r/ExclusivelyPumping

Going on a Bach weekend! Planning to set my alarm and pump every 3 hours.. I'll be 12 weeks PP. I want to drink a bit. A friend of mine said to just label the "boozy" bags as boozy when I've had a bit to drink. How much is too much alcohol and should I pump and dump at all? If I'm out for the day with my ceres chill, and drinking (there's a beach day planned), should the whole thermos be labeled boozy? Best practices and anecdotal advice welcome Xo

(Wasn’t sure which flair to use for this!) I’m 15 weeks postpartum and thinking of starting the progestin-only birth control pill. I know they say it’s a good option for breastfeeding/pumping because it typically doesn’t impact milk supply, but just wanted to hear from any others who went this route! Did you notice any issues or decrease in supply?

Today i spilled my milk and it feels like i lost a war. Iam crying rn when i should be sleeping as its my husband shift. 😭😭 iam not having my sleep plus i lost 70 ml milk 😭😭😭😭😭 now i dont have enough milk for my baby for a feed.

Am i the unluckeist person rn . Not being dramatic but that how it feels . I really wish this sadness goes away sooner than later.

I’m 7w postpartum and so far have been really liking my EP journey. It’s my first baby, so I really have nothing to compare it to. But I always hear that BF is easier longterm.

My pros:

- I can feed her on an exact schedule
- I have data and assurance
- she eats super efficiently every 3h
- she has no witching hour
- my husband can partake
- I can leave and go out and about

Cons:
- when she increases her demand, I have to pump 6-7 times for multiple days, it’s stressful. Then i can usually go back to 4-5 to maintain.

Did anyone find it relatively easy to pump longterm? Or is it like a marathon for everyone?

I have a 5.5 month old and we’re currently combo feeding (currently only 6oz of formula but slowly increasing as I’m planning on weaning). Just wondering if our feeding schedule / amounts seem normal? Most of the feeding guidelines are for either just formula or nursing so I never know if he’s truly hungry since he’s mostly pumped breastmilk.

6:30/7 - wake and feed 6oz combo bottle
10/10:30 - feed 5oz combo bottle
1 - feed 5oz full BM bottle
4 - feed 5oz full BM bottle
6:30/7 - feed 6oz combo bottle
He’ll usually wake around 2am and I’ll give him 4oz BM then sometimes have to do a snooze feed around 5:15/30 of another 4oz.

When are we dropping night feeds? Does total oz really matter? Sometimes he’ll easily do 35 oz on a crazy day

Editing to say he is also only 14lbs at 24 weeks

So I exclusively pump.
I began to get a rash on one nipple, that eventually made it to the other.
My doctor after several failed guesses, eventually prescribed me an oral antifungal. ( second prescription, as the first 10 day prescription gf one did nothing )

After a total of 10 days of THIS oral antifungal my nipples cleared up. Unfortunately I believe my pump tubes or one of my bras still had spores, because it came back about a week after clearing up.
They’re now suggesting using OTC topicals because longer orals can cause liver damage. However, prescribed nystatin Made it worse, and clamitrazole only reduces it down to the nipple but won’t clear it. This rash is painful and im at the end of my rope here.

Looking for anyone who’s dealt with this if you have a different treatment recommendation.

Hi, I EP’d for a year with my daughter. It wasn’t my plan but she was born premature, so she couldn’t latch. In the hospital they gave me the pump but I could never remove the sticky colostrum well with the pump so I was manually expressing with my hands and it hurt so badly from what I remember. My boobs were literally bruised blue. Once my milk supply started coming in I used the hospital pump until I went home.

Eventually when my daughter came home we tired to latch and I honestly never liked it. To me it always hurt way worse than the pump. Pumping worked better with my job and let my husband help feed too which gave me a break here and there

Now I’m pregnant again and really just want to pump from the get go. Do I tell the nurse that in the hospital? Just say I don’t really want to latch just go straight to pumping/bottle?

I don’t know how it really works with a regular term baby!

I have pink spectra , so to be monile i started using momcozy m5 after its reviews . Its been good to me to be mobile but its hurts. So i started using spectra but iam confined to a place . Does momcozy m5 hurt everyone or is it me? Am i doing it wrong? My flange size is 20 but i only 21mm for momcozy . Is that it? Is that the issue ?

Hi,

I wanted to ask what you usually do after a midnight pumping session. Do you wash your pump parts right away, or if you don’t want to wash them in the middle of the night, do you follow another method?

I’d love to know what works best and what’s considered safe or recommended.

Thank you!

I’m pregnant with my second and plan to exclusively pump with him like I did my first. With my first, I used wearable pumps (Medela Seing Max, Eufy E20, and MomCozy M5) only. I didn’t even own a wall pump. I did just fine with those up until I stopped at 9 months pp when I got pregnant again. This time around, I had planned to get a wall pump (Spectra S1) through insurance. However I just went on to order it and saw I could get the Eufy S1 Pro! Now I really am tempted to get that as I always wanted it the first time around.

What do you guys think? Is a wall pump even possible to use with a toddler running around? I know they’re “better” than wearables but I can’t even imagine having the time to set it up and use it with 2 under 2!

Is there a solution for someone who only uses formula occasionally.. like only a few bottles per month? I have had to throw away entire canisters because I only supplement with formula every now and again. I would love some kind of travel pack of formula where it was a single serving packet so I am not wasting money and formula by throwing it away once it expires after 30 days. What is the solution here? I can’t be the only one!

