and stressful process for both of us.

My son is now 7 months old with two teeth and has been exclusively bottle fed up until we started solids. I’m now concerned about my supply, and am debating trying to break the nipple confusion.

I’m asking for any advice or experience with breaking nipple confusion aftet such a long time? Has anyone had any luck with this in the past?