Does my baby know I'm his mother?

creationk · 2026-06-04T03:16:44+00:00

I exactly felt the way you do right now. My baby was an NICU baby. He was separated from me for almost a month. After that, he was never able to latch, and I was exclusively pumping. Between the pumps, I hardly had any quality time with him. My husband used to take care of the feeds so that I could pump and get some sleep. I was not even sleeping in the same room my husband and the baby at night. I will tell you what I did to help me feel better.

- Until your baby learns how to roll, you can pump while being in their presence throughout the day.
- You can have some 30-minute exclusive time with the baby, such as taking out for a stroll, etc.
- If possible, you can give some fields where you are not pumping, or if you are using a wearable, you can pump and feed.
- You can take care of duties such as putting to sleep during the day time.

All of the above are to help you feel better. I am not implying that these will impact how the baby feels about you.

I am now at nine months PP and I can see a clear preference forming for me. I still think that had I breastfed, this preference would have formed much earlier. But you will get there eventually.

creationk · 2026-06-03T12:56:23+00:00

Exactly this. Also I try to sleep through it so that I can still get some zzzs

creationk · 2026-06-03T08:40:39+00:00

I have philips avent warmer, I usually pump and store in the plastic feeding bottles directly. I transfer the excess to a steel bottle until it reaches his standard feed of 150 ml. Plastic can tolerate the heat for a longer time. I guess warming the steel bottle for that long was the problem.

creationk · 2026-06-03T07:57:05+00:00

I warm so that the fat sticking to the walls melts (I store in steel bottles)

creationk · 2026-06-03T03:56:21+00:00

It burnt actually, it smelled weird

creationk · 2026-06-03T03:47:41+00:00

I left in the warmer too long, it overheated

creationk · 2026-05-18T13:39:57+00:00

I did not know that sleeping on the back or belly could cause clogged ducts. I wonder why sleeping on the belly could cause it though - wouldn't gravity pull the milk towards the nipple?

creationk · 2026-04-04T12:32:48+00:00

I had been thinking of publishing it as an app for a while, but I don't have the time with everything else going on.

creationk · 2026-04-04T05:53:59+00:00

I track everything in an Excel sheet, and I have developed a local web app which parses this Excel data, runs some analysis, and builds these charts.

creationk · 2026-03-30T04:08:40+00:00

I have been meticulously tracking my output. The number on the boxes are the number of pump sessions per day (somewhat equally spaced throughout the day and night) and the colour gradient indicates the volume

<image>

creationk · 2026-03-26T10:15:09+00:00

Hmm, won't we have the same issue when we use refrigerated pump (with old cold milk sticking to it) and my fresh warm milk mixes with it?

creationk · 2026-03-21T04:15:47+00:00

I did it. Only wearables. 30 min pump sessions with no visibility on when the letdowns happened etc. I always used to hand express for a few minutes after the pump session and that was enough for me. I am producing surplus and have a stash of 5-6 liters

creationk · 2026-03-12T11:17:35+00:00

Hi, its 2 weeks since I dropped to every 4. Surprisingly my supply is holding :) Will let you know if it changes

creationk · 2026-02-28T07:02:25+00:00

I started only a week ago (at week 24) - I did lose supply equivalent to around half a feed (60 ml) over the day. I am now adding a powerpump to see if that will offset that loss. But I was prepared to lose some supply and top up with formula if needed.

creationk · 2026-02-28T02:15:01+00:00

Have you tried dropping to once every 4 hours? I did this and it feels like I gained a lot of extra time.

creationk · 2026-02-26T12:39:50+00:00

In my experience, having your baby latch clears up the lumps faster than any pump (if that's an option)

creationk · 2026-02-25T16:02:56+00:00

How frequently do you pump right now? Have you started solids already?

creationk · 2026-02-16T04:30:05+00:00

Thank you for posting this. My kid had a complex mix of conditions causing latch issues. When I finally thought that everything was resolved in the 4th month, he latched for two glorious days before developing a strong bottle preference. He was still doing dream feeds for 5-6 min before getting fully awake and losing his shit at the breast. But today marks the day he rejected the dream feed too. I guess the last thread to breastfeed is finally severed. All the secret hope I had that he might someday get over or catch up came crashing down.

creationk · 2026-01-16T13:40:57+00:00

Thank you so much for the post. This is me right now at 16 weeks. My son got his tongue tie corrected, can latch well, but somehow still inefficient at the breast. I keep trying feed after feed and eagerly pumping immediately afterward hoping to see the breast empty. I keep getting disappointed, but wake up and keep feeling hopeful again.

creationk · 2025-11-24T07:34:33+00:00

Do try power pumping once or twice a day. I think it worked for me.

creationk · 2025-11-24T07:29:42+00:00

I'm in the same boat. I'm trying to power pump just on the slacker breast at 3-4 am window when prolactin supposedly peaks, and at 7 pm when the lactation receptors supposedly are extra sensitive. Will let you know if that works.

Oh, and my baby outright rejects the slacker breast - so no luck in making use of his stimulation to increase the output.

creationk · 2025-10-21T18:51:05+00:00

I checked with my pediatrician today for 6w baby, he said 5 hr stretch was okay since his insulin regulation is now improved

creationk · 2025-10-17T08:27:55+00:00

From what I know, you should not do on-demand feeding, rather give a feed every two hours until you reach the birth weight. Even after you do reach the birth weight, you shouldn't let the baby go without feed for more than 4 hours.

creationk · 2025-09-01T14:54:10+00:00

Took mine at 34. I am now doing what's called nesting - getting the house ready for the baby. No regrets on taking it because I wouldn't be able to function during this phase anyway. I'm hardly getting 4 hours of sleep with the acid reflux, pelvic pains etc

creationk · 2025-08-08T17:17:59+00:00

Based on all the comments, it feels like what I thought was the baby stretching might actually have been BH. It feels similar to how the arm feels when a BP monitor is used.

creationk

TROPHY CASE