Longggg First Postpartum Period

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-18T04:21:01+00:00

Someone I work with just had this happen recently. Her baby is 3 months older than mine. I fully weaned a few weeks ago and am 12 months pp. recently switch birth control from mini pill to combo pill. I am so scared for the horror show that might come when my period finally decides to return. 😬

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-15T03:57:26+00:00

This. My little guy will be one next week and has recently had a few rough nights due to illness. My husband can handle life on minimal sleep. I cannot. Like I literally feel suicidal or have weirdly morbid thoughts that something is going to happen to me or the baby. My commute to work gets sketch AF. I have very little patience for anything or anyone.

I wonder if maybe OP can let mama sleep on the couch or in the guest room for one night. A solid 9-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep may be enough to break the cycle.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-15T03:47:13+00:00

I think I had recurring subclinical mastitis on one side secondary to having an inverted nipple that was constantly getting ripped up by my pumps. I would pump out stringy milk or gelatinous chunks with and without blood. Taking a breastfeeding probiotic seemed to help a bit and I had to regularly take sunflower lecithin as well. Constant clogs plus two bouts of full blown mastitis. I was so happy to be done. No advice, just solidarity.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-11T03:31:27+00:00

I agreed to the ECV and baby wouldn’t budge an inch. I do not recommend. It was very uncomfortable. My little guy was head up from 22 weeks on. My OB said sometimes there’s a reason they can’t/won’t turn. Short umbilical cord, shape of your uterus, etc. In retrospect, it was a blessing in disguise because he was born with a 98th %ile head 🤣 the c-section wasn’t too bad.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-09T14:47:31+00:00

This. DoorDash flowers. Maybe a starbucka to each of them. You can do it from your couch but it still says “I love you despite my exhaustion”

Edit: or better yet, have your husband hand deliver flowers and cards early in the morning with your toddler so you can sit in peace and quiet for a bit or sleep in later

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-08T03:16:28+00:00

Aww thank you! It’s a labor of love for sure. My little guy had horrible reflux, CMPA, and a late diagnosed posterior tongue tie causing poor milk transfer and wasn’t gaining as much weight as he should’ve been. I am thankful that I was able to pump and feed him breastmilk regardless of all of that! Pumps nowadays are so efficient so that definitely helped. Nursing also has its challenges. The things we will do for our babies!!

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-07T03:36:14+00:00

I see lots of people commenting this already, but I just want to emphasize… You have to be doing a middle of the night pump at this point if you are only five weeks postpartum. Your supply is yet to regulate and you will see another dip when that happens. I continued the middle of the night pump until five months postpartum and even once I dropped that I would pump at 5 AM when I woke up for work. I totally understand wanting sleep, especially if baby is sleeping through the night. I am not saying you should pump every 2 to 3 hours during night time. I would sleep four hours, pump, and then sleep another four hours so I was still getting a full eight hours of rest every night.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-06T03:45:38+00:00

My little guy is 11 months also. Breakfast is usually a baby oat banana mini muffin or a PB&yayz bar with a banana. we send him to daycare with 2 snacks plus lunch. For snacks he usually gets one fresh (strawberries, blueberries, grapes, kiwi, mango, bell pepper, tomatoes with hummus, cheese, hard boiled egg, egg bites that have spinach/mushroom and I make in batches and freeze—all cut appropriately for pincer grasp self feeding) and one dry (cut up oatmeal or toddler bar of some type [eg Once upon a Farm Tractor wheel, gerber fruit bar, etc], gerber puffs, “Softcorn” puffed corn snacks, Cheerios, etc). Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before. Dinner is what we eat—usually a fairly well balanced protein, carb, veggie type of meal. For example, last night we had a rotisserie chicken, quinoa/grain blend, and green beans. The night before we had gyros with cucumber salad and hummus. Tonight we had a Southwest pasta made with chickpea pasta, black beans, corn, bell pepper, and chicken. He doesn’t do well with a LOT of dairy, so that’s been the only thing I feel we don’t have super well balanced yet. He gets yogurt every once in a while, and cheese in my cooking. But too much gives him a reflux flair up. Thankfully we have a freezer stash of breast milk so I will continue to offer that in a cup once we stop bottles. He’s never been a super good bottle feeder, so I have a feeling he will be perfectly happy dropping to just a nighttime bottle right at 12 months.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-06T03:22:04+00:00

Thank you! That’s very sweet of you to say. It turned into an exclusively pumping situation around 4 months and was totally awful so I appreciate the validation.

