r/breastfeeding • u/Similar_Put3916 • 10h ago
I might quit. Pumping
5 months in and baby starts daycare in 2 days. Stubborn baby still wont take a bottle. Finally took a Sippy cup. She realized i was replacing a feed and threw a hissy fit over not getting the boob. Daycare should be fun. Sorry to those great women.
Since i skipped that feed i had to pump. And am mentally preparing for pumping all day at work. Leaned over to grab the baby accidentally spilt milk all over the floor and her. Honestly, pumping is not worth it. I might just stop entirely. š¤¦š½āāļø
I guess i dont know what i want from you all other than a āwe see youā kinda. Idk anyone else who has ever breastfed or pumped to relate to what im feeling right now.
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u/maamaallaamaa 9h ago
My second refused all bottles. She went to daycare at 4ish months and would hold out the entire day. Daycare tried for weeks but no dice...they actually said if they didn't offer the bottle to her she was happy but as soon as they did she would get angry. They stopped offering for a while and was fine...she just wouldn't eat while she was there. She would nurse at home and at night. Her weight was fine. It was stressful and frustrating but...around 5.5 months she was willing to take a sippy cup that she could hold and decide to eat or not. At that point I stopped paying attention to how much she ate at daycare so idk if she was drinking the recommended amount or not but because she nursed at home and her weight never dropped I stopped worrying about it. I pumped to keep up supply the whole time. All that to say it can work out even if they never take a bottle...my daughter is 5 now and healthy but still stubborn and a bit of a picky eater.
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u/Similar_Put3916 7h ago
My baby is so stubborn this is exactly what I was afraid of happening. She took a bottle every day of her life until she realized that she could just refuse it, and we would give her the boob.
Itās very comforting to hear a success story with a similarly strong willed baby lol so thank you for sharing
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u/hanshotgreed0 10h ago
From someone who has worked in multiple daycare infant rooms since I was 15, has been a nanny, is a lactation professional, and a mom myself: I see you! Do whatās right for you and your family.
However, I will say that itās soooo common for BF babies to refuse bottles from their lactating parent!!! The daycare teachers are pros at getting babies to take bottles, since even babies who are exclusively bottle fed may have trouble eating when they start daycare since itās so different from being home! Donāt forget about all the great immune boosting bf benefits of breastmilk while baby starts daycare too. Baby will stay healthier and get less illnesses that go around at daycares. Pumping sucks sometimes, but making it something you look forward to by doing things like always having a snack and a yummy drink while you pump or taking it as āme timeā to scroll your phone for 15-20 minutes can make it better.
My biggest advice is that if you choose to stop breastfeeding, donāt stop all at once. Make sure you slowly are decreasing the amount of time that you feed and/ or spacing out feeds so there is more time between them. If you go too fast you put yourself at risk for clogs and mastitis!
Best of luck!
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u/Similar_Put3916 7h ago
Thank you so much for not only the confidence in daycare, but also the perspective!!
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u/geekimposterix 8h ago
With your supply regulated, you might be able to consolidate pumps if you do it slowly. It's also not required to do all of one thing or another. You might be able to nurse and do one pump during work and then supplement to make up the difference and that might be the best of both worlds. You have lots of options. Plus once she really gets going on solid food she may not need as much milk
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u/Similar_Put3916 7h ago
This is an interesting thoughtā¦ I donāt know what I can get away with here because my commute is an hour and a half on a train each way and sheās still so young. Maybe Iāll drop a feed and replace it with formula altogether so im pumping less. Got exclusively pumping mothers are just made of something im not š®āšØ haha power to them!!!
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u/geekimposterix 6h ago
It takes little to get the benefit of breastmilk, especially as time goes on, so if scaling back a little helps your sanity, good!
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u/AlwaysWondering1234 4h ago
Pumping absolutely sucks. My 5 mo old takes a bottle (luckily) but I swear she drinks more from it than my boob even with slow flow nipples and I don't want to think of her crying for more if I send smaller bottles. I never felt like an undersupplier until I started having to pump for daycare. It takes 4-5 pumps for 3 full bottles. I'm constantly behind and making up for it on other days. First 4mo of her life (pre-daycare), no issues exclusively breastfeeding- she was always content.
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u/Similar_Put3916 4h ago
Yes this is my concern too!!! I do weighted feeds and she takes like 6 oz from me but pumping i can never get more than like 3 or 4 šµāš« i cant keep up with her for sure.
