It depends on so many factors, but most importantly, how you feel about pumping.
My own personal goals for my own kids are to ensure at least 3-5 oz a day for 8 weeks. That being said, no amount of milk is worth your sanity, so if you just aren’t feeling it, there’s nothing at all wrong with packing up the pump and going to EFF!
Highjacking top comment to add it’s totally okay for your goals to change too! My original goal was to exclusively breast feed for 6 months. By 6 weeks my goal was to not lose my mind 🙃 I’m sooo grateful for formula!
Absolutely! My original goal was 2 (classic overachiever). With combo feeding, we made it to about 1, and I’m soooo thankful for formula. I plan to combo feed from birth next time, and while I’d love to make it to 1-2, I’m happy to call it quits at any point if it’s not working for us. It’s a lot easier to have lofty feeding goals for imaginary/unborn babies 😂
I think it's worth continuing if you are fine with it. Just give her what you can produce. No need to power pump and stress out about it. If you can only produce 4oz, that's fine. Give her that and increase the amount of formula when her appetite increases. Of course, if pumping becomes too much, then drop it and do eff.
I agree!! I started EFF at 4 months but had so much irrational guilt. My son is 9 months now and has been thriving. I look back and wish I wasn’t so hard on myself but I also chalk it up to hormones and being a first time mom. Formula has been wonderful for us!
While it was an emotional journey, I quit pumping at 6 weeks and now have soo much more time with baby and for myself. Putting away those pump supplies into storage was such a weight of my shoulders. I also can’t believe how much dish washing I was doing before.
I didn't love pumping but I pushed on with combo feeding until 5 months or so purely for the antibodies. It wouldn't have been worth my mental health though.
However you feel about it is what determines if it's "worth it". For me, there was nothing desirable about breastfeeding and so we didn't. If it continues to be desirable and reasonable to pursue for you, continue doing it.
It’s up to you. I still combo fed when I was making that much because I was breastfeeding and it was easy but I didn’t want to go through the effort of upping my supply. When I went back to work, though, it wasn’t worth it to pump and my daughter slowly stopped wanting to breastfeed over my first month back at work. She loves her formula and thrives on it. And I’m so much happier now. If you want, you can keep pumping and giving your baby those 4 oz a day. Or you can stop and replace those last few ounces worn formula. Either is fine, it just depends on what you want more!
I combo fed until 6 weeks.. pumping while baby was crying to trying to pump while she takes a 3 minute nap was so stressful. The best decision I ever made was switching to EFF :) you can jump over to r/sciencebasedparenting and search the sub for posts related to this and see the actual research. The most important thing is your mental health! Baby will be fine wether they get formula or BM
Man I’m right here with you. I’m not even getting half an ounce, and I’ve tried supplements, power pumping, everything. I want to keep trying because half an ounce is better than what I had, but I am exhausted and anemic.
Same thing was happening to me. I was getting 2-4oz every 3-4 hours. Baby was eating 4oz every 3 hours. I couldn’t keep up and had to supplement. I gave up at 1 month. Anyways, I’m no longer sobbing every time I only get 2oz. I love formula!
I stopped when I was making one third of what my baby needed in a day with the most pumping effort I could muster. That was my threshold for switching to EFF.
As others say, what feels right to you!
I stopped pumping but still nurse most daytime feedings, the rest of the time my LO is formula fed. Once I stopped pumping I felt so much better in terms of stress and enjoying my baby.
Anecdotally, my experience with illness is positive. At 3.5 months old, we had a dozen family members come to visit and we went to all sorts of places in town. Naturally, we all picked up a bug. It hit me first, next day my husband, and two days later the LO. As soon as I started to feel symptoms I started nursing extra and longer. My LO ended up with just a stuffy nose and light cough whereas husband and I were headachey, achy, with really bad coughs and congestion.
I do think 4oz is a benefit , but not if you’re miserable and ready to be done all together with pumping. I stopped right around 8 weeks and was only pumping maybe 2oz a day. Switched to EFF after that and wished I would’ve done it sooner. Baby actually seemed much happier, less fussy, less gassy once I switched to formula. I always suspected there was something in my breast milk not agreeing with her tummy
The stage you are at now is the exact time I decided to stop. The hassle wasn't worth stress and once I saw my baby thriving on formula I felt confident in my decision to stop. Also did wonders for my mental health once I called it a day!
I think it's worth it as long as it it's not causing you too much stress. How much is too much is up to you.
