I get that each method of feeding has its pros and cons, and I’m only a month into breastfeeding as a first time mom. But I have been feeling like breastfeeding has to be making my postpartum life harder — even though I’ve had a relatively easy time.

Not only are you recovering physically and dealing with the hormone drop/baby blues, you’re also dealing with sleep deprivation and you/baby working out positioning and latch etc. If EBF you are the one getting up all night every night and have the baby strapped to you pretty much 24 hours a day. Then there’s cluster feeding where you quite literally cannot do anything but sit on the couch and feed your baby for hours on end, sometimes several days in a row. If you want a break and want someone else to feed baby, you now have to somehow work out a time to pump in the day in between the constant nursing and hopefully you have a baby who tolerates being set down. But IBCLC will tell you not to introduce a bottle before 4 weeks so you just have to power through an entire month of doing it on your own. They will also tell you not to introduce a pacifier so now your baby has next to no coping mechanisms if not attached to your boob, which makes car rides and doctors appointments an absolute riot. And keeping up on your nutrition and hydration is its own event. Someone else has to make all your meals or you need to get really good at cooking one-handed because again you essentially can’t set the baby down.

Sigh. I love bonding with my baby while nursing and I know I’m doing something great for them. But it’s not as easy and “natural” as so many people would want you to believe. I can’t help but think formula feeding, or maybe even exclusively pumping, would make my life easier in some ways.

Is there something about breastfeeding that causes a huge craving for sweets?? I thought my sweet tooth was bad during pregnancy, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it is now. I am constantly feeling guilt about my sugar intake. My overall diet is still good, but I feel like having 1-2 desserts per day is overkill lol

Hi all! I'm FTM and not very shy, that doesn't mean an exhibitionist, I just mean I'm not very sensitive.

My question is, do I really need to cover my baby while breastfeeding?

My perfect scenario would be people keep living their lives and just let me do my thing without staring, questioning or even telling me to cover myself when breastfeeding in public spaces such as parks, restaurants, etc.

Is that real or a fantasy in my head? Will people (man, they are the one who bother me if looking) actually look? Or even tell me to cover myself?

How's real life out there?

I appreciate your perspective. 🩵

TO BE CONSIDERED: I live in New Brunswick, if that changes things.

I never gave a second thought to breastfeeding when I was asked while pregnant. I thought, “why wouldn’t I?” No one followed up with details on how hard it would be, especially while working full time.

I had 12 weeks off and made plenty of milk. Pumped for a freezer stash and bottles so dad could feed. I was up around the clock for months making sure I could keep up.

Work started and I got my pump routine down, 3x a day 15-20 mins each, fine. Used to come home and nurse immediately, then on demand/before bed/MOTN.

Had to start supplementing formula about a month and some change after daycare started to keep up with his intake. That made me feel terrible. I felt like I was doing so much work and still it wasn’t enough. Eventually, I accepted fed baby is best. We also had some struggle with weight gain, so that outweighed my ego.

We’re now at 11 months and baby has developed a bottle preference and barely nurses except for mornings, sometimes MOTN. I’ve still been pumping once at work and before bed every day just to keep some supply up for when he wants some. It takes days of pumped milk to collect just to make a full bottle anymore. I’m so annoyed with pumping, but I just keep doing it with the hopes he’ll want to nurse more. But with adding solids and bottle preference, it seems we’re at and end.

I’m so sad. I never had a specific goal for length of breastfeeding, and it’s not completely over, but I just feel like I missed out on so much. I didn’t think I’d be as sad as I am at the thought of ending things. I just wish I could’ve had more time with him to directly breastfeed.

I have been EBF for the past 7 months and I’m very proud of it. I also love cuddling my little one and being able to provide her with nutrition just by breastfeeding. I think it’s so cool and amazing. However, I do think breastfeeding can feel so lonely and isolating at times. The reason I say this is because it’s hard for other people around me to understand. No one in my immediate family or husband’s family has done EBF for as long as I have. My mom today was like how have you been sleeping?? Im like I mean ok I guess.. she’s like well you need to take care of yourself! Which is a phrase I’ve said to her in the past that you need to take care of yourself before taking care of others. But with breastfeeding I’m my daughter’s primary source of food and comfort! She’s teething right now so she woke up last night and I soothed her back to sleep. I just told my mom that parenthood is not sleeping as much as you want to anymore 😅😅 anyways not sure if anyone else can relate but yeah breastfeeding is tough and so worth it at the same time!!

