u/beandibbily

I'm the first out of my group of friends to have a baby even though I'm in my early 30s. I knew and understood when we decided to have children that I would no longer have the free, open schedule that I had prior. It still doesn't soften the sting of seeing my friends all go out to fun events and hang out together and not receiving an invite at all anymore.

My friends posted pictures of them all out at a tulip farm picking flowers together, it looked so beautiful and nice and honestly I could have gone with the baby and had it all work out but I never even was considered to be invited.

My sister and my cousins all made plans together to go into the city and get dim sum which is one of my favorite meals and didn't invite me because they wanted to enjoy their time and not rush back because I'd have to pump.

It just makes me sad, even though I absolutely adore being with my baby, it'd be nice to get out with friends again even if I bring her along or to be considered for an invite. Or just the fact that all my time and plans evolve around my pumping schedule.

I'm currently doing 6 pumps a day still and I'm about a week out from 6 months post partum. I want to provide milk for my baby for as long as possible and it gives me anxiety thinking about cutting out any more sessions because I'm just barely oversupplying to cover her daily intake.

Sigh. I guess I just needed to get this out to people who would understand more.

Hello all. I return to work July 9th, I pump 6 times a day, first time mom and will be 6 months post partum.

I originally got the Medela in style pro through my insurance. I didn't have anything to compare it to, it worked but I wasn't super happy with it. It sucked being stuck plugged into the wall and I took 25-35min to feel fully empty. It is a small pump and was easy to travel with though.

After seeing a lot of people on this sub talk about the blue spectra, I decided to get it and actually found one on Facebook marketplace for only $50. I replaced all the parts and really enjoy the battery and being able to pump anywhere I want. It empties me faster, probably 15-20min in comparison to the Medela. I also have a carrier bag specific to the spectra to travel with it.

I have never tried or used wearables, but my sister gave me her Willow pump.

I am going back to work for three, 12 hour shifts so will pump probably 3 times during the work day. The parking lot is also at least a 5-10min walk to get inside, especially if you arrive late at all, it is difficult finding good parking spots.

Do I carry the spectra to work even though it's heavier because it is a quicker pump session? Or do I bring my Medela because it is lighter but will take me longer to empty. My work has a lactation room and fully support me pumping. Do I use the Willow pumps on my drive home? It is about a 30-40min drive and I'm working 8am-8pm. If I use the wearables then I have even more parts to wash. I hand wash and do not own a bottle washer because of lack of counter space.

Please help me decide 😩

Hello all, I'm currently almost 5 months post partum and go back to work on July 9th. I exclusively pump every 3hrs except for my overnight from 11pm to 5:30am.

When I return to work, I'll be doing three, 12 hour shifts. Thankfully they are great about supporting me with pumping and have a lactation room I can use as well.

My question is that I'm thinking of increasing my pumping sessions to every 4 hours instead of every 3 hours, and advice on how to do that in basically a month. Should I increase the time between each session by 15 minutes each week? Sometimes I'm late on pumping if I go out somewhere and end up pumping around 4 hours and I don't get engorged I just get slightly uncomfortable.

On my days home from work, can I go back to pumping every 3 hours or should I remain consistent and just stay at every 4 hours once I transition to that?

There are quite a few Legendairy milk supplements and they all seem to have similar descriptions or ingredients. Which ones have you tried and why? Do you take one on it's own, or multiple at the same time? Do you follow the 3x a day instructions? Have you noticed an increase in supply while using them?

Picked it up last night (sorry I don't have a picture) but I received a bin of spinach, two kale salad kits, and two large bags of kale. So. Much. Kale. I was really hoping for more variety or some fruit or a dip. Honestly anything else other than 4 bags of kale. I don't think I'll be getting the produce bag again.

Hi all. First time mom to a great 4 month old. My current schedule right now is pumping as close to every 3 hours as I can during the day, with my last pump being at 11:30pm. I phased out my middle of the night pump because I could not function with that sleep schedule. Unfortunately, I'm now having issues with my current sleep schedule. I usually pump around 9pm, get in bed and sleep until 11:30pm, wake up to pump, and then go back to bed until my alarm goes off at 6am, where I usually get to pumping by 6:15-6:30am depending on if my baby wakes up or not.

I'm so tired that I pass out when I head to bed after the 9pm pump, but waking up for the 11:30pm is slowly becoming torture. I get jolted out of bed by the alarm because I'm finally sleeping so deeply, and then force myself out of bed to head down to the kitchen to pump. I keep my pump parts in the fridge and the light opening that door kills me. I try to stay off my phone and just rest during the session. When I head back to bed by midnight, I always have a much harder time falling back asleep. Then my baby usually wakes me up around 2-3am to get her diaper changed, and then sometimes wakes me up with noises around 4-5am, and then I'm up by 6am.

I have a daily ~10oz over supply even with my middle of the night session cut out, and I have a medium sized freezer stash.

So I got from 11:30pm to 6:30am, 7 hours without pumping. Part of me wants to try to cut out the 11:30pm pump too to try to get better sleep. Can I do that and still wake up at 6am, or should I wake up earlier? I'm just having such a hard time dealing with the interruptions of sleep, especially between my 9pm and 11:30pm pump. The past 4 months I don't think I have gotten longer than a 3 hour stretch of sleep.

Pretty simple question but just looking for opinions on if it matters or not. I cut out my middle of the night pump and made my last pump of the night a strict 11:30pm. I don't like pushing it later and I can't pump earlier or else I get engorged. I usually wake up and pump by 6:15-6:30am the next morning. I pump every 3 hours during the day.

Yesterday my schedule got messed up because I got distracted and I pumped around 7pm. I then pumped at 9pm and then 11:30pm. My question is, was that the right decision to pump every 2 hours because I wasnt going to be able to stay on my every 3 hours schedule to end at 11:30, or should I have just gone 4.5hrs between the sessions (7pm to 11:30pm)? Or does it not matter? I have a good supply, so increasing supply isn't something I necessarily need.

I am almost 4 months post partem, and currently my baby girl is only taking bottles, no breastfeeding. She's a chugger and my husband would not pace her on the times we would bottle feed, so when I would try to breast feed she would scream and cry because the milk was not coming fast enough/too much effort.

Since stopping breastfeeding, I have been strictly pumping every 3-4 hours, except for a 5-6 hour gap overnight. Up until about a week ago, I was waking up at 1:30am to pump. I cut it out of my schedule because the sleep deprivation was killing me, but now I'm seeing a fairly dramatic drop in my total supply. I would usually only get 6oz at my 1:30am pump. I was getting 40-46oz each day, and now it has dropped to around 30-36oz.

Will my supply go back once it normalizes again, or is this going to be my max from now on? Is there anything I can do to increase it again? I've heard once you are past 12 weeks, what your supply is, is what you get.