r/breastfeeding

My bay is turning 1 in a couple of weeks and I’m going to be weaning him.

I don’t want to, I’m not ready to but…we’ve been trying to get pregnant for a while now and my dr has said stopping breastfeeding may help. I’m 40, so I don’t have time to wait. I agreed with my husband I’d wean at 12 months, but I just feel so heartbroken about it.

I guess…I just need some encouragement and optimism. I’m sad this journey is over, even if I understand why.

I have a five month old and have been back to work full time the past two months. In the beginning, pumping while working was the worst thing ever for a variety of reasons but part of it was coming home and having to pump and wash pump parts. However, my husband now washes and sanitizes them for me and bottles too. I can’t even remember the last time I touched a bottle brush and having my pump ready to go everyday has been the best. I didn’t realize how much of a difference eliminating this one thing would be for me but it’s been great. So I just wanted to make a PSA that this one little thing will make a big difference and encourage you all to make it the norm!!!

When baby was a newborn I religiously tracked everything on huckleberry, then I stopped timing feeds around 2.5 months. Baby is 6 months old and exclusively nurses, and I decided to try a day of timing feeds to compare.

For the first ~3 months I was spending 5-6.5 hours a day breastfeeding, with feeds taking about 45 minutes. I remember hearing that 6 weeks is when things start to get faster, but that didn’t happen for me. I fed on demand every 1.5-2 hours and cluster fed every evening. Between that and contact naps, I felt like I sat and held baby all day. Yesterday, baby nursed 8 times and spent a total of 43 minutes breastfeeding.

If you’re feeling like breastfeeding is a full time job right now, just know it gets sooo much easier! I love it and nursing sessions are such a special time for us to slow down and reconnect.

Ok, so my boob monster bit me so hard that there is now a small chunk just hanging on for dear life, I have cleaned it as best as I can, my question is what do I do before the next feed?? It bleeds every time I clean the dried blood, but if I dont clean, how can he eat? And he needs to eat because I am NOT about to let it fill up so much that mastitis happens. Please please someone tell me I’m not the only one who has had this happen🙏

Hi all,

FTM with a 10-month-old boy here and some questions about how your nursing experiences have evolved at this stage of the...journey. I/we have exclusively breastfed since birth, although baby is now getting two bottles of pumped milk on weekdays, when he does half days at daycare. He is also getting solids 2x day, once mid-morning and once early evening before bed. His nursing preferences have changed pretty dramatically of late, and I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences. I typically offer the breast on waking, before and/or after naps depending on timing, and right before bed, but lately he's been refusing some of those sessions and then wanting to pop on and off the breast intermittently throughout the morning and afternoon, pretty much constantly. It's been like this for maybe two weeks. Is this a normal phase? I don't mind so much, but my spouse has criticized me several times and implied that I am offering my breast compulsively. I don't feel this way of course, but I'd appreciate some other perspectives.

Very sad to make this post. My boy was born in Spring 2024. He's almost two. He potty trained over a month ago. He has a full mouth of teeth. New words every day. Everything that says "I'm a kid." Everything that, to me, makes me feel like he's too old to be nursing.

It was difficult to establish breastfeeding with him. I never supplemented and pride myself in that, but had to pump due to an oversupply; it was seriously the only way to find relief when my baby only nursed on one breast for 4min then didn't feed for 2-3hrs. He gained weight like nobody's business. It was painful, exhausting, and I cried so much. I just wanted to get to 12 months to feel like I really did it.

It took 8 months before it felt easy. Then for the first time ever I actually looked forward to the snuggles that came with nursing. I've always been his safe space and I can tell that he feels safest at the breast. He seeks me out and seeks for comfort and reset.

I had a baby a couple of months ago and first-born became clingier as expected. I've been tandem-nursing them. It's been so special. We cosleep and get to spend a lot of time together. They're always with me.

Lately I've been irritated by having to nurse two babies around the clock, and for the past few weeks, my toddler has been waking me up 5+ times in the night to nurse, whereas my now 3mo has only ever woken me twice a night. I've tried to move my toddler into his own room but he isn't ready and I support cosleeping until 3yrs at least. I don't want him out of my bed. I just want to stop being woken up so many times in the night to nurse.

I can't give him a hug without him trying to get into my shirt. I feel an aversion to nursing my baby because my toddler cries and begs for it the whole time. I feel bad denying him but it's been months of denying him and he is still obsessive.