I’m 3 weeks postpartum and been breastfeeding and struggling with the pain. No issues with milk production though and baby is packing on weight quickly so I assume he’s able to latch well enough. Sometimes he keeps relatching which I was told could be due to too much milk coming out or boobs being too engorged. Older women in my family told me some pain is normal and that it should subside by about a month in but I’m worried it won’t for me:/ It just feels like my nipples are sooo sore and tender, hurts for the shower water to hit them or for clothes to rub up against them. One side hurts a decent amount more than the other side and I feel like I need to yelp and squirm when he latches. That one often hurts a bit the entire feed, not just the beginning(though that is when it hurts most). The other breast usually only hurts at the beginning. They got a bit cracked and maybe a tiny bit of blood the first week but not anymore, though my nipples often look white after feeding.

It just feels like they need time to heal? Like how are they going to be able to heal if he’s on my nipples so many times a day. I really want to skip feeding with the painful nipple but the other boob already seems to be producing more milk so I don’t want to make it worse. I was even thinking of just pumping on the painful boob and feeding from the less painful one to keep supply in both and give it time to heal. I only pumped a couple times with an in bra it seemed less painful on the lowest setting. But not sure if that would cause issues.

Anyways, been trying to use lanolin after every feed but wondering if I also need silverettes or if it’s worth seeing a lactation consultant? I’ve just heard mixed things about the silverettes and they didn’t seem to be a thing for older family members and they eventually made it to the other side. I feel like since baby seems to be getting enough milk and some pain is normal at the beginning maybe I have no real issues to bring to a LC but it is covered by my insurance so I want to use the resources if they’d help.

This is my second baby, and I forgot about this phase - and how much I hate it - with my first until it rolled around again. The 9 month "f****** around while feeding" phase.

Unless my girl is starving or half asleep, she's pinching me, yanking my hair, grabbing my lips or nose, banging me in the chest, or my personal least favorite, bracing her arm against my chest and pushing so that my nipple is stretched as far as it can go. Why? Why do you have to do that?? It's not once or twice with these behaviors, it's the whole damn time. It's so overstimulating and I hate it. I'm feeling like I may just move to pumping and bottle feeding until she's 1.

My second baby will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and we are currently doing triple feeding. His weight gain was a little slow, so his pediatrician recommended supplementing. I’m currently direct breastfeeding 8–12 times a day, pumping 4–5 times, and giving top-ups to make sure he is getting enough and continuing to gain weight. The supplements have definitely helped, and I’m grateful for that, but I’m really hoping to get out of this triple feeding cycle.
I’ve been working on improving his latch, and he latches well, but he often falls asleep after sucking for a while. I’ve tried everything — undressing him, diaper changes mid-feed, tickling his feet, cold wipes, breast compressions — but he still gets very sleepy at the breast. It makes me wonder if my supply is low or if he just isn’t transferring milk efficiently.

With my first baby, I exclusively pumped and made “just enough,” so this breastfeeding journey has been very different and challenging.

I would love to hear from other moms who had sleepy babies at the breast. Did your baby eventually become more efficient at feeding? When did things start improving? I’m trying to stay motivated and continue breastfeeding before the exhaustion of triple feeding makes me want to give up.

Hello all,

I’m just a bit frustrated with my partner at the moment.

Currently pregnant (25 weeks) and we have a 16 month old. He has three older daughters 18, 13 and 10. We have a ten year age difference.

My daughter is wonderful and i love her so much, but she is at the point of super clinginess and sometimes i just want to have a break and teach her to be more independent and not need mom so much. She eats solids 3-4 times a day, and drinks water and one cup of whole milk as we recently found out she is on the brink of being iron deficient. I wanted to wean her before baby #2 gets here but obviously it’s hard to do that alone. I already feed her on demand and a couple times at night, sometimes more if shes going through something.

