I hit my 6 month mark date of inducing mid-this month.

It's definitely been interesting this past month ... ended up decreasing my sessions mid-last month to almost nothing because we were getting ready to move out of State. Was able to hand express whenever I could but not pump, which wasn't more than a few times a day to once a day. Suckling sessions have become non-existent, unfortunately. I also cut down my supplements to only goats rue, so my other supplements could last longer. Definitely took a hit in what I was producing and breast size. Though I wasn't getting beyond larger beads with pumping, my husband's suckling was surprising him with a spray here and there, though it was still tasting like watered down coconut milk with a bit of salt - as he put it lol

I started my pump schedule back slowly a few weeks ago, along with my supplements.

Within a week my righty (the tempermantal one & has elasticity) decided it didn't like any of the flanges I had. It hurt every time I pumped - low setting, never higher than a cycle of 3 and suction of 1 on the Freemie Liberty II pump.

Ended up getting the Pumpables Liquid Flange kit and their portable Genie pump. That worked well... for a while, but righty once again wouldn't play nice. The liquid flanges did feel great and we're getting some results with lefty and righty for a week. Lefty absolutely loved the compression with the suction. Rightly liked the slight compression she got for a while but then decided to swell up to the point that there was no compression at all, and it started to hurt after that - even with more lube than I usually put on. Even changing flange sizes where it was more snug didn't help. This happened last weekend. During the week, I tried using lower settings on the Pumpables Genie, switching pumps with the liquid flanges... same painful result on rightly.

I decided to try using my Eufy wearables with heated flanges, hoping the heat and a lower gentle suction would help the discomfort on righty. It did, thankfully! Though I started to get a pinching sensation with righty after a couple days. Flange size was correct. Because of the heated flanges I couldn't see what was going on unfortunately.

That lead me to taking out my Freemie Slimfit cups & their inserts and using my Freemie Liberty II again. Now on my third day of using them and righty seems to be quite happy - go figure! Because she's behaving, I have increased my pump sessions ... so far so good!

And am starting to feel my breasts get back to where they were before we moved a month ago. Am hoping that as my husband sees my effort & more results he'll become interested again in our evening suckling sessions. It seems he doesn't like dry suckling outside of our fun times, but once he's tasting milk he's more inclined to want to suckling as much as our days will allow him.

I saw a post recently about someone here trying "cluster pumping" - mimicking a newborn breastfeeding. I thought that was a great idea and decided to give that a try over the next couple weeks. Yesterday I pumped for 20 mins at a time every hour and half hour - double pumping. I took a couple hours break at lunch and dinner. My nipples afterwards weren't sore, just sensitive, and even righty was still happy - go figure! lol

My current goals are ... ... to continue with pumping 20 mins every hour and half hour for the next two weeks ... then switch to 20 mins every hour for two more weeks & then evaluate my progress ... will also plan to take a day or weekend, here and there when I get to every two hours again, to have a "cluster pump" day. ... continue eating oatmeal for mornings ... keep myself well hydrated (aim is 90 ounces a day, for my weight) ... focus on using only the Freemie cups and pump (have a tendency to switch pumps and/or flanges when I start getting frustrated) ... getting another Slimfit set ... hoping husband will start suckling in evenings

For the "cluster pumping", I am keeping my cups on all throughout the day (whenever I can) other than adding more lube as needed & cleaning after every few sessions. I also don't plan to wear them outside the home during this "cluster pumping", that way it gives them a little bit of a break. I am also not doing a night session unless I wake up for whatever reason.

I am really appreciating the Freemie Liberty II's ability to pump while charging so I could continue my sessions without a break. Am considering getting another Slimfit set so I can better clean between sessions.

On another note ... my husband did suckle a couple times in the first two weeks we got settled, but has since stopped. Said he's getting some but not as much as he was - think he's disappointed in that - and he said it now tastes like watered down milk instead of coconut taste and no salty taste. Which gave me much hope & boosted my determination to continue on this journey, despite my setbacks, so that we can enjoy my milk together.