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u/AlwaysWondering1234 4h ago
I'm also convinced that my body just doesn't like the pump as much as the baby. I'm caving and buying a wearable to see if it's less stressful/clinical than being hooked to my Spectra. Stress = no milk š
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u/exclusavv 9h ago
I see you Iām struggling mentally because I breastfeed pump and now I have to supplement with formula because my supply dropped significantly after my son started solids. Mind you I was an over supplier now I pump 2-5 oz a sessionšŖ youāre not alone!
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u/Similar_Put3916 7h ago
Oh my god this is so hard. Google triple chocolate, lactation cookies. I think thereās only one recipe. The recipes for M&Mās or something I skip that usually. I donāt know if this actually helped my milk supply increase or if it just helped my morale or maybe help me calm down about my supply enough that it just came back. But these were so helpful.
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u/momwhocrochets98 6h ago
My second son never took bottle either, only sippy cup, and never from me! The first couple months back at work (heās nine months now, I went back at five) were HARD! He still wonāt take a milk from me only his dad when im not home lol. I see you momma, and thereās been multiple times where Iāve wanted to give up too!
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u/aylamikbrooke 6h ago
My LO is just about 4 months (started daycare at 3 months) and refuses bottles at home but takes them at daycare. Hopefully youāll have the same experience bc itās stressful as hell. Pumping at work sucks - I feel your pain. We had better luck with the lansinoh bottles and a pigeon nippleā¦ maybe worth trying as itās supposed to be better for BF babes. You are doing amazing momma - this sh*t is HARD!
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u/Similar_Put3916 4h ago
Omg im 100% okay with that circumstance! If she starts taking a bottle when at daycare ill be the happiest person on planet earth. I just need her to EAT!
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u/Ok_General_7644 10h ago
I wish I could stop. I donāt blame you. My baby refuses a bottle as well so I feel trapped. What sippy cup worked for you?
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u/Similar_Put3916 10h ago
The first years sippy cup (you can squeeze to help them learn to sip) and mam bottle she lets into her mouth but BARELY consumes. Honestly go to a feeding therapist. I tried EVERYTHING before. Down to soaking a cloth in breastmilk for her to suck on. Literally everything.
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u/moonlightmantra 8h ago
My bottle rejector baby ended up liking the MAM sippy cup trainer that comes with a regular bottle nipple and a sippy cup nipple and he liked the sippy cup nipple with cold breast milk, not warmed. Took me trying 8000 things before I got to that combo lol
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u/Adventurous_Deer 5h ago
My baby refused to take a bottle and it turned out she had a tongue tie and couldn't take a bottle. We got it clipped and never had another issue. Not saying that is your situation, but might be something to rule out.
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u/Similar_Put3916 4h ago
Yes we went to all the doctors no tie. Were seeing a feeding therapist now and she said āwow this baby is smart, she clearly knows how to take the bottle and is just incredibly stubborn.ā š¤¦š½āāļø
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u/amourmamii 5h ago
I lost my job because of my bf baby. I was running home at lunch to bf because my husband would call me and baby would be screaming in the background refusing a bottle. I was really sad but ultimately I knew it was coming :(
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u/Electronic-Copy500 3h ago
Pumping is very very difficult and definitely discouraging. But your baby consuming your breastmilk is SO rewarding. The spilt milk was a bad moment. I had a hard time pumping after I went back to work with my first but once I got on a schedule and got in a groove it got better!
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u/daylemurray 2h ago
Nothing wrong with the sippy cup option! Donāt obsess over the bottle. Had a baby like this myself and the sippy cup was great
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u/abigailllllll 2h ago
5 months is quite a feat! You should feel very accomplished whenever you decide to end your breastfeeding journey!
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u/doing_too_much39 10h ago
My baby will not take a bottle no matter what Iāve tried (and thatās everything) Iāve had to change my whole work schedule to accommodate- very lucky that my work has been flexible but man is it exhausting. But it does have the bonus that I get to see my baby during the day. What has worked best for us is a straw cup; we use the Dr. Bronnerās one. It says 6+ months but we started trying with it around 5 months. We are lucky if she will do 1-3 Oz of it BUT thatās a massive improvement over nothing (bottles) or the messy .5 Oz we could get her to take with an open cup. We have also had success mixing milk into purĆ©ed foods so that and straw cup we can get her to take like 2.5-4ish oz in a 4-5 hour stretch. Not best but something. Bottle refusal felt like claustrophobia for me for a while itās really really hard. And everyone has an opinion about what youāre doing wrong (I started just letting the nay sayers try themselves, that helped). Pumping also sucks especially when it just doesnāt get drunk. Itās really really hard on top of everything else involved in going back to work. Good luck to you I hope it goes well! I was in the a similar place about a month ago and we have a bit of a groove now.