Whenever i bring up weaning and suggesting things to my partner that I’ve read or seen, he is quick to shut it down and tell me it wont work since i never kept up with pumping or never gave the baby a bottle when she was smaller so she won’t take one and he thinks that is the only solution. Whenever i tell him just him spending time with her or even helping at bedtime will help, he refuses and says that a crying and screaming baby left with him would be unfair to him, and its my fault she is clingy and wants no one else, so i need to fix it on my own and learn to not do that with the next one.

I’m obviously unhappy he refuses to try anything and when i tell him he doesn’t seem willing, he gets mad and we fight. I just want some help, he is great with everything else, but it would mean a lot for him to participate in this

What should i do? Im scared i wont be able to have my daughter left at home when its time to give birth again

My LO is 14 weeks old and had her lip and tongue ties released 9 days ago. I had to stop breastfeeding at 11 weeks because she wasn’t gaining weight, her latch was incredibly painful, and she had started developing a bit of a breast aversion after my supply tanked from her not draining the breast properly.
I was really hoping she’d be back on the breast by now (I’m currently exclusively pumping), but she’ll latch, have one suck, then pop off. She’ll do that about five times before getting frustrated and crying. I don’t think it’s a flow issue because I can literally see my letdown happening. Milk is dripping from my nipple while she’s popping on and off, so it’s not like there’s no milk there for her. I’ve been working with an LC, but honestly I don’t feel like I’m getting anything from her that I couldn’t learn myself online, and it doesn’t cost $260 an hour. I’m just feeling really lost. The positives are that she’s definitely drinking more from the bottle, she’s latching better on the bottle than she was before the release, and she’s finally gaining weight again. But she’s still incredibly fussy every day, needs so much more sleep than before, and I’m worried she’s actually gone backwards in some areas. She was rolling before the tongue tie release and now she’s completely stopped. The stretches are absolutely exhausting. She’s still hysterical after every single one, and we’re only 9 days into what’s meant to be 4 weeks. She’s also very tense and tight, and we’ve been seeing an osteo/chiro weekly. For those whose LOs had a tongue and lip tie release when did things start getting better? If you’d already stopped breastfeeding before the release, were you ever able to get back to it? Did anyone else’s baby seem to go backwards for a while before improving?

I’m about 3.5 pp, mostly EBF, and I feel like staying hydrated is its own job right now! And I’m struggling.

I usually drink more than 2 liters of water a day, and have recently added some Gatorade into the mix, but every time I wake up after sleeping for more than a couple hours, I feel hungover and noticeably dehydrated. And I’ve noticed my production is often tied to how hydrated I am.

So please give me your tips and tricks, or just share how you handled/are handling this part of breastfeeding!

My 5.5mo baby is in the 98 percentile for weight (and height), so she’s a little chunky to say the least! It feels like I could latch her at any moment of the day and she’d happily eat. I currently feed her about 8 times in 24hrs most of which being during the day and maybe 1 during the night.

My question is with starting solids soon, I know “food under 1 is just for fun”, but I assume as some point the number of feeds will start to reduce… I just don’t know when that is or what signs I should be looking for?

I just found out I’m pregnant and didn’t have my period come back normally postpartum so I have no idea how far along I am. The past 4 weeks nursing my 9 month old have been excruciating. Truly one of the worst pains I have ever felt, from initial latch until the end. She still eats every 2 to 3 hours and co sleeps about half the night and is latched about 90% of that time. I tried nipple shields today and she bit me so hard it drew a lot of blood, I think she thought it was a pacifier, so that’s not a viable solution. I fed my other two children to 18 months and had planned to tandem feed her and the new baby but I am feeling so discouraged. I never dreamed I would be sobbing every feed and contemplating giving up with her only being 9 months old. I do think her latch is off and plan to discuss with her pediatrician tomorrow but what can I do for the insane pain I am experiencing. I can’t wear a bra, water touching me in the shower makes me want to scream and even holding my baby and her brushing against me makes me wince. I tried to give pumped milk in a bottle and a sippy cup and she refused, she also refused when my husband tried. I am exhausted, in pain and beyond stressed about how to help ease this pain so our breastfeeding journey doesn’t have to end so abruptly.