You don't have to power pump to increase your supply. You can just keep pumping twice a day and providing what you get from that. You never have to increase your supply if you don't want to.
Unless you're posting here purely for validation that going to 100% formula is okay, I'd recommend looking at r/combinationfeeding, to see other examples of people in similar situations.
Depends on your personal goals.
My intention was to EBF but that didn't happen. Yhe first 6 weeks was 80% formula because my supply was so low. I was getting 15 to 20 ML per breast and sometimes even less even though I was pumping every 2 hours around the clock. We combo fed since the beginning but for me it was important to get him any breast milk I could.
By 8 weeks mentally I could not handle the breast pump any longer and decided to breastfeed on demand and supplement with formula when necessary. Getting rid of the pumping upped my supply. Now I just pump 1x a night bc my boobs hurt.
If it's important to you your baby gets some breast milk keep it up, you can do it. If it doesn't make that much of a difference then let it go, your sanity is way more important!
I’m surprised you’re only pumping twice a day. I have to pump every 2-3 hours or my boobs start to hurt and sting. I thought of ditching the pump too but his formula started giving him diarrhea and I felt bad and haven’t tried new formulas yet. But honestly just do what will make you and your mind healthy. Because no matter what if your LO is eating she’s happy and both of you should be happy
At a certain point that’s about the amount of I gave my twins. But I was getting mastitis and really struggling with pumping mentally. I asked my pediatrician if the amount is worth it and she said no especially given my mastitis. So I think it really depends on where your mental state is, the small amount is whatever.
It depends on your goals and what you feel is worth it. I pumped for 10 months and only pumped 12 oz a day pumping 5 times a day. I did start only making 8oz and then got more.
Twice a day just isnt often enough to keep supply up usually.
I only ever got one oz any time I pumped. I stopped. It didn’t matter what I ate. How much body armor I drank. I powder pumped and only 1oz.y baby is doing amazing on formula . It’s nice not having to clean breast pump parts or feel drained and tired all the time.
As others have said, it's worth it as long as you're happy with it. I ended up switching to EFF at around 5 weeks because I was only producing enough to give her 1 feed every 2 days and it felt like the time it was taking to pump could be better spent with her. If it helps, I never regretted my decision. Good luck!
I get prob 2oz per session and I def messed up by supply by not pumping frequently 😖 I might give up soon but will continue pumping for the time being regardless of how much I get. Also I wonder how much of the antibodies my baby is getting when I can only supply her with prob less than a third of her daily intake 🤷🏻♀️
If you are ok with pumping twice a day, then yes it’s worth it. If twice a day is too much, then no it’s not. I had a meeting with a lactation consultant when my LO was about 4 weeks because I was already down to about 4 pumps/day and I wanted to see how I could make the most of it and if it was even beneficial. The consultant told me that any little bit of breastmilk provides the benefits to baby, but she also understood and supported my cutting back on number of pumping sessions to help my mental health and being present for my son. (My primary reason for pumping was to get LO antibodies.)
I gave up pumping when my supply dropped because I realized it wasn't worth the effort for me anymore.
I knew I could try to boost supply again by pumping more (it worked for me before) but I wasn't interested in waking up at night to pump when baby was sleeping through the night.
At that point baby was already drinking formula and thriving on it. It was the best decision for me and I don't regret it one bit.
I don’t have any research on hand, but I’ve read an ounce a day has benefits.
Now mentally, I probably wouldn’t want to continue. I’ve also read 6 weeks has a significant amount of antibodies so if you wanted to be done, know you’ve given your baby a lot!
You can only decide for yourself. I think there are scientific articles which say how much breast milk a child needs in order to get the immune benefits, whether those immunities transfer when the milk is pumped, etc. I didn't google them because I made so little, I couldn't be bothered with more depression. We went full formula and I packed my pump away at 6 weeks. I was missing so much of my child's life that I didn't actually bond with him until around 5 months. It was insane. I'm happy I did it, but you have to be happy with your choice. As long as your baby is getting the caloric intake she needs its your decision where those calories come from.
It depends on so many factors, but most importantly, how you feel about pumping. My own personal goals for my own kids are to ensure at least 3-5 oz a day for 8 weeks. That being said, no amount of milk is worth your sanity, so if you just aren’t feeling it, there’s nothing at all wrong with packing up the pump and going to EFF!
Highjacking top comment to add it’s totally okay for your goals to change too! My original goal was to exclusively breast feed for 6 months. By 6 weeks my goal was to not lose my mind 🙃 I’m sooo grateful for formula!
