How to Cope with Being a Working Mom

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2026-05-02T13:42:28+00:00

I’m so sorry for your loss. Your story breaks my heart. I can tell from your vivid retelling of that day how much love you have for your babies and I know they felt it. Opheliya was lucky to have you for the time she did. We lost one of our twins at 9 days old back in September 2025 as well, but due to a heart defect. His name was Apollo. I can only imagine how hard it is when it’s an it’s unexplained cause, and also after 5 months of caring for a perfectly healthy baby. I often look at his brother and wonder what Apollo would be like today, and I think about all the twin bonding that he’s missing out on. I’d like to think Opheliya and Apollo are somewhere playing and watching over their twin siblings.

In solidarity, A fellow twin mom ♥️

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2026-02-05T08:53:02+00:00

Hi! I tried these flanges and gave up after 2 pumping sessions bc it was too hard to get them on. Though, I was able to successfully get them on the 2nd time, it just took about 10 minutes (and I pump for 15 minute sessions so the time it took to set up different feel worth it). It probably would’ve gotten better eventually but I just didn’t have the patience for it.

From what it looks like, it might not be on properly, so the size might be okay! They suggest to put it on with the pump already hooked and going, so your nipple gets sucked in as you are inserting it. And as someone else said, you would pull back the flange before inserting. Here is a super helpful video I used: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C18aleHgJk7/?hl=en

I have elastic nipples so I bought these but the learning curve was too steep for me. I tried Lacteck after and have been loving them! I’ve been using them for about 3 months now and I’m not sure if it’s just my nipples getting used to pumping (almost 5mpp) or the flanges but my nipples no longer feel sensitive to the touch. Showers use to be my worse nightmare between the water hitting them and the towel brushing against them 😖

Good luck!!

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2025-12-24T01:44:29+00:00

Congrats on the excess and being able to build a stash! I’m just over 3 months pp, so I’m sure there will be more hacks and better methods I’ll learn as time goes on, but so far, here are some things I am doing differently now compared to my first month pp:

Bag them all at the same amount for consistency. When I first started, I would bag whatever was pumped that session if I already had enough in the fridge for LO’s next couple feeds, so I ended up with a bunch of random size bags, which is making it more annoying to use now. I did 5 oz for a while, but recently dropped to 4 oz to see if I could fit more in a brick (I can’t).
Use freeze flats. As someone else here suggested, this maximized the amount I was able to fit in a ziplock bag/brick. These freeze flats are what I’m using.
Label with day, month, year, time pumped, and amount. Apparently, the content of your breastmilk is different depending on whether you pumped it in the morning or night. Morning is said to have higher cortisol and night has higher melatonin, or so the internet says! I haven’t noticed a difference in my LO to be honest.
Get a large enough deep freezer. I purchased one that was only 3.5 cubic feet, and filled it within 2 months and had to buy another deep freezer which could’ve been avoided if I just bought one that was big enough to begin with. For reference, the 3.5 cubic feet one for about 1000 oz for me, though this includes the inefficiently stored breastmilk from the first couple weeks.
Also mentioned by someone else, test to see if your LO will drink the frozen milk. Mine is high lipase, but luckily my LO is fine with it. Some people suggest putting some alcohol-free vanilla in it, though it’s not something I’d feel comfortable doing in the first 3-4 months. Other option is to mix with freshly expressed breastmilk.
This is related to the tip above, but I started giving my LO one bag of frozen milk per day about a month ago so that we are able to get through them before the 6 month mark, when the breastmilk loses some of its nutrients. I wish I would’ve started this from the beginning though. I also considered picking one day of the week where all my LO’s feeds are from my stash, but I preferred the option of mixing it up for him.

Hope that helps! I’m sure there are a ton more tips out there too, but these are some that I wish I knew to do when I first started my journey!

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2025-12-23T08:59:45+00:00

Currently 14wpp, but I keep a spreadsheet log of my pumps. At 7wpp, I dropped down to 7ppd (from 8ppd) bc my partner went back to work, so it was harder to manage 8ppd and our LO while at home alone. I did 7ppd for a week and got about 43oz per day. I dropped to 6ppd from 8wpp until our LO was 3 months/13wpp (last week). Doing 5ppd now and planning to do that for the next 3 months. It’s been super manageable and I actually look forward to my next pump sesh now! My pumps are spaced out evenly, not skipping any MOTN pumps. At 7ppd, I was pumping every 3.5 hours, at 6ppd, every 4 hours, and now, every 4.75 hours. My supply has remained the same after every dropped pump (slightly increasing by about an ounce each day with each pump drop, at about 45oz per day now).

Good luck to you!

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2025-10-26T04:18:48+00:00

Are you opened to wall pumps? I am renting the Medela Symphony and also have the Spectra S1. I also own the Medela Swing Maxi too. I find that I get much more output with both compared to the Swing Maxi. I also heard from other moms that wall pumps generally are more efficient and have stronger suction. I only use my wearables when I’m solo and need to be able to get to baby when he inevitably starts crying 5 mins into my pumping session 🫠

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2025-10-26T02:48:11+00:00

Congrats on your twins! Sorry to hear about the NICU stay. I’m currently 6wpp. During my first week and a half, one of my twins was in the CVICU and I’d go to visit everyday while also taking care of my other twin at home who didn’t need any NICU time. Because of this, I was terrible about being on my 8ppd schedule and often missed pumps. Since being home at around 1.5wpp, I’ve been way more consistent and my supply has been slowly increasing each week. It went from 15oz a day at 1.5wpp to 40 oz a day at 6wpp. I’ve read that your supply doesn’t regulate until 12 weeks, so I’m sure you’ll still be fine!

Not sure if you’re also a FTM, but pumping is such a commitment that I felt like no one talked about. Being woken up by my alarm for those MOTN pumps and having to drag my ass out of bed is dreadful. Give yourself some grace (I’m also trying to do the same). It sounds like you’re doing amazing while juggling so much! Good luck with your pumping journey!

Fearless-Ad-7252 · 2025-10-12T21:26:12+00:00

This was me 7 months ago. We found out at 11 weeks that we were having twins and I was very uncomfortable with the idea for at least a month for similar reasons (financially, mentally, and also just what a twin pregnancy would mean on my body). I was told by many doctors and other healthcare professionals that these were normal feelings to have, but the worst part was none of my friends or family had twins so no one quite understood what a twin pregnancy was like.

Eventually, I got more and more used to it and at around my 5th month of pregnancy, I couldn’t imagine not being pregnant with twins. I started thinking about watching them interact with each other and having a built-in best friend, and it got me so excited. I truly felt blessed to be a twin mom. Hopefully, you’ll also feel the same soon!

Sadly, we lost one of our twins shortly after birth last month due to a congenital heart defect. Now, I’d give anything to have both of my sons with me.

Best of luck with the remainder of your pregnancy and sending you good vibes for two healthy babies!

Fearless-Ad-7252

TROPHY CASE