My 8 month old’s weight gain has been slow since his 6 month appointment. He dropped slightly in percentiles but is still on his expected curve. The pediatrician isn’t concerned and said it’s common at this age and probably a result of distracted feedings and picky eating with solids. He recommended we move to solids 3 x day to supplement calories.

Knowing that breast milk should be his primary source of calories until 1 year, I’m wondering if that’s the right approach or if I should be concerned about my supply. Has anyone experienced anything similar around this age? And if so, did increasing solids help?

How do I get my 4 month old to nurse less frequently? I know how that sounds- but she nurses every 90 minutes (maybe 2 hours if we are lucky) like clockwork.

I love nursing and honestly I have been loving following her cues, but I keep waiting for her to be every 3/4/5 hours and it just hasn’t happened. Even our ped asked how often she eats and was shocked. My baby just loves to nurse- I do cut her off after 15mins or so when she starts using me as just a paci, but I can’t seem to lessen the frequency. I don’t want to let her go hungry or keep crying!

She sleeps 9pm-7am except lately as we have 1 MOTN wake + nurse back to sleep, we are mid 4 month regression. I also think she’s teething, shes been extra fussy lately which doesn’t help.

My huckleberry app has me at 9 feeds a day, average of 1 hour 47 minutes between.

I went back to work this week (I WFH with a nanny but have calls all day long) and I severely underestimated how hard this would be. I’m like going to lose my job if this continues.

Just wanted to rant.
First baby. We’ve been EBF and bed sharing since the beginning. I got on really well and I quite like the breastfeeding experience. Baby seems to like it as well. But now at 18 months, he still feeds every 2 hours ish, and is not showing any sign to stop. it’s getting really difficult for him to sleep independently because we always nurse to sleep and honestly quite disruptive of our family life and my work (I work from home).

I don’t want to wean completely and strangely enough, I wish this journey could continue for as long as I can, physically still produce milk. But can he please feed every 6 hours and not every 2 hours? And start eating more solids?

Hi! FTM, I am concerned about my supply and if my baby get enough milk when I nurse him. I am EBF and everything was going well for the first 3 weeks, baby was gaining weight well. Everyone was really happy with the weight gain but he has started to slow down last week and seems to stay at 3.25 kg now. We are concerned that he may not be getting enough milk, and I am a bit lost between all the advice I am getting. Some people say it is fine. My doctors are monitoring him closely and have told me to pump two or three times a day to top up what he gets from nursing.

Everyone agrees that his latch has been REALLY good from the start. I see him swallowing, at least for the first 10 minutes of each feed, so he is getting milk. Nursing generally lasts 40–50 minutes, which seems quite long to me. If I weigh my baby before and after nursing, he seems to get around 30–40 mL/1 oz, which seems quite low to me. I do have milk though, when I pump, I get between 100 and 150 mL/ 2-4 oz in 10 min. I have started doing this twice a day to top up feeds. If I give him 1.5 oz of my milk in a bottle, he will take everything and seem full. However, he never seems full after nursing (eating hands, fussing, looking for breast) and often fall asleep. I also feel that he is CONSTANTLY on the breast if I do not give him a bottle.

We are a bit lost about what to do and if what he is getting is normal. He does not have clear eat-awake-sleep cycles yet because he is constantly nursing (not easy for me as well!). I only get this when I give him a bottle. Is that normal? Thanks a lot!

Hi all!

My baby is 10 months and I'm struggling to imagine what the next couple months looks like.

When baby turns 1, I plan to continue to nurse baby in the morning and before bed, but plan to wean him during the day. I pump while I'm at work and I'm really looking forward to not having to do that.

My question is- can you tell me about your transition with daycare at 1 year old? I can't imagine just not sending in any bottles. We currently send 2, one for before each nap. I also nurse him when he wakes up, when I pick him up from school, and before bed.