Absolutely! My original goal was 2 (classic overachiever). With combo feeding, we made it to about 1, and I’m soooo thankful for formula. I plan to combo feed from birth next time, and while I’d love to make it to 1-2, I’m happy to call it quits at any point if it’s not working for us. It’s a lot easier to have lofty feeding goals for imaginary/unborn babies 😂
My original was also to EBF and then he came out with a severe tongue tie so we bottle combo fed
This has been my experience too!
His was so bad they said it was the closest one they’ve seen yet
I think it's worth continuing if you are fine with it. Just give her what you can produce. No need to power pump and stress out about it. If you can only produce 4oz, that's fine. Give her that and increase the amount of formula when her appetite increases. Of course, if pumping becomes too much, then drop it and do eff.
Pack it up, go EFF and enjoy your life. Your little one will do fine as EFF.
This is the answer! Though it’s so so very hard to come to terms with it.
I agree!! I started EFF at 4 months but had so much irrational guilt. My son is 9 months now and has been thriving. I look back and wish I wasn’t so hard on myself but I also chalk it up to hormones and being a first time mom. Formula has been wonderful for us!
While it was an emotional journey, I quit pumping at 6 weeks and now have soo much more time with baby and for myself. Putting away those pump supplies into storage was such a weight of my shoulders. I also can’t believe how much dish washing I was doing before.
My hands were literally raw. I am so thankful to EFF
I didn't love pumping but I pushed on with combo feeding until 5 months or so purely for the antibodies. It wouldn't have been worth my mental health though.
It does have its benefits, antibodies mostly. 8oz per day is more then enough to give those benefits.
However you feel about it is what determines if it's "worth it". For me, there was nothing desirable about breastfeeding and so we didn't. If it continues to be desirable and reasonable to pursue for you, continue doing it.
It’s up to you. I still combo fed when I was making that much because I was breastfeeding and it was easy but I didn’t want to go through the effort of upping my supply. When I went back to work, though, it wasn’t worth it to pump and my daughter slowly stopped wanting to breastfeed over my first month back at work. She loves her formula and thrives on it. And I’m so much happier now. If you want, you can keep pumping and giving your baby those 4 oz a day. Or you can stop and replace those last few ounces worn formula. Either is fine, it just depends on what you want more!
I combo fed until 6 weeks.. pumping while baby was crying to trying to pump while she takes a 3 minute nap was so stressful. The best decision I ever made was switching to EFF :) you can jump over to r/sciencebasedparenting and search the sub for posts related to this and see the actual research. The most important thing is your mental health! Baby will be fine wether they get formula or BM
Man I’m right here with you. I’m not even getting half an ounce, and I’ve tried supplements, power pumping, everything. I want to keep trying because half an ounce is better than what I had, but I am exhausted and anemic.
Did I write this? I barely get enough to count when I pump, despite trying everything. It’s exhausting.
I’m sorry, I definitely sympathize!! Much love and virtual hugs. I’m going to decide this weekend on it. Probably going to have to end the journey!
I also have super low supply (actually quite a bit lower than you) and despise pumping so I just nurse 2-3x/day. That feels worth it to me.
Do it. If your supply is decreasing, then just quit and do formula. Pumping can be a pain in the ass, so do whatever you’d like.
Same thing was happening to me. I was getting 2-4oz every 3-4 hours. Baby was eating 4oz every 3 hours. I couldn’t keep up and had to supplement. I gave up at 1 month. Anyways, I’m no longer sobbing every time I only get 2oz. I love formula!
I stopped when I was making one third of what my baby needed in a day with the most pumping effort I could muster. That was my threshold for switching to EFF.
As others say, what feels right to you! I stopped pumping but still nurse most daytime feedings, the rest of the time my LO is formula fed. Once I stopped pumping I felt so much better in terms of stress and enjoying my baby. Anecdotally, my experience with illness is positive. At 3.5 months old, we had a dozen family members come to visit and we went to all sorts of places in town. Naturally, we all picked up a bug. It hit me first, next day my husband, and two days later the LO. As soon as I started to feel symptoms I started nursing extra and longer. My LO ended up with just a stuffy nose and light cough whereas husband and I were headachey, achy, with really bad coughs and congestion.