Title says it 🥲

My own fault really, normally my son wakes up every 3/4hrs during the night or I will set an alarm. I didn't tonight and of course he slept much longer that normal. Last session ended 22:30 and then woke and started pumping at 03:50.

I just about produce enough milk, I normally pump every 3hrs and get about 85-110ml total. My son has around 100-120ml every 3hrs.

I am now really stressing that because I left it so long between feeds my milk supply is going to decrease... I pumped when I woke up and managed to get 160ml total 😓 I would have hoped for at least 200ml given the missed session.

Side question, I pump for 30mins at a time, say 10:00-10:30, I then begin again 3hrs after the end so 13:30-14:00. Do you time from the start or end time of a session?

I’m 7 weeks PP, the first few weeks my pumping journey was going great. I was technically over supplying but already made a huge freezer stash. It was easy to pump on a 2-3 hour schedule because my husband was home on leave and the first weeks he went back I had lots of family help during the day.

Now that we’re in the swing of things and I don’t have consistent help during the week, I cannot keep up with my schedule. My baby is quite the Velcro baby and cries when I put him down. Yes, he naps during the day and I pump when I can, but it seems almost impossible now especially when I have other things that need my attention in the house (dogs, washing bottles, feeding myself). It’s almost like my baby knows I’m about to pump and just starts having a complete meltdown, I just feel like giving up. My supply has taken a hit too due to not being able to be consistent. I’ll take any advice but I just don’t know what advice I could get, maybe I’m just ranting. I want to continue but it’s just so hard. I wish just breastfeeding him would be the answer but he doesn’t latch well and won’t get enough to eat, resulting in more crying and constant feeding.

I'm currently using the Medela Motion inbra pumps (am getting a wall pump, it's arriving next week) and I can't see inside the pump super well, the only thing I can see is my nipple slightly and the milk flow.

I had my nipples measured by a lactation consultant and it came out to 13mm so I used a 15mm flange. Well I was pumping away a few days ago, noticed when I took the pump off I had some chaffing on my nip nops. So i grabbed my nipple measure and re measured (I waited until my nipples weren't swollen) I came out to 17mm so I looked up a guide online and it said I should use a 19mm flange. So I've been using that today but I think it's too big? I've noticed when I take the pump off my areola is really wet with breast milk, which is making me think it's pulling my areola in. I just don't know, and I can't see inside the pump to check.

I was just reading someone’s post here on Reddit from a couple of years ago, and a few people were discussing how the dropped their MOTN pump, as well as instead of every 2-3 hours they pumped more like every 4-5 or something like that, and said that they actualy started producing more per day?

And I understand it can “appear” like you are pumping more per session if you miss a pump. But these people were claiming that they were actually getting more ounces per day.

I’m an undersupplier and have been pumping around every 2-3 hours. I get around 14-15 oz per day it’s looking like. Everything I’ve read says to pump every two hours and to not miss MOTN pumps in order to increase supply. Which makes sense to me. But they were claiming that maybe being more rested, and less stressed with all the pumping sessions may have been why dropping pumps actually helped.

Has anybody experienced this? Obviously would love if I could drop a couple of pumps/go a little longer than every 2-3 hours, if it also meant I could potentially increase my supply. But I definitely cannot afford to decrease any of my supply by any means.

First, is it worth it? I pump 8x/day, every 3 hours.

I would need one that fits all my Spectra pump parts, plus a doctor brown bottle and its parts (bottle, nipple, the 2 parts of the insert, and white part for the nipple).

I thought about it some time ago, then decided I don’t need it. But now, sitting here while my pump and bottle parts soak and having to dry them after, I’m reconsidering.

Which ones would you all recommend if you have one, that will have the capacity I need?

I’ve come on here and pored over the posts about feeling guilty for stopping pumping and I didn’t realize how strong that feeling would be for me. after 8 months I am done with my pumping journey due to a CMPA allergy and restrictive diet that still wasn’t helping baby’s tummy. I see all you other moms on here and I feel so proud to have been part of this community. pumping is so hard and requires so much dedication. I am in awe and inspired by all of you. keep fighting the good fight until you feel it isn’t right anymore. just wanted to cheer you all on and give you all virtual hugs 🫂 you got this.

I have a Eufy this time around and just am not seeing the output my spectra gives me. With my first I had a Willow go and it worked amazing. Give me all of your eufy tips - how are you optimizing output with these? I bought the legendairy milk flanges and that didn’t seem to help.

TW: Baby's health, milk stash & wasting milk

I wasn't sure what to tag this as, but essentially this is a rant where I feel so guilty and devastated about putting my baby in danger. Essentially, I have IBS and in my 2nd trimester my ob gave the green light to take my medication (bentyl) to help with intestinal cramping. This was something I took sparingly or not at all out of fear it could hurt my baby, but after she was born and my IBS pain got worse, I *assumed* since it was safe to take when pregnant that I could continue taking it when breastfeeding without double checking first.

Well I went to the primary doctor yesterday for labs and we discussed my medication list where I was informed after their system flagged a warning that it's not recommended to take Bentyl when breastfeeding. In doing a quick search, it can impact the baby's health by causing severe breathing problems 😳

Thankfully our baby hasn't had any respiratory issues but half of my freezer is full of milk so it's a double slap in the face where I unknowingly put her in danger and now I have to purge the milk supply I had been building up. On one hand I'm glad it was caught at only 10 weeks, but I'm mad that the doctor at my postpartum appointment never asked me to confirm my medication where this could have been stopped much sooner.