House is clean. Laundry is done. Baby is kicking me from the inside out. All is good!
Today I was thinking about nursing baby number two and how things will go. I've got a great support team lined up, so I am excited. Conner was a disaster, but I don't blame him or me - just the lactation nurse at the hospital. Gotta blame somebody, right? Conner and I had the whole nursing thing down pat from the start until the lactation nurse finally came to see us a day and half later and told us we had to do things differently. Why? Nobody knows, but it took us downhill fast. Lesson 1: if you and the baby are nursing fine, don't let anyone change anything. Lesson 2: make sure you have a good lactation consultant and be very vocal about demanding their time and help. Lesson 3: if they say you need to use a supplemental nursing system, force them to teach you how to fully use it. I could go on with the lessons that I learned because I had to do it the hard way.
It got to the point where the nurse led us so far astray that Conner wanted nothing to do with me. He'd scream if I picked him up to try and nurse him and would only quiet down when Joe would hold him. Thanks to an awesome program called Healthy Futures in our county, we were visited by an amazing lactation consultant/home nurse to help us. Unfortunately, by then the damage was done and nothing was going to get the kid and me to revert back to our success we had the first day and half he was born. However, the minute that I held Conner and gave him a bottle there was finally a connection/bond between us. I believe it's that same bond that most moms develop with their baby when they nurse. It was the first time I could hold and feed Conner and he didn't scream. He just looked at me and I looked at him the whole time. Life was perfect, and it only took a bottle to get us there.
I have personally seen and heard far too many women be judgmental about other women using bottles and/or formula. Those are usually the moms that are also judgmental towards the women who have had C-sections whether elective or not. It's disheartening to hear that kind of talk, but with Conner's birth being classified as "traumatic" and me feeling like a failure on the birthing front and nursing front, I was bound and determined to be successful at producing milk.
I had a lot going against me since I had a section, I never even attempted nursing Conner until 3 to 4 hours after he was born, and I had a huge mental block of