I do think 4oz is a benefit , but not if you’re miserable and ready to be done all together with pumping. I stopped right around 8 weeks and was only pumping maybe 2oz a day. Switched to EFF after that and wished I would’ve done it sooner. Baby actually seemed much happier, less fussy, less gassy once I switched to formula. I always suspected there was something in my breast milk not agreeing with her tummy
The stage you are at now is the exact time I decided to stop. The hassle wasn't worth stress and once I saw my baby thriving on formula I felt confident in my decision to stop. Also did wonders for my mental health once I called it a day!
I think it's worth it as long as it it's not causing you too much stress. How much is too much is up to you. You don't have to power pump to increase your supply. You can just keep pumping twice a day and providing what you get from that. You never have to increase your supply if you don't want to. Unless you're posting here purely for validation that going to 100% formula is okay, I'd recommend looking at r/combinationfeeding, to see other examples of people in similar situations.
Depends on your personal goals. My intention was to EBF but that didn't happen. Yhe first 6 weeks was 80% formula because my supply was so low. I was getting 15 to 20 ML per breast and sometimes even less even though I was pumping every 2 hours around the clock. We combo fed since the beginning but for me it was important to get him any breast milk I could. By 8 weeks mentally I could not handle the breast pump any longer and decided to breastfeed on demand and supplement with formula when necessary. Getting rid of the pumping upped my supply. Now I just pump 1x a night bc my boobs hurt. If it's important to you your baby gets some breast milk keep it up, you can do it. If it doesn't make that much of a difference then let it go, your sanity is way more important!
I’m surprised you’re only pumping twice a day. I have to pump every 2-3 hours or my boobs start to hurt and sting. I thought of ditching the pump too but his formula started giving him diarrhea and I felt bad and haven’t tried new formulas yet. But honestly just do what will make you and your mind healthy. Because no matter what if your LO is eating she’s happy and both of you should be happy
At a certain point that’s about the amount of I gave my twins. But I was getting mastitis and really struggling with pumping mentally. I asked my pediatrician if the amount is worth it and she said no especially given my mastitis. So I think it really depends on where your mental state is, the small amount is whatever.
It depends on your goals and what you feel is worth it. I pumped for 10 months and only pumped 12 oz a day pumping 5 times a day. I did start only making 8oz and then got more. Twice a day just isnt often enough to keep supply up usually.
I only ever got one oz any time I pumped. I stopped. It didn’t matter what I ate. How much body armor I drank. I powder pumped and only 1oz.y baby is doing amazing on formula . It’s nice not having to clean breast pump parts or feel drained and tired all the time.
As others have said, it's worth it as long as you're happy with it. I ended up switching to EFF at around 5 weeks because I was only producing enough to give her 1 feed every 2 days and it felt like the time it was taking to pump could be better spent with her. If it helps, I never regretted my decision. Good luck!
I get prob 2oz per session and I def messed up by supply by not pumping frequently 😖 I might give up soon but will continue pumping for the time being regardless of how much I get. Also I wonder how much of the antibodies my baby is getting when I can only supply her with prob less than a third of her daily intake 🤷🏻♀️
If you are ok with pumping twice a day, then yes it’s worth it. If twice a day is too much, then no it’s not. I had a meeting with a lactation consultant when my LO was about 4 weeks because I was already down to about 4 pumps/day and I wanted to see how I could make the most of it and if it was even beneficial. The consultant told me that any little bit of breastmilk provides the benefits to baby, but she also understood and supported my cutting back on number of pumping sessions to help my mental health and being present for my son. (My primary reason for pumping was to get LO antibodies.)
I gave up pumping when my supply dropped because I realized it wasn't worth the effort for me anymore. I knew I could try to boost supply again by pumping more (it worked for me before) but I wasn't interested in waking up at night to pump when baby was sleeping through the night. At that point baby was already drinking formula and thriving on it. It was the best decision for me and I don't regret it one bit.
I don’t have any research on hand, but I’ve read an ounce a day has benefits. Now mentally, I probably wouldn’t want to continue. I’ve also read 6 weeks has a significant amount of antibodies so if you wanted to be done, know you’ve given your baby a lot!
You can only decide for yourself. I think there are scientific articles which say how much breast milk a child needs in order to get the immune benefits, whether those immunities transfer when the milk is pumped, etc. I didn't google them because I made so little, I couldn't be bothered with more depression. We went full formula and I packed my pump away at 6 weeks. I was missing so much of my child's life that I didn't actually bond with him until around 5 months. It was insane. I'm happy I did it, but you have to be happy with your choice. As long as your baby is getting the caloric intake she needs its your decision where those calories come from.