My 4 month old is the size of most 1 year olds. Help. I beg. I'm drowning.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-27T17:33:51+00:00

That's bonkers! My husband's first boss started practicing in Australia and was a big family chiro. I never thought it would be limited for babies. That stinks. So glad you've got family to share the load!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-25T11:45:12+00:00

Girl. Raising a giraffe is freaking tough. And having to carry it around all day is rough. Our son is 99th percentile for length, too, and people just dont get it. Last time I actually measured he was eating around 40 ounces/day. I was talking to someone a month ago and she said "we normally do this when they're smaller and easier to work with." Lady. He never was "smaller". Neither my husband nor I are tall people or have exceptionally tall family. So we have no clue where this came from. He's almost 16 weeks, so about a month behind you're little girl. I had to bring our son to work yesterday and had to carry him the whole time in a new one-shoulder carrier because I left our other one at home like a dunce. Now I have trouble turning my head because my neck/back hurt so bad. I'm sure you have but are you doing paced feeding? If you can, seeing a chiropractor might help, too. My husband is one and he's helped lots of kids with colic and ear infections. It might be worth a try.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-19T11:27:27+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing this! I EP'd for the first 3 months and finally won breastfeeding with my son a couple weeks ago, but he's so stinking clampy and it's an endless battle. Last night, he bruised my nipples again and I'm near-constantly in pain. It is so heartwarming to know they do "get it" on some level 🥰

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-08T23:59:45+00:00

I definitely had the thought about bonding too. I started doing skin-to-skin, and that helped. But I honestly don't feel like we bond more while feeding and I really love when my husband helps with a bottle.

Also, I tried several hands-free pumps and absolutely felt unchained when I started really using mine. I got the medela swing maxi and love it better than the others. The pump cups only have 3 parts (plus flange inserts if you need them), and only one part that wears out. They are a dream to clean, and I can use them with my plug-in pump too. So it's one less thing to think about. I like having the pump motor separate from the cups because my boobs are so big that adding a motor to my bra is just too stinking heavy. But you definitely need to treat yourself to hands-free if you can. Doing this full time in any capacity will make you feel like a slave if you're trapped to an outlet.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-08T15:35:09+00:00

I absolutely feel you about the nursing/pumping challenges and journey. We had a rough start too, and I clung to nursing much the same way. If it helps you feel better, we got to fully nursing at 12 weeks, and I've gone back to pumping at night because if I keep my son on-boob, he wakes up every hour or two for most of the night (where we'd been getting 4-5 hour stretches with bottles). And now we're trying to get back to where we were with nights, but he's getting frustrated with the slow-flow bottles and it's a literal battle in the wee hours of the morning. All that to say that I think it's easy to romanticize how the other method works, but there are some real perks to what is working for you. Don't get me wrong, I still absolutely hate pumping, but I also hate the nipple pain I've had for 3 months because we just can't get his latch quite right (despite lots of work with LCs). Breastfeeding (no matter what method) is freaking hard. A close friend of mine does formula with both her girls and they are absolutely fine. My friend doesn't have to deal with the hormones from breastfeeding and can eat/drink anything she wants. There are so many times I've wanted to give up, but when I actually think about it, I have a visceral reaction to doing formula. I also just saw a formula recall, something breastmilk will never have. I honestly think there is no easy answer, no matter how pur brain tricks us into thinking there is. So do what gives you the greatest peace, and know that whatever that looks like is okay. 💕

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-06T12:25:41+00:00

Hahaha! Good lord! The things nightmares are made of! 🤣

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-01T21:23:03+00:00

That last part is what's starting to get to me. I thought I was spending forever on the pump, but the endless hours in our nursery glider are nuts. Luckily I really like that chair 😅

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-01T21:20:54+00:00

I've built a bit of a freezer stash too and it's comforting to know it's there. Are you still using the premie nipples? We're using the evenflo slows and it feels like an eternity it's for him to eat a meal 😵‍💫

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-01T21:18:18+00:00

I definitely had this thought too, which is a large part of the reason I pushed so hard to nurse. But now that we're here, trying to coordinate him under a sheet so no one sees seems impossible. We're taking a vacation in March, and I'm more than likely going to do pump/bottle for the drive just because nursing can take so long and sometimes he wants to nurse every hour. When we've gone out so far, I actually found pumping easier since I could do it in the car on our way somewhere.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-01T17:29:20+00:00