I definitely don't want to be nursing a 3yo, I'm just not comfortable with it. Do you have any suggestions on the first steps to weaning? When I deny him and offer cuddles instead, he gets very upset. He isn't ready to wean but I need to start the process 🥹

I’m a FTM with a 3 week old bubba. Breastfeeding most of the time and occasionally offering him bottles of expressed milk (so his dad can also feed/give me a rest). So far there have been no issues with feeding - supply is great, babies latch is good, he’s piling on weight etc…

What I have found difficult however is a feeling of dread that washes over me when bubba wakes up and I realise it’s time to feed him. When he actually gets on the boob the feeling goes away completely and I realise ‘oh this is totally fine’ but before that I just feel so tired and defeated and like it’s too much responsibility for me to be his source of food?

Again, it’s only when he wakes up and before the feed (not during). Has anyone else experienced this? Like anticipatory dread of breastfeeding, but then the feeding is actually fine??

I have a brand new 5 day old and a 3.5 year old and I'm having trouble knowing when I should stop care for newborn to care for preschooler. Example, 3 year old needed to pee. She can manage on her own but typically asks for help, dad was busy. Should I stop a feeding session to help or insist she do it herself? Or she's playing and "gets hurt", do I stop to comfort her even if it's not really an injury?

Hi all, so sorry for long post but I just don’t know what is going on. I have a beautiful 7 week old boy and I’m really starting to struggle. I have been breastfeeding him since birth and it was going really well for about 2weeks then things started to go wrong. I thought everything was fine, he was latching well ( from what I could tell) he had lots of wet and dirty nappies and he was a very content baby but very sleepy. He would fall asleep when feeding a lot and feeds stared to take 1 - 1.5hrs. I have had a big oversupply from the start (up to 6oz on right side unfortunately only 2-3 oz on right) and my breasts have never felt empty after feeding.

At his 2 week check he had not returned to birth weight and the doctor recommended weekly weigh ins. The following week he only put on 100grams. I was really upset by it and started questioning everything as I thought it was going well. The nurse wanted me to feed him every two hours (he would sleep up to 3/4 hours at a time) which was virtually impossible for me when every feed took up to 1.5 hours and I have a 3 year old who needs me at home too. I started pumping as a result and gradually introduced a bottle (one a day) of 4oz so at least we knew he was getting one full feed. He drains the bottle every time we give him one sometimes needing more. We continued with bottles here and there and breastfeeding and at 4 weeks he had put on 330g in a week which we were so happy with and the nurse discharged us.

At his 6 week check with GP he had put on 465g in 2 weeks but she said he is not going up in percentiles as fast as she would like and I am just questioning everything- every time he feeds, my breasts are always full and never feel empty & he has had green mucus poos consistently for the last couple of weeks but he’s so content? Lately we’ve been introducing more bottles as he is becoming increasingly frustrated at the breast and I’m finding it hard to handle, I don’t know if he’s getting any milk at all. I saw a lactation consultant at 3 weeks and she checked him for a tongue tie but didn’t think he had one. We did a weighted feed and he took in .5oz in 45 minutes on a very full breast, we then readjusted and worked on positioning and he took in 1.5oz in 15 minutes! So now I am constantly switching him and repositioning but he never seems happy, his latched has also suffered. I am wondering if I should just give up and either exclusively pump or just move to formula. I’m so worried I’m doing my baby a disservice and I feel like I’m reaching for the bottle more and more because I can’t handle it.

My whole life seems to revolve around my breasts at the moment as they are constantly full and engorged and I have to hand express multiple times every day to stop clogs (they are constant and I’m afraid of mastitis) I am always covered in milk and have to change my clothes so much. I wish it was working or there was more that I could do or even figure out what the issue is. Any advice, guidance or support from you lovely people would be appreciated. Thanks.

My baby is 9mo now and we are just 3 months away from a year of EBF. I think knowing that it's coming up and we're so close to the "finish line" (we'll continue going after 1yr, it's just that that's our absolute minimum) it's creating anxiety for me. I'm afraid of my milk randomly drying up or my supply dropping drastically. I just need some support. Babe is still nursing 4-6x a day and then whatever she's having overnight which I don't keep track of. Is it realistic for my milk to suddenly drop or dry up completely at this point? Or are we almost certain to make it to at least a year?

My baby is almost 5 months and we are both struggling. I guess I am looking for anything at this point…advice, encouragement, honesty. I tried breastfeeding my previous child but after a month, he refused it. I exclusively pumped for over a year. This baby I wanted it to go differently. I wanted to breastfeed. However, we pretty much have had issues from the start.