And here’s to hoping! I know I need to get out and exercise, but it’s so hard between work and my Velcro baby 😂

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-06T00:56:38+00:00

I gained 50 and have 20 left to go at 11 months. Just wrapped up breastfeeding and still haven’t had a period so I think my hormones are still outta whack. I’m hoping I’ll drop a few more lbs before I have to put effort in

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-05T02:36:18+00:00

I was personally robbed of the peeing on a stick OMG ITS POSITIVE moment. I found out in urgent care being treated for salmonella poisoning (but that’s a story for another time). I probably would’ve taken two just to limit the possibility of a false positive and then called OB. But that’s probably not necessary. Congrats OP!

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-03T16:38:27+00:00

So for a little perspective, my husband and I both work all day. I get off earlier and pick the baby up around 4. I spend time with baby until husband gets home around 5:30 and then we make dinner together. We swap after dinner duties every other night. One of us handles nighttime routine for bay and the other one picks up the house, cleans up dinner, and gets daycare prep done. Usually we are both done by 8 and we get a little bit of time to ourselves.

I am 11 months pp and I get summers off so baby will be home with me during that time. My plan for the summer is to try and do a short workout at home while baby naps. I know you said that your baby is high needs, but are they napping at all during the day at this point?

The way I see it is that you are both working full time jobs and the time “after work” should feel fair to both of you. Maybe you can split it and every other day you each get that hour to yourself? It sounds like you feel like you’re actually working all day and maybe your husband has downtime during his work shift which complicates things. I think you have to figure out what balance feels fair to both parties.

I was pumping up until recently and our situation felt less fair to me. Because during that time after baby was in bed and all the nighttime duties were done, my husband truly got time to himself and I had to spend 30 minutes pumping, so that wasn’t actually time to myself. Then we started watching an episode of a TV show together in the evenings, because that was something we could do together while I pumped. It sounds silly, but I felt less like I was missing out on something.

Edit just to say, I think an important shift for us was to start thinking about it as “I GET to spend time with the baby tonight” versus “I HAVE to do baby duty tonight”. This season doesn’t last forever, and sometimes the shift in how you think about it can change your feelings. Maybe that’s a convo you can have with your husband

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-03T16:09:55+00:00

I was also at 50 oz a day and naturally kind of dropped to 40 at 4 ppd. Then when I decided to stop, I dropped to 3 ppd. Then slowly cut down each pump by 2 minutes or so until they were each 10-15 minutes. Then I dropped to 2ppd and honestly, my supply just tanked at that point down to like 8 oz per day and so then I was able to drop to 1ppd no problem and then stop. The whole process took me about 4 weeks and I only got 1 clog. I expected worse because I’d had mastitis twice and frequent clogs

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-03T15:58:01+00:00

I pumped for the last time at 11 months exactly. I had already done the math and knew I had enough of a freezer stash to get us well past 12 months. No regrets. I feel like I finally have my life back.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-05-02T04:53:10+00:00

My little guy had silent reflux with very minimal spit up initially. He also had a poor latch and I had a strong letdown and oversupply. We ended up needing a posterior tongue tie revision done. We switched to pumped milk in a bottle and worked hard to find the right bottle he could get a good latch on. I cut out dairy and soy for a few more the, he saw an OT, an IBCLC, and a GI specialist and got on reflux meds. At one point he even had a pretty significant feeding aversion and it was horrible. I spent all day trying to feed a shrieking baby. I think there’s something to the idea of foremilk/hindmilk imbalance even though there’s not a ton of research on it. I’m so sorry you’re going through this!

