So I'm a new mom and I live with my mother. I have a 6 week old baby and since I came home from the hospital we have been butting heads about how I should take care of my baby. Our ongoing battle is about feeding my son and what I should be doing. I am trying to EBF but my mother seems to have other motives. Since I came home from the hospital I told my mother not to let me skip a feeding so I could feed him the colostrum. The first night I slept straight through because my mom took it upon herself to feed him formula all night. I was PISSED. I was engorged to the point of tears and spent the next few days pumping because she kept trying to feed him formula while I was sleeping. I told her to stop feeding my baby formula and use the colostrum I pumped cuz its better than formula and I wouldnt have so much milk stored if she would have woke me up or at least put the baby to my breast while I was sleeping and took him off when he was finished (I slept topless cuz I leaked all over the place from missing feedings). After a few days I started pumping to save up for work when my regular milk came in. I said after every pumping session "do not use the milk anymore I'm saving up for when I go back to work." Yet every morning I would wake up engorged and my milk in the fridge gone. I had to stop pumping just so she could stop using up all my supply, it made no sense to save up when nothing was being saved. Then she went back to using formula again until it ran out. No matter what I said my mother insisted that she was right and I needed to listen because that's how she raised me. Fast forward to 4 weeks, im walking through a store and my mother picks up rice cereal and I said "Wait. No. Pause. The baby doesn't need to eat cereal he's too young." So she said "You never listen the baby needs cereal he keeps feeding too much at night." I said "Mom its called cluster feeding... I thought u breast feed me for 7 months." She said "No such thing as cluster feeding that means your baby is starving." I said "No that means I'm going to make more milk soon." She said "No he's starving sweetie your not listening" and proceeds to buy the cereal. She fed him that night with formula and rice cereal while I was sleeping and I woke up to my baby squirming in pain. I stayed up all night trying to soothe him and I knew she gave him the cereal because it was on his dresser next to formula and a bottle. My mom came in at 4am to me patting him with my eyes closed I was that tired from him squirming all night in pain. I also noticed he went from pooping to not pooping at all. So I said "You constipated my child with that rice cereal it has iron and the formula has iron too, now he won't poop and I have to go to my jobs office in a few." Before I left too go to my job, my son took the biggest dump ever and his diaper exploded. There was poop everywhere!!! I bathed him and let my mom watch him since she had the day off. I come back home and behold, another bottle with rice cereal. I told her "stop giving him that damn cereal he can't poop when he eats it, he's too young." She said "Well he has to get used to it." I said "No u need to get use to the fact that he doesn't need it!" And I took him in my room. He barely pooped all day and at night she snuck in and fed him more cereal. Again he woke up unhappy and we spent another night half sleeping and in pain together. He didn't poop all night. I had an appointment in the morning and I left without sleeping and my mom was working late so she watched him again. I told her "He didn't poop all night and I know u fed him the cereal he is in pain." She said "OK I got it." and I left. When I came back she told me he did a massive dump again but she told me she needed to help him poop, so she stuck the end of a tooth brush up his butt. I said "WHY WOULD U USE A TOOTH BRUSH?! Why didn't you cut a thin piece of soap and use that instead???" She said "Oh i didn't hurt him he was in more pain from constipation." I said "I don't care his butt hole shouldn't be risked being damaged by a tip of a toothbrush. Id rather a small piece of soap instead." She gonna respond and say I put soap on the toothbrush 🙄... SO WHAT. I said "Don't feed my child anymore!" and for about a week or 2 she actually let my exclusively breastfeed. My baby was happier and un bothered except for the times when he didn't burp and he had to pas the gas. Now I've started working again. During the 6 weeks my baby went from waking up every 2 hours to waking up once for a late night feed. My mom insisted that I use the cereal again so he could sleep at night. I said "To hell with that I would end up staying up all night trying to help him poop again and that was more tiring than me waking up once at night." That led to another fight. She said "So when are u gonna start training the baby to sleep at night u need to start feeding him bottles at night." I said "For what so my milk could dry up?" She said "That's not true"and then I said "I've only been at work for 2 days and I went from pumping 4oz from each breast to 2oz each. I'm struggling as it is to keep my milk up cuz you made me miss so many feedings, I don't even have a milk stash because you used up all of my milk to feed him." Then she said "So when are u gonna train him to sleep during the night? You need your rest. I said, even if he slept I would still have to pump at the times he feeds just to keep my milk going." She said "No that's not true" and I flipped. I said "I will 'train' him when I'm ready. My baby doesn't need a schedule he needs ME. No matter how tired I am I will still wake up to feed him from MY body because that's what I choose to do. I don't want to follow your rules cuz so far they have made everything worse and I could have had it better if I just listened to myself. I know my body and I know my limit and so far my baby has doubled in weight by breastfeeding he is fine just the way he is. when your not home he does so good he sleeps really well and I can sneak in a late night session of pumping. With you around he seems bothered. I know my baby and he does not like your ways." She said "OK but your going to regret it".........

Yes mom I already regret listening to you. I already regret living under your roof while having a baby. Because of you my milk is slowly disappearing. because of you I have to supplement at the evening because I don't have enough milk to feed him when I breast feed. He literally sucks me dry and cries for a bottle. I don't even want to use it but I want him to be fed so I do after he cluster feeds. I can't wait to move........... 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