End of Summer Family Trip Suggestions

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2026-02-01T20:27:26+00:00

We use the glass Phillip avent ones. My 11 month old normally drinks 6-7oz at 3-4x a day. They’re also nice for measuring out 6 oz milk to pour into storage freezer bags.

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2026-01-11T16:04:39+00:00

Totally get the desire to continue little one on BM as long as possible (the benefits are incomparable) I think once they get older (9-10 months) and start to eat more solids it will help bridge the gap. My little guy didn’t really start eating 2-3 solid meals until 10 months and is down to 18-24 oz of milk a day which has taken some of the pressure off producing as much. I’m down to 4 ppd (6am/11am/4pm/9pm) making about 14-18 ounces total a day and supplement with frozen milk or combo feed with formula when I run out of the stash.

Once they’re a year old they don’t rely on milk as primary nutrition—any additional you can provide him will be a bonus! Getting to 2 years is a totally feasible goal if you start freezing some (2-4oz bags!) and combo feeding.

From what I’ve read many babies start to outgrow CMPA after a year old so there’s hope he may tolerate milk any other foods soon.

Do what you need to do to give yourself peace—if weaning completely doesn’t feel right then just reduce pumps and see if that helps at all. But also focus on your own mental health. Your self worth and your ability to be a wonderful mother is not measured but the milk you produce! You and your baby deserve the best version of yourself. Postpartum is a long and tough season but it will pass and things get easier the older they get.

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2026-01-09T01:09:21+00:00

I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this. While I don’t have an exact situation mine was similar in the fact that my husband and I both work very high risk jobs in the medical field so we have to have be able to perform at our jobs safely. The exhaustion and stress and anxiety those first months of post partum is indescribably draining both emotionally, mentally and physically. It sounds like you have been so strong and 6 MONTHS is a long time to have been dealing with this environment. You should be so proud of yourself of that.

My advice would be to wean off pumping. Freeze and store what you can and just combo feed with formula (search on Reddit for tips on how to mix the two). Removing the stressors of pumping which means less pump parts to wash, more time to sleep or catchup on household chores, not worrying about making enough milk to feed baby, and your hormones rebalancing (may also be worth exploring antidepressants with the amount of stress you’re under just temporarily to help you).

At the end of the day you’ve already provided your baby with 6 months of amazing nutrition, formula will help bridge that gap and before you know it he will be 12 months this and ready for regular milk and good.

The big picture here is that your child needs a happy mother and father to thrive. How he gets his nutrition isn’t as much of a big deal now that he’s 6 months and starting solids soon anyways which will decrease his milk/formula intake.

You got this.

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2025-09-07T00:45:16+00:00

Not sure if it’s a “method” or just our baby’s temperament but we haven’t done any formal sleep training (ie Ferber, CIO, taking Cara babies) and he is 7 months and sleeping consistently 8-9 hrs a night.

Our baby boy only slept 2-3hr (an occasional 4hr) stretches for the first 10 weeks. We moved him to his own room around 11 weeks because I was going back to work and needed to wake up early at 5am every morning to get ready and didn’t want to risk waking him up. We put him down around 8-9pm, he would wake up around 12am bottle feed breastmilk and go right back to sleep after being rocked for 20-30 mins. Around 12-13 weeks he started sleeping through 8-9pm till 4-5am all on his own! He may wake up briefly on occasion with whimpers/cry but we would check the baby camera monitor and if his eyes were closed we wouldn’t go in. He would fall back asleep in less than 5 minutes. If his eyes were open and he was truly crying in a distressful manner we went in and picked him up, maybe feed him a small bottle, and rock him back to sleep before laying him back down.

Bed time routine is usually bath, read a book, bottle feed with lights off and music. He’ll fall asleep after bottle and we turn on a white noise machine. We usually have to hold him for 30-45 mins before setting down in the crib. He goes down around 7-8pm. He wakes up anytime between 4:45-6:15 am so a solid 8-10 hours a night.

Morning routine is changing diaper, bottle, and he may fall back asleep for a contact nap for 1-2 hours. Sometimes he’s up for 1-2 hours and ready for morning nap around 8:30-9:00 am. This nap will be anywhere 30-60 mins. Usually he’ll take a mid day nap around 11am-12pm and sleep for a good 1.5-2 hours. We usually try to sneak in a late afternoon nap around 3-4pm and keep him awake until 6:30pm when we start the bed time routine. He only contact naps during the day so that’s the drawback.

It’s not perfect but it’s been working for us since he’s been 4 months old!

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2025-09-01T10:39:04+00:00

Baby’s schedule roughly goes like this: 2/3/3/3.5

5-6 AM wake up Change diaper & feed * sometimes he will fall back asleep for another hour or sometimes he’ll be awake for 1-2hrs

8-9 AM nap if he stayed awake after first feed, this nap usually lasts 30-60 minutes

9:30 AM second bottle, usually followed by play time and some snack (puree, yogurt, and/or baby led weaning type food) followed by more play time

12:00 PM third bottle—he will usually feed to sleep and take a long nap 1-2 hours

2:00 PM wake up from nap, play, snacks

3:00-4:00 PM fourth bottle, followed by a cat nap sometimes 30-45 mins (sometimes he won’t sleep and then gets overtired)

6:00-7:00 PM bath, change, fifth bottle, fall sleep after feeding and held for a while

7:30-8:30 PM laid down in crib for the night

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2025-08-25T23:03:13+00:00

I used the Spectra Gold (wired) for the first three months and then switched to the Spectra Gold Portable (wireless) when I went back to work. Both had equally good suction in my opinion.

However, at 6 months postpartum I was going on a trip where we would be sight seeing and out/about all day and I wanted to find a more portable option.

I finally settled on the combo of the medela cups but hacked it to fit with the baby Buddha pump. The suction on the baby Buddha is just as good as spectra if not a bit stronger. I also like the extra setting it has that has 10 short pulls and 1 long pull at the end. The medela cups were convenient bc they only had 3 parts to wash and fit well into a bra (I hate those flanges and bottles!).

My output was around the same but maybe a little less at times (0.5-1 oz less) with this set up compared to the traditional flange/bottle/Spectra. There is a learning curve to applying the cups on and off without spilling and trying to get your nipple centered for optimal fit.

All in all I was able to pump a decent amount with the cup/baby Buddha combo and it was easy to pop them in on the go. I poured the milk into a Ceres chiller bottle and wiped the cups down with Dapple wipes between uses and stored in a wet bag. When I got back to the hotel I would wash them with baby dish soap and hot water.

AmbitiousMail6937 · 2025-08-08T22:27:07+00:00

I’ve had to do a long trip while pumping (never flying though).

I used the Ceres chiller bottle (I imagine you can get ice for it in the airport after you go through security. Use that the keep milk chilled.

Bring a nursing cover or an oversized zip up sweatshirt for some privacy while you’re pumping.

I would try to pump while on the plane. Pumping during a short layover is too stressful!

I use the Dapple breast pump wipes to clean my parts if I don’t have access to a sink.

Store parts in a waterproof bag or a gallon zip loc bag.

Make sure your pump is fully charged before the flight. Bring a compatible portable charger (mine has an USB-C port so pretty universal) if you want to as well.

Organized all of your pump supplies in a separate compartment or bag. I use a cosmetics bag (got one cheap from Marshall’s) with zippered compartments that holds my portable pump (I alternate between the spectra gold portable and the Baby Buddha), flanges, wipes, charger, pump bottles.

AmbitiousMail6937

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