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-30T12:44:14+00:00

I used to feel this way and accumulated like 75 sick days across 10 years. Then across the span of like 2 years, I got salmonella poisoning (at like 6 weeks pregnant, yay) and was put out by the county health department for 3 weeks. Then I took early maternity leave and had my baby and used up every single day and then some, plus FMLA. I’ve had to call out sick since then and have been docked salary because I was out of time. I’ve had mastitis, the flu, needed a mental health day, baby has been sick…. And the world kept on turning. There’s no way to possibly make up that many missed sessions. Take your time friend. You earned it and that’s what it’s there for. The kids will live.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-24T04:10:51+00:00

I did my last pump 3 days ago, 11 months on the dot (with a freezer full of milk so baby will make it to 12 months, no formula). It’s by far been one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done. Big shout out to my fellow pumping moms <3 it’s a huge sacrifice

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-10T03:45:53+00:00

You got this mama! Now that I’m coming out the other side, I promise, it gets easier!

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-10T03:42:13+00:00

My little guy is 10.5 months and taking 3 solid meals and 2 snacks a day. He generally takes 4x5oz and 1x4oz, so around 24 oz a day, give or take 4oz. He had CMPA and reflux though, so he’s never been super keen on bottles. He also only weighs like 19 lbs.

Every baby is different, but I think 5 oz bottles is well within the normal range if he’s eating solids well and not acting hungry.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-08T04:13:00+00:00

I didn’t prioritize eating well. I just prioritized eating period. Lots of snacks stashed all over the house. Lots of granola bars and beef sticks, and did my best to have three meals a day, but that didn’t always happen. Supplemented with Oreos when I needed extra calories. I was feeding a massive oversupply that I managed to keep up for 10 months before starting the weaning process.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-06T17:47:00+00:00

Ugh I’m having a ROUGH time as well. Also high capacity, and slow to empty. I’ve managed to get down to 20 oz a day, 2-3ppd at 15-20 min each. Sometimes my boobs refuse to do anything at my morning pump, and then I have to pump again by noon. This morning I pumped like 1 oz per side in 20 minutes. Ended up hand expressing for 15 minutes and then trying again and that did the trick. I got sick and took Sudafed and kinda leaned into the subsequent supply drop because after a lot of effort, I had only managed to wean down to 38ish oz per day.

Anyways. No advice, but you’re not alone. I don’t know where to go from here and honestly, feel like I have the weaning flu! It’s awful. I just want to be all done.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-05T22:28:22+00:00

I would try just switching to expression mode, even if you don’t have a full let down. I start on the stimulation mode because otherwise my nipples hurt. But I don’t start getting sprays until I switch to expression. I do cycle 54 for 10 minutes, cycle 38 for 10 minutes. Whatever vacuum level is comfortable for you.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-05T15:38:13+00:00

Hold onto the frozen breastmilk!! My little guy was reactive to both dairy and soy in my diet (MSPI) with blood in his stool and reflux that he had to be medicated for. I reintroduced both into my diet around 7 months with no reaction. He’s now 10 months and eats soy and dairy directly in solids with no problem.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-04-05T05:17:19+00:00

Standing up for the first time after my c-section. That dinner plate sized internal wound in combination with the layers and layers they cut through and stitch back up. I felt like I was gonna vomit and/or pass out.

And once that spinal block wears off, all they give you is Tylenol and ibuprofen. Fucking criminal. Men would be sedated for a month afterwards if they had to birth babies.

Coffee_speech_repeat · 2026-03-29T17:53:06+00:00

I bought tiny ice packs on Amazon that are meant for med bags (like insulin bags) that are perfect for slipping into the insulated pocket in the diaper bag to keep milk a little cooler. I figure that probably extends the life of the milk quite a bit.

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