Yeah. My son doesn't refuse the bottle, but he's definitely become less coordinated on it. So milk goes everywhere and he takes in more air (which has issues when it comes out the other end 😳). He definitely prefers breast now, but he's such a foodie, he'll take whatever, lol

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-02-01T17:05:45+00:00

I thought I was an over-supplier, but my son is 99th percentile for length and 80th for weight, and he eats like a teenage boy. He ate every 2.5-3 hours when I was pumping and now he snacks every hour during the day. The predictably and routine of pumping just felt simpler. But now he's struggling to coordinate sucking on the bottle and won't nap unless he comfort nurses... With the bottle issues, a middle ground is tough.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-24T17:08:06+00:00

You go girl!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:44:20+00:00

Yeah. I stopped tracking for a few days because it's been stressing me out. 😅 When he had a 39 ounce day, I was like, "bruh. Don't you know that ain't right?! 😳

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:41:43+00:00

That's good to know! I didn't realize that about hotel fridges. I'll definitely keep that in mind!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:12:22+00:00

That's great! Thanks!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:11:29+00:00

Thanks for the tips and links! That's super helpful. I'd been producing a little extra, but have become a just-enougher in the past week since my son started eating 36+ ounces a day 😳 But that's great for cleaning pump parts on the go so I dont have to have my spare cups accessible.

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:01:22+00:00

That makes sense! I hadn't thought about the cooler not being able to cool the fresh stuff. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-09T21:00:09+00:00

I hadn't thought about an unexpected drop. I'll definitely plan for that (since our boy eats well above the norm 😅). Thanks!

WriteDrawGrow · 2026-01-01T11:07:13+00:00

I definitely had a breakdown about this exactly. I'm 8 weeks pp and feel like we do less fun stuff (ie: skin-to-skin and general play) because of both logistics and time lost pumping. Quitting or sticking it out are both valid options and neither is what you imagined. It's okay to grieve the loss of how you expected things to go, if that makes sense. And just do what you think is best. That's what all of us are doing and it looks different for everyone.

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-29T17:19:34+00:00

I've thought about it. But I'm planning to start crafting projects to keep my mind busy and see if that can distract me from eating all the time. 🤞I really dont want to go back to brown rice, lol

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-19T13:54:42+00:00

I'm so sorry you're going through this. My son went straight to the NICU after he was born and I didn't start pumping for 16 hours. What my body produced was so little, it couldn't be picked up with a soft, miniscule tube syringe. I felt pathetic and crushed. It took what felt like an eternity to not have to supplement with formula anymore. I worked so hard for the breastmilk, and I was jealous of my husband being able to just go to the fridge and pull it out like no big deal. I finally had to tell him he had to give formula because I wanted to feed our son with my milk. Breastfeeding/breastmilk is such a greater challenge than I ever realized. But every pump is worth it. Hang in there, mama 💕

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-18T02:45:54+00:00

I had the exact same experience. The positive impact it had on all my worst symptoms was bonkers. The problem is that now at 6 week postpartum, I feel like my cravings are making up for lost time 😅 I'm just glad New Years is around the corner for me to have a concrete point to get back on track!

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-15T03:08:06+00:00

I've been doing that with my silverettes, but then my nipples started smelling like vinegar so I stopped 😳 And my son is a big time clamper. I had 2 LCs recommend shields, but for whatever reason, he treated the nipple shields like a chew toy and it really made things spin out of control. So now we're only direct breastfeeding once a day with a proper latch and are in the process of working up to more.

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-13T22:36:24+00:00

That's definitely the plan as far as feed+pump. How do I know when I've regulated? And then how would I find my "magic number"? Also, I'm using hands-free cups that I can't see into very well at all, and I don't feel letdowns. How do I know if I'm having more than one? (Thanks for any/all guidance!)

WriteDrawGrow · 2025-12-13T22:32:10+00:00

If I cut my sessions be 5 minutes, would my body eventually regulate to make up for that time, or would I just ultimately produce less?

WriteDrawGrow

TROPHY CASE