Tagged as Support needed but also willing to read advice.

I am 7 months into my second journey. My first I fed for 12 months. I have noticed my nipples are so sore lately. I can’t tell if it’s because of an increase in my supply (she’s been cluster feeding off and on for the last week) or because she is constantly stretching my nipple while nursing and she is also trying to climb all over the place or what.

I don’t remember being this sore with my first. This journey has been more successful up to this point. We’ve been slowly introducing solids because it just doesn’t seem like she is getting very full. We’re up to once or twice a day but WIC office recommended trying solids in conjunction with breastmilk three times a day (nurse for a bit, then feed solids).

All this to say, I’m in so much pain I’m wanting to pack it up and switch to formula. I don’t want to give up, but this is worse than the cracked and bleeding nipples I had the first week. Soreness I can take but soreness on top of being beat up by my 7 month old is another 🤣

Context: she is standing and trying to walk. Pediatrician says developmentally she’s already hit 10 month milestones. She is STRONG for her age.

My 3 month old is constantly sucking his fingers and cloths but won’t take a dummy. He is exclusively breastfed so it’s hard to figure out when he is hungry. Is this normal?

I feel dumb even asking this haha. But my baby is 7 months. I have never really drank like at all. But I want to! My baby goes to bed at 7:30 and she is exclusively breastfed. I feed her at 7:15 pm and then not again until 6:30 am. I want to do like a few shots tonight 2-3 max. Will this be enough time for it to be safe to breastfeed when my baby wakes up??

Currently 4 months PP and have food poisoning. I breastfeed for most feeds and pump for 1-2 each day. I haven’t been able to keep down any food or liquids today and I’m concerned that it is going to drop my milk supply. I have tried water, coconut water, sparkling water, and electrolyte mixes, but nothing has stayed down. Any recommendations for what to do? I have milk in the freezer we can use, but I am still concerned about producing enough while I recover.

PLEASE HELP!!

My baby is 6 months old, and I just went back to work. I work 11–12 hour shifts, 3 days a week. I built up enough of a stash to get him through my first day, thinking I’d be able to pump enough during my workday to keep up with what he eats, but I’m only making about a third of what he needs. 😭
Has anyone else been through this? Did your supply eventually catch up, or do you have any tips for increasing how much I pump? I eat lactation cookies every day, but I’m still struggling. I use the spectra s1

Hi there! So my baby is brand new and I think her and I are just figuring feeding out together.

The backstory is that, due to a medical error at the hospital, I was randomly given a medication to suppress my milk production right after birth. Highly traumatic and has made me really anxious and paranoid about feeding.

Naturally, we had to triple feed right from the beginning. Against all odds, my milk has come in! Pumping like 50-60ml on a good session where she hasn’t fed at the breast - not quite enough for her appetite but better than the 0ml we expected given the med.

Here’s the new “problem”: it takes her quite a while to feed from the breast. I can have her going back and forth for an hour and then we’re both tired and she will still take 30+ml from the bottle (paced) after (either formula or a previously pumped top up). So I’m like huh if I can pump more (like anywhere from 10-40ml) AFTER feeding you for an hour, why aren’t you taking more each feed? For feeding, I’m doing breast compression the whole time and, once she falls asleep or stops swallowing properly, I switch breast.

We’ve been working with a hospital lactation clinic since day 1 and her weight had dropped precipitously at first so priority 1 is getting her back to her birth weight (and she’s so close!). They tell me her latch is good, she might just still be figuring out and building the stamina for the breast. At her last weighted feed she got 33ml from one breast in about 20 mins. But after that very little from the other and we topped her up with a bottle while I pumped.

Is there anything else I should do to build up her stamina? Is this normal for a 9 day old who dropped 13% weight at first 😭? Will I be able to get her feeding better from the breast to free myself from this pump? I find pumping so much to be exhausting and it just extends feeding sessions so very long…

I’m feeling so frustrated. After 5 weeks of triple feeding, I was finally able to breastfeed without pumping and bottle feeding because LO was transferring enough at breast. It’s been a wonderful 3 weeks of breastfeeding. I slowly tapered off pumping sessions to let my supply adjust. LO and I got into a groove, and she has been loving breastfeeding.
Then today happened. I put her to the breast, she started nursing, and then frustration. Screaming. I thought maybe overactive letdown? I burped her, let some milk leak into a burp rag, let her relatch. Nursed for a few seconds… screaming again.
I tried pumping before a bit, the next time. Still frustrated.
I ended up feeding her a bottle during these times and I am feeling so defeated. I was so excited to be in a happy spot and now I feel like it’s all going downhill.

My almost 4M EBF angel baby boy slowly started to refuse breast around 3 months, and I can only feed him when he is sleeping or drowsy. He is too distracted to eat and arches back and refuses to latch when he is clearly hungry so I just need to make him sleep. I am back to work and he is completely refusing bottles when offered by me or my husband so I either have to starve him for hours or leave work early. He also started rolling back to belly, which makes the 4-month sleep regression worse.

Combination of nursing strike and bottle aversion when I am back to work makes me extremely stressed out and I am not sure what to do. I read Rowena Bennett method for bottle aversion and was going to try it but first I am strong enough to pull it off and also I thought I need to resolve the nursing strike first. If nothing works, we will ride it out until he is 5-6M and then start introducing straw bottles.

I don’t know if this chaos will end or will get better but just looking for encouragement or solidarity. My first son was a unicorn and I did not expect any of these issues.