I don't really want to switch to milk. He has a CMPA, and my pediatrician said Ripple could be an option if we wanted to do milk, but Ive also heard babies can just have water after 1 and no milk during the day, which is my preference.

Please help me imagine what the 1 year transition looks like in practice, especially if you didn't replace breast milk with cows milk. THANK YOU

Has anyone ever increased their supply around 5 months postpartum? I never was great about pumping and my baby doesn't really breast-feed anymore. I basically pump about one to one and a half ounces a day just so that she gets the benefits of having some breastmilk and she's mostly formula fed. Has anyone ever successfully increased their supply? at my peak pumping I was getting about 3 ounces in the morning and then like an ounce to 2 ounces for the rest of the day so like 5 ounces a day max. If I do it every two hours and chug a bunch of water and eat oats will my supply increase? I have a dream of being able to stop formula and give her breastmilk until she's a year old

Currently breastfeeding my third and last baby. He’s 18 months old and I want to stop soon. This time around, my boobs grew… a lot. And they’ve stayed the same size the whole time. For the first two times I breastfed, they grew but shrunk during breastfeeding, and especially after weaning at 15 months and 12 months, respectively. Right now they are the biggest they’ve ever been (except when my milk first came in of course).

I really just want to know what to expect after I wean. I know only time can really tell, but specifically I’d love to hear from any other third time moms who have weaned (or second, fourth, etc.) and how your boobs changed after weaning, if at all. Is it possible mine will stay the same size?? I hesitate to buy any new bras right now, since I don’t know what they will look like after weaning.. it’s just interesting to me how different my experience has been this time around.

My son is 3 days old and has an amazing latch. Only issue is he cannot stay awake to eat. He’s lost 6% of his body weight since birth and the doctor said feeds every 2-3 hours. I try to feed him every 2.5 but end up spending an hour and a half trying to get him to stay awake. He has a great latch when he initiates a meal by showing hunger cues, but when I initiate a feeding he’s out like a light. I did everything. Taking all clothing off, diaper changes, tickles, cold hands, cold wipes. He’ll get annoyed but the second he’s on the boob he’s out no matter how much I bother him. He also will not exceed 15 minutes of breastfeeding at a time, which is half the time the doctor recommends. Any advice or reassurance would be great!

Is it common for women to have strong let down during nursing? I didn’t realize this was an issue in my supply for my baby.

1st baby: I was a “just-enough” producer always worried about my supply (i.e. waking up to pump if my baby slept too long) & wishing I was an oversupplier.
2nd baby: I’m now an oversupplier with a strong letdown so baby chokes at every feed & sometimes vomits from gagging. Hand expressing or using a Haakaa before each feed is annoying & now seeing the good side of my “just-enough” producing days with my 1st.

1st baby: She was a slow nurser who loved taking her time & I wished she was one of those fast nursers.
2nd baby: This one is a fast & efficient nurser who only takes one boob per feed most of the time & is done in like 5-10 min, but then she loves to comfort nurse after & throws a hissy fit when milk is still coming out or sometimes overeats & spits up a lot. Now seeing the good side of 1st who was a slow nurser, but rarely spat up.

To my “just-enough” producers out there, I see you. To my oversuppliers out there, I see you too. My 2nd made me realize there are pros & cons to both.

Baby is almost 1 month and has been drinking from bottle and BF. Sometimes BF is easier than bottle but sometimes he will get fussy so ill give him a bottle. Even with a bottle he’s still showing signs of hunger and immediately starts trying to suck my clothes so i just start BF is this normal? Or has he just gotten used to BF for comfort

Day weaned a few months ago and finally went cold turkey the other day (18 months) with feeding to sleep and middle of the night nursing sessions. It’s only my left breast as she stopped feeding from the right a while ago, which was gradual so it never got engorged. My left one is HUGE, hard, and quite painful. I’ve been self expressing here and there but I read to only do that when completely necessary so my body knows to stop producing milk. I’ve been freezing cabbage leaves and putting those in my bra which is nice but they only last cold for a few minutes.

Any tips? How long will until my body gets the picture and my boob deflates? 😅