I was exclusively breastfeeding from the day she was born. Her latch has never been good, my gut was telling me she wasn’t removing milk effectively. And due to 2x bouts of mastitis, strep x2 and a UTI, I made the mistake of introducing a bottle. Since then, she clearly has a bottle preference. I usually can get her on the breast for 2-5 minutes 2x daily and usually one fairly good 10 minute session either in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning when I am engorged. She does better with those MOTN feedings. However, she absolutely refuses to nurse on the right side. We’ve seen lactation consultants and they’ve confirmed what I suspected, she is usually taking in about an ounce during a feeding (essentially staying for the letdown and popping off). She had lip tie and posterior tongue tie released over a month ago. To make it worse, I am veryyy large chested so I feel as though we are constantly trying to feel comfortable nursing and no matter what position we do, it’s always uncomfortable for her, myself or both of us.

I feel as though 70% of the time I offer her the breast, she refuses it or cries for the bottle. I very much do not want to give up breastfeeding. I feel like I have tried everything. Pace feeding, different positions, nipple shields, different bottles. I am lucky enough to have a great supply but as she is approaching 5 months, I feel like she’s becoming more and more used to the bottle. I fear she’ll wake up one day and refuse the breast all together. It would break my heart. I guess I’m hoping someone has been in my shoes and successfully got their baby back to breast after a bottle preference?

I really just need somewhere to share this.

My babe was born at 37 weeks and struggled very much to latch when he was born due to being extremely sleepy, jaundiced, and having a first time mom who didn’t know what questions to ask or who to ask them to. He got donor milk in the hospital and formula at home while I pumped/ waited for a milk supply to come in.

I’ve been working with a lactation consultant who is absolutely wonderful and we have made good progress towards me being able to directly breast feed him and pump less. I have been struggling with it a lot and nearly gave up trying about ten times but I’m so glad I didn’t because tonight… my little guy (6 weeks old now) just nursed for comfort for the first time 😭😭😭😭 it’s 0130, he woke up upset (had a bottle an hour ago, so I know he’s not truly hungry) and I just popped him on and he suckled himself to sleep.

This means so much to me that he’s able to find comfort in nursing and doesn’t always find it frustrating and transactional!!

Anyway, hoping some moms here can understand the excitement here

I am mom to 5 months old. She is going through some sort of sleep regression- may be a growth spurt, may be teething, may be separation anxiety.

Anyway, she used to sleep through the night and sleep in her crib next to me. Typically I nurse her to get her sleepy or sometimes sleeping. Then I transfer her to crib with a little rocking. But lately, it’s been very difficult to transfer her to crib without waking her up. Even if we do manage to, she has been waking up very frequently. She falls asleep without too much effort in my arms, a little rocking, patting but no dice on the transfer. I tried settling her in her crib, but that is just leading to thrashing and crying. I have been very sleep deprived lately and need a break.

So I have just been bringing her into bed with us, nursing her and leaving her there. She is still waking up often but not a full wake up if I just give her boob. She settles back to sleep nursing.

My question is how to switch boobs without having to move her. How do all the co sleeping mamas go about this? Do you just leave baby on one boob? Is that okay? Lean forward and give her “top boob”? Please give me options!

Any other tips to improve the overall situation are welcome too!

if I take a bottle of of the fridge, dont warm it and baby doesn't eat it for an hour, can I keep it and put it back in the fridge?

My baby had 3.5 weeks of really watery poops. It was mustard colour. At the start of the week, it has actually improved into a clumpy paste texture however it was greenish. I’ve cut out lots of dairy as I felt it was related.

The past couple of days, the volume / quantity and frequency of his poop has decreased. It is just a tiny bit of clumpy paste and the colour a dark mustard. Today, one nappy even had few small soft formed pieces that actually looked brown. Then later on, he had two larger (1-1cm) soft formed nuggets that were pale yellow. Husband changed this nappy and thought they were grey poops which is why I then changed. I was not expecting formed poops. Is this normal?

Things to note - we breastfeed on demand. He had a nice, long feed a couple of hours prior. He has always just fed on one breast at a time, never really wanting to continue to the other side, and he has really quick feeds (five minutes tops). Today he fed about 8 times in a 24 hours period. He is otherwise happy, alert, not crying or showing signs of discomfort (other than mild silent reflux). He is 7.7kg, so a good weight. He has had the sniffles for almost a week, as have I (so I have not been drinking much water).

Any advice? I feel that maybe he is dehydrated a little bit? Perhaps this is reflecting my milk supply going down?

So I'm almost 30 weeks pregnant. The absolute most amount of time I have left is technically 7.5 weeks. Because I have an induction scheduled.

I'm getting SO NERVOUS now that we're getting close to crunch time. My son, I breastfed him for 15.5 months. But I had DMER and just pushed through FOR HALF OF THAT. I didn't understand what I was experiencing was abnormal and/or that I wasn't just being a bitch 😅 I know.