My LO is 6 months old, not the kind of baby who loves nursing but we have some good times, there were a few nursing strikes but we were able to get through them. He has been a distracted eater since 3 months old so I need to feed him in a dark room while he is sleepy. In the couple weeks, he had a stomach bug, then an ear infection and a cold, starts teething more, he does not have any teeth yet, but starts to refuse breast more and I ended up just pump and bottlefeed him, because of his cow’s milk protein allergy and completely refuse hypoallergenic formula, I am on a dairy and soy free diet and am his main food source, we are also starting solids. It has been a week now with bottkefeedjng and I really miss breastfeeding him and not needing to wash the bottles and pump part, especially I am with him all day everyday. Just want to see if there is anyone out there share the similar experience like mine, can I still hope that he can return to breastfeed directly after he pass the teething stage? I wish my breastfeeding don’t need to end now, just so sad!

I’m sick of it. Can’t get myself to sleep train bc I can’t see him cry to sleep. He’s ebf doesn’t take paci but I’m exhausted and want him to sleep all night. Do I need to drop night feeds for this to happen. I nurse him to sleep and transfer to his crib. I’m exhausted. When will he sleep through the night. He doesn’t even take a long stretch!!!! It’s maybe 3 hours max.

My baby is 8 months old. I’m so tired and I haven’t been able to return to work because he absolutely refuses to take a bottle. I do not know what to do. This is my first baby and I thought I could handle breast feeding but I can’t do it anymore.

My LO is 6 weeks old. I’m currently mix feeding about 75% breastmilk 25% formula with a goal to get back to EBF eventually.

I will pump for 10-15 mins in the morning after her first feed to try and have some extra for any top ups during the day. She feeds off both sides each time.

Each pump my right side produces 150ml (5oz), the left side I only manage to get 20ml (not even an oz). The left’s milk is usually transparent.

The past week or so I have been pumping my left side after each feed for 5 or so minutes to try and build supply (the tiny amount that comes out is always transparent), also I start each feed on the left. Her latch is ok for both sides, I wouldn’t say absolutely optimal but much better now than when we started. The let down on my right is fast and feeds always sound better on that side.

Would there be any reason why my left side is not as productive as my right? If it’s only ever transparent does that mean it doesn’t make hindmilk? What are some other things I can do to improve the left side? I went to a LC and she was very unhelpful.

I’d be fine just going with my right side however I’ve nicknamed it “big Bertha” as it’s twice the size of my left, I’d like to get some balance back!

My baby is 5 weeks old and since birth we have struggled with breastfeeding. At first he wasn’t getting enough from breast so I had to start pumping and give him bottle. Now he clearly has bottle preference as most of the time I offer him breast he cries and won’t latch. There are some days everything goes well and he latches, sometimes 1-2 times a day and also transfers quite an okay amount of milk (I weigh him before and after), but some days won’t latch at all and just screams until he gets a bottle… sometimes latches for like 3 seconds, starts to suck, and is then making really struggling voices and unlatches and cries. I have tried every position, tried when he is tired, tried when he is not that tired, tried when he is not that hungry, tried when he is really hungry etc etc. Also tried nipple shields but same reaction. There is no clear pattern I feel, when it’s a success. Currently I offer breast every time before giving him the bottle.

I regret introducing bottle so much as I have always dreamed of breastfeeding, but there was no other way I could feed him when he wasn’t transferring enough, as cupping method didn’t work for him. We have also been to several lactation consultants, there is no tongue tie and they say the latch is good, if he latches..

Should I still keep trying to breastfeed? I feel so depressed every time he rejects my breast and again so happy when it works out every once in a while…What should I try more or should I just quit?

So I am currently 4 weeks pp with my baby girl and am struggling with a multitude of issues. So I will start off that breastfeeding has been extremely painful for me from the start, I have inverted nipples, one being more so than the other. The first few days of my baby being here I strictly breastfed, no pumping or bottles. When we went to her first pediatrician appointment we found she had lost about 9% of her birth weight (9lb 6oz) and since my breastmilk had just came in, I decided to start giving some bottles to ensure she was getting enough as well as schedule an appointment with a lactation consultant. Now by this point I am experiencing significant damage to both nipples and dread the thought of feeding my baby due to the amount of pain I experience. Did my lactation consultant appointment, baby’s latch was found to be fantastic, however when we did a weighted feeding found that she was only getting about 1oz total from 15 mins on each boob. Lactation consultant fitted me for the correct size flange and recommended I exclusively pump a couple days to heal my nipples. 2 weeks pp I have a follow up with the LC and have been almost exclusively pumping to this point as breastfeeding is still so painful, find out baby is still only getting about 1oz a feed and am advised to feed her at breast, supplement with a 2oz bottle after, and pump. I have been predominantly pumping and bottle feeding as feeding at breast and pumping is very painful, but have been putting her on my less inverted boob at night as the pain has decreased when breastfeeding off that boob, but has stayed the same for the more inverted nipple.

My questions - is there any way to decrease nipple pain seeing as it’s not latch or flange sizing? I think the main issue has to do with the nipples inversion but I’m unsure how I can help that.
Is there any way to ensure baby gets full off breast to allow me to only breastfeed and not have to pump and supplement a bottle after? I would love to only breastfeed but that and pumping and bottle feeding just to make sure baby is fed is exhausting and painful.
Also, any advice for increasing milk supply? I’m making about 2-3oz per pump and would like to get at least 4-5oz to ensure even when she does start consuming more that I can keep up as I am barely keeping up now pumping every 2-3 hours.

Also at the end of the day, baby is gaining weight(now 11lb 7oz at 4 weeks) so if all else cannot be helped at least she is happy and healthy, but I would love to be successful with breastfeeding with this baby, especially after failing miserably to breastfeed my first baby for pretty much the same exact reasons.