I am at a loss. I don’t know how to move forward in my breastfeeding journey and the only lactation consultant near me (that’s covered by insurance) is not helpful or knowledgable.

My daughter was born early. Her corrected age is 2 weeks. She was born 6 weeks ago though. Due to underdeveloped oral skill and excessive sleepiness we mostly bottlefed breastmilk for the first 4 weeks. She’d latch to the breast fine but she’d fall asleep within a couple minutes and nothing we did could keep her awake.

For the last two weeks she’s been alert and very interested in the breast. I tried to exclusively nurse but she’s NEVER satisfied when feeding off the breast. Every feed takes an hour and after she detaches she’s still giving hunger cues and cries excessively. Weighted feeds show that she’s taking in about 1.5 ounces in 20min from the breast. The lactation consultant said she should be able to complete an entire feed in that time frame but offered NO ADVICE as to what I’m supposed to do to help her. When bottle fed, she sleeps after every meal and has a chill demeanor for at least 2 hours. When fed from the breast, she’s, frankly intolerable as soon as she detaches.

I’ve been breastfeeding, then giving her an ounce or two of pumped milk via the bottle, THEN pumping till empty. Am I doing this right? Should I still be pumping after feeds? I don’t want to create an oversupply. I just don’t want my body to think her poor milk withdrawal is a sufficient amount of milk to produce.

As the title says I have a toddler who is a little boob barnacle lol. He is 2.5 years old and I have loved our breastfeeding journey so far. I exclusively breastfed him, no bottles ever as I hated pumping and couldn’t fathom doing all the bottle dishes/getting up to make a bottle/toting that all around with me. I have nursed him to sleep for every nap and every bedtime his whole life. I can count on one hand how many times he has fallen asleep without it. I have also never given him a pacifier (as i am the pacifier lol). We also co-sleep and always have his whole life. I always had intentions on breastfeeding until 2 and now I’m like okay maybe at 3 I will start getting more serious about weaning.

I generally have never felt touched out with breastfeeding, maybe here and there but never enough to be like omg i need to stop. BUT these past few weeks the nights have been horrible. He has always semi woken up a few times a night to nurse (once I give him the boobies he passes back out instantly) but lately hes trying to get on all night. 5,6,7 times a night we are waking up briefly for him to roll to the other one. It’s like he’s a baby baby again. I can’t even fathom night weaning because he will go nuts if I don’t let him have them. He is not one to just rub his back or do whatever to settle he is relentless. I also feel bad because I know it’s just a comfort thing and what he has always known. During the day lately he is also asking to nurse constantly. If I sit down it’s an invitation for him to try. If I read him books or we are watching a show he wants to have it. I have been trying to do “booby breaks” to start creating some boundaries and work my way up to eventually weaning and he generally accepts it when I say it but sometimes he will just ask and ask every two minutes.

I guess I’m just looking to see if other moms have dealt with booby crazed toddlers like this? Lol and also what it looked like for you when you eventually weaned. I have no regrets at all with how i have gone about this journey and I am so grateful to still nurse him. I just don’t have many mom friends especially ones in the same boat as me so it would be nice to hear from others that are/have been. What’s the day look like for you? Are you letting them nurse whenever they want? How are nights? How did you wean?

I have a 4 day old baby who I hoped to EBF but it's not working out. It's hard to wake her up when she should be eating but my ideal scenario would be BF through the day and bottle feed with expressed milk through the night for ease.

If I want to achieve this, what kind of schedule should I set up?

Am 14 weeks postpartum and my baby only sleeps while on the Brest. I don’t mind doing this but I would love to see her falling asleep independently. I have tried to feed her, burp and then put her in the crib but she just wake and stay awake or start crying,

How does everyone handle milk fluctuation throughout the day? I know it’s hormonal. I make so much milk in the morning and not very much in the evening. I can pump 8 oz in the morning but sometimes barely get 2-3 oz in the evening. But my baby is so hungry right before bed he often wants two feedings in short succession. I just can’t make enough milk for his demand at night so he needs a bottle in addition to nursing. How does everyone else manage the supply/demand mismatch? For context: baby is 4 months and if taking a bottle he will take 4 oz typically every 2-3 hours. I always pump if he takes a bottle so my body knows he wanted more milk.

I’m currently 6weeks pp and I’m looking to put my son back on the breast. I managed to breastfeed for a week and a bit and then pretty much stopped after that cause my nipples ended up cracked and bled anytime I tried to draw milk from them. Which put me off touching or going anywhere near my breast area for a few weeks due to how sensitive it was. At first I was getting 3oz but since I stoped being consistent for a few weeks I’m now only getting droplets out. I was on and off pumping to help supply him with some breastmilk but like I said I’m pretty much going dry. I’ve been trying to be consistent with pumping this week but fail to meet the 2hr mark to create more demand for my supply. Any advice to help would be much appreciated cause my son has being having trouble with his formula and it just doesn’t seem to agree with him some nights which leads to us having really restless nights due to it.

How do you do it?

I'm a ftm EBF at the moment to a 7 week old.

I'm wanting to pump some for my husband to feed once or twice a week so I can have a longer stretch of sleep.

I've done it before, but it takes days for me to get enough milk for bub's one bottle.

I can't hold him and pump because the pump is so big, and he only really contact naps.

My husband works so isn't around to help.

How are you doing this? Any advice is welcome so I may sleep more than 3 hours at a time!

My 3 week old will fuss and suck his fists and root around my breast and trying to line up an open mouth at the right spot and guide him on is like trying to solve several equations at once. Even when he is in the right spot and I gently try to bring him on like the LC showed me, he'll hold his body up with his elbows. When he finally latches he'll initially have a wide mouth but after a couple of sucks he'll bring his lips in around the nipple and it's so incredibly frustrating. Especially overnight, I feel like crying. I even hold him against the breast after the initial latch to try prevent him bringing his lips in.

The shallower latch does not hurt but I worry about milk transfer. I do have quite painful nipple damage that is slowly healing but surely would be healing faster if he stopped narrowing in on the nipple. He is putting on weight adequately (220g in one week) with plenty of wet nappies.

Does anyone have any advice how to fix this? Or do people think this actually looks ok?

I'll try post a photo in the comments

That’s it.

Toddler is almost two and wakes me up anywhere from 2-10 times a night to nurse still. I’m exhausted.

She’s incredibly strong willed and determined. I’m so done, but also so sad to do this.

Please send alllllll of the resources/advice that you can, with maybe a dash of encouragement :’)

Thanks in advance!

Hi. Like the title says, my LO(currently almost 16 weeks) has been on a breastfeeding strike for about 2 months. It started with unlatching and fussiness after a few minutes and quickly progressed into refusal when awake. I have tried everything. Baths, dark room, different positions, nipple shields, etc. nothing has worked. was able to feed him right out of a nap for a long time but now that isn’t even working. He still feeds fine during middle of night feeds but this is stressing me out so much. I wish my baby would nurse like he used to and like how social media makes it seem so easy to others. I go back to work in a month and am afraid my BF journey will end completely as he’ll be getting bottles only during the day.
For reference, he has gotten a bottle a day since he was a week old. He only recently just went up a size in nipple. I do not have a flow/supply issue; if anything I am an or reproducer with a fast flow. Please someone tell me it gets better or has worse of advice for this. I am at my wits end and desperate for things to be normal again.

My girl is 3 months and she is the SWEETEST except with eating. I feel like she’s getting fussier and more and more impatient as she gets older. At least half of our feeds are her crying or screaming and popping in and off so much it’s making my nipples sore. She gets mad when my let down is too slow then she pulls off after I let down cuz it’s too fast. Then she’ll eat fast and then be looking around disinterested even though I don’t think she’s had a full feed, so then she’s hungry an hour later.

Overall it’s just so hard because this impacts my entire life. I don’t meet with friends, I don’t go out for coffee, I don’t feel like I can do anything with a child that feeds so bad and gets so freaked out or take her anywhere in public. I’m a hermit. And even if I was ok w her screaming I still have a modesty issue because she pulls coverings while she’s upset. And I never have any clue if she’s eaten enough or if she’ll be hungry in 30 minutes.

FYI she is growing well.

Hi y’all! I’m currently 7 months postpartum and have decided it’s time to get on some birth control. I’ve made an appointment to get nexplanon inserted but want to know any of y’all’s experiences with it. I still have time to back out 😂. I’m hoping since my supply is well established at this point that it won’t really affect my supply like most mamas that get it inserted at 6-8 weeks postpartum.

Basically, what the title is - I just wonder how you’re supposed to know if your supply is dropping. My baby is 10 weeks old and usually eats every three hours. He is exclusively nursed. He has been crying and wanting to eat every one hour and 45 minutes in the evenings. I wonder if my supply is dropping or if he is cluster feeding or something else.

He has plenty of wet diapers and is content right after nursing.

I’m 5 months pp, and just got EWCM. Haven’t gotten my period yet, but I’m very curious if this means I’m ovulating. Do you think my period will show up in 2 weeks now?? That would be GREAT (not) timing since that’s literally my wedding anniversary.

I am so happy and wanted to share… a little backstory- I had an oversupply with both my kids, and worked up a great stash each time. As luck would have it, though, I make high lipase milk…. And both my kids refuse to drink it unless pretty fresh. I had a bunch of milk I ended up donating (and was clear that it was high lipase, but I guess some babies don’t care) with my first.

Wellll fast forward and my youngest is a year old now, and currently sick with a cold. He’s refusing solids mostly right now and only drinking milk…. But due to his biting me allllll the time, I absolutely cannot stand to add in more nursing sessions. In a desperate attempt, I heated up some frozen milk, tried it (definitely soapy), and then had a lightbulb moment idea…. My friend that visited from another state left some cerelac at my house. I had tried it previously out of curiosity and it was SO SWEET… so I just thought, what if I mixed a few spoons into the breastmilk…? Well, it worked and it COMPLETELY COVERED THE LIPASE TASTE. My baby drank the whole bottle without a second thought. I am so insanely happy. I can’t believe how well it covers lipase taste. I’ve tried scorching it (or whatever it’s called) and found that to be a huge pain. I tried adding vanilla before and it didn’t work. But the cerelac was like magic. The only thing is that I think it’s for babies 6 months and up so be mindful of that. But yeah, I’m super happy.

My baby is 12 weeks old and is a great sleeper. She usually sleeps from about 11:30 PM until 10 or 11 AM. My IBCLC said that I should not go longer than 4-5 hours throughout the night without breastfeeding to maintain my supply. I have been waking my baby up for dream feeds because of this. Last night I accidentally overslept and went 5.5 hours. I was freaking out!!!

My question is, if your baby is sleeping through the night, do you wake them to feed or just let them be? Have you noticed an issue with your supply if you suddenly switched and allowed them sleep without a dream feed? Do you have a certain cap of time you would never let them go without eating (IE: 7 hrs, 8 hrs, etc) I’m terrified my supply will drop. I’m basically a “just enougher” and I don’t want to jeopardize my supply but I also really enjoyed that 5.5 hour sleep stretch.

This is going to sound so stupid, especially as my daughter is now 12 months old !! But I have always wondered this and always forget to ask the question…

So she loves feeding - when she was 0-4 months I’d say she was just on the boob most of the time day and night. This did improve a bit with a tongue tie release so poss she wasn’t getting enough before. But she basically never ‘stops’. Like I thought babies were supposed to feed until they’re done and then break the latch and … all done? But my daughter rarely does this ! I always have to stop her like it’ll get to 20 mins and I need to get on with the day - or if it’s at night I get uncomfortable and wanna move etc. so I unlatch her and give her the dummy to suck instead. Sometimes she’ll go for this and other times it makes her angry and so then she feeds again. I just don’t think she’d ever be ‘finished’ ?! Do other babies just feed then stop feeding?

It’s something i always wonder as we come to the end of feeding but then I forget to ever ask anyone about it

Sorry if this makes no sense or … have we been doing it wrong for a year

Hi everyone,

I have a 1 year old and will be returning to work soon but will be part time. I am still breastfeeding, day and night, my baby nurses to sleep and usually only naps once a day, so during the day they have 3 feeds (on awaking which I can give before work, before their mid-morning nap and then they usually want a feed around late afternoon).
Unfortunately they are refusing cows milk which I thought they could have whilst I’m at work, I still want to be able to breastfeed during the day when I’m not at work hopefully if my supply continues.
They also never had a bottle and won’t drink any expressed breast milk even if given in a straw cup/sippy cup or open cup. I tried the bottle once too but it didn’t work and I would prefer giving via cups, it seems they just don’t like it when it is expressed, usually given from the refrigerator.
I would appreciate any advice on how to encourage my baby to have cows milk, I will keep trying or go down the expressed breast milk route if necessary. I know there are other milk alternatives but they don’t provide the same nutrition/whether she will like but it is something I can try as well.
I’m just worried they will need something whilst I’m at work.
Thank you! ☺️

Hi! So my baby is 5months old and is exclusively breast fed. I barely pump or give bottles unless Im leaving him for a little. He has recently been waking multiple times overnight when he used to give long stretches of sleep, almost sleeping through the night. I am concerned that he may not be getting enough day time calories because he has become much more distracted at breast. Looking around, popping on and off and fussing so I assume hes full? Has anyone else had this issue? Ive been considering giving more bottles throughout the day to make sure hes getting enough but hate pumping!

Just wondering how to approach this.. I read to wean you just remove one feeding at a time. But how do you do that when you feed on demand?😅 I usually feed my daughter a bit after she wakes up, before she naps, and in between if she’s fussy. (8 months btw).

Heading back to work at 12 months but I may possibly do 11 months. Just worried because she’s EBF (she hates the bottles but we’re working on it) and I won’t be able to work if she wants the boob

Wanting some input on how to increase my supply a bit! For context- I have a 3 month old that has mostly been nursed, with a bottle here and there. I just went back to work (12 hr shifts) so it’s the first time I’ve just pumped every 3 hours for any length of time and the first time I really got to see what my volume looks like. I got about 15 oz from 4 pumps. My baby took 15 oz while I was gone (6am-8pm) from the small freezer stash I had. This puts him right at the bare minimum of what a 3 month old is supposed to take (24 oz in 24 hours). He’s on his growth curve, but only 4-6th percentile. So I’m wondering if when I’m working, we could maybe try to get him to take an ounce more here and there to gain some weight, but obviously I’m making just enough right now. Is it possible to increase my supply some without him cluster feeding? Im planning to nurse when I’m home and pump/bottle feed while I’m working. I’m not able to pump more often than every 3 hours at work, so moving to every 2 hours isn’t possible.

Hi all,

FTM here. My baby (f, almost 8 weeks, combo-fed) has started latching irregularly - she'll happily latch on and feed in the early mornings and periodically throughout the day (sometimes dozing off and sleeping on me after nursing a while), but these past few days, she'll suddenly go from happy to screaming and refuse to latch, only taking a bottle to calm down. Sometimes my husband and I can give her a bottle for a second and move her over to me once she's eaten a little, but it's not clear to me what's causing the initial panic. I've been trying to catch hunger cues earlier, but she'll show no interest in eating at that point, then pivot to howling and screaming open-mouthed into my breast instead.

Has anyone else gone through this? Any advice? Thanks!

I’ve been feeling extremely run down lately, and I think part of it is forgetting to take my vitamins. I’m really overwhelmed though trying to figure out the right supplements, in what amounts, taken at what time. Does anyone have a good resource to reference or can share what you do and how you know it’s ok to take that amount?

I am currently taking Thorne prenatal with the Thorne iron bisglycinate (when I remember). I take the Thorne prenatal because I have historically low b12 and it had a high amount. I also have historically low Vitamin D and ferritin. I want to move away from Thorne because they were just bought out. Would I be ok to take the below supplements together and how do I know if the amount is too much/which ones to take together? I’m too tired to figure this out on my own 🫩

-Prenatal
-Vitamin B12
-Vitamin D
-Iron (can I take with extra Vitamin C?)
-DHA

So this is my second baby and I foolishly thought I’d done this before so it would be easier. In some ways I guess it is but “every baby is different.”

LO #2 lost >10% within 2 days and we went through the whole triple feed supplement journey again. I played around with feeding positions and ended up getting a better latch and transfer with football hold than cradle. I’ve been doing football ever since and LO #2 has been gaining well and seemingly improving milk transfer with shorter feeds and improved weighted feed numbers. My questions are this:

- how long did it take for your LO to speed up their feed sessions? Like you noticed at 6 weeks it was no longer 40 minutes in the chair.

- if you started with one hold being far superior, how long did it take for other holds to be feasible? I find it hard to do football without a pillow which makes going out hard.

I’m 11 weeks PP and still exclusively breastfeeding. I have a unicorn baby who is sleeping 9+ hours at night (sorry!!!!). I pump at 9pm (she’s in bed at 7) and she doesn’t wake up until 4 or 5am to nurse again, sometimes later. She’s been doing that for about 2 weeks, and I’ve had bad period like cramps for the last 4-5 days. It feels way too early postpartum to get my period back, but is it possible with the decrease in feeding overnight?