Now that it's close to babies time to be born, I feel like im putting off doing everything out of procrastination because im scared on how I may develop dmer again. Im literally terrified of it. It made breastfeeding horrible for me, at the end I ended up literally DREADING feeding my son and bedtime because he nursed to sleep so much. I also am very intimidated by the fact that I'll have 2 babies to worry about latch and lip ties and all the complications that come with figuring it out in the beginning.

I know I definitely want to breastfeed. I know pumping is an option, but it is so much harder than nursing. But im willing to do it especially so my husband can help feed. I was an oversupplier with my son so im not really concerned about quantity it's just that beginning stage

My LO is 14months and I’ve been nursing for his entire life. Our breast feeding journey was complicated because of an extended NICU stay and I pumped a lot during early months. I hated pumping. It made me want to rip my tits off, but I did it. Once we could exclusively nurse, we did, and I have loved it. Completely different feeling. No aversion like with the pumping.

I recently became pregnant though, and now I cannot STAND nursing. Feeling my LO’s mouth and little tongue on my nipple honestly fills me with rage and makes me want to yank him off as quickly as possible. This is particularly inconvenient as we nurse to sleep for all naps and bedtime, and once in the middle of the night.

I hate it so much. It’s too over stimulating. It makes me irrationally angry, and worst of all, it makes me feel ragey towards my baby.

I’ve tried to just limit feeding, but my LO is so upset by this. I feel so badly about it.

Will this feeling pass after the first trimester? Or is this it? I wanted to BF until my LO was 2y/o. He had such a difficult start, I wanted so badly to give this gift to him and I hate that my new pregnancy seems to be forcing my hand.

Any advice?

I’m just in tears writing this because I don’t know what to do. At the hospital they told me to wait to pump or give a binky until breastfeeding is well established or at least a month. I really want to do what they’ve told me, but my nipples are in so much pain.

My son wants to eat all the time, every minor inconvenience he wants the boob. Every time he falls asleep and I try to lay him down he wakes up and wants the boob. He’s inconsolable until he’s eating. Everything that touches my nipples feels like glass. Some days or times of day I am totally okay, but the rest I just cry every time he cries for the boob because I am not ready and it hurts so bad, but I can’t stand to leave him crying it out.

They told me at the hospital that he has a tongue tie, I have an appointment with a lactation consultant on Monday. Monday feels forever away while I feel like this. I saw some pictures and videos of tongue ties and my sons doesn’t look as bad as those that require surgery, and I’m hoping I can do exercises to help him work his out.

I started with the gel pads for some relief, I used them up. I took a hot shower and used a soft cloth as a warm compress. I’ve been using silverettes which I think have helped me more than anything else. After he feeds, I squeeze out a little milk and rub it on my sore spots before I put the silverettes back on. I try to go braless sometimes too and have my nipples exposed to the air while it’s not weird (my MIL is staying with us for a while). I have some sample nipple cream, but the lactation consultant advised against using it because it could cause a yeast infection. I’m of course taking ibuprofen and Tylenol alternating.

Honestly, I think breastfeeding is the hardest thing I have ever done, harder than giving birth. Maybe that’s just my body trying to forget trauma. I just don’t know what to do, I feel like caving and giving him a binky so I can have a break but I don’t want to make things even harder for myself for longer.

LO is 6 months and has been nursed the whole time. Tried Dr Browns bottles of expressed milk when a couple weeks old and took it no problem. Got complacent with just nursing and tried bottle feeding around 3-4 months and refused.

We tried multiple times, different nipples and flows and no luck. Around 6 months he finally started taking the bottle BUT has to be distracted. Whether one parent holds a book in front of him while other feeds or the TV is on. 2 people to feed is tough especially with a toddler in the house.

He starts daycare soon so that is why we need to have him take a bottle. Has anyone experienced this and how did you get your LO to take the bottle without the distractions?

We have tried dim room with no stimulation, different positions, sleepy, awake.

Hi all,

Just wondering if any of you ever dealt with nipple thrush? I saw a lactation consultant over 2 weeks ago now who helped me & let me know that my latch was fine but that I may have thrush. Turns out I do/did. I likely had it for several weeks untreated after antibiotics for mastitis almost 2 months ago. It's severe so I'm on fluconazole (oral antifungal) but at this point the thrush should be gone (my son's thrush is cleared too) but the skin on my nipples is wrecked and I have fissures that aren't healing from pumping. I haven't latched my son for over two weeks now because I wanted to wait until the fissures heal to not restart the cycle hopefully but pumping with watching two kids solo (2 under 2, they're 14 months apart) is getting too hard to manage. Have any of you ever dealt with nipple thrush or something similar? If yes, how did you get the skin to heal? Did you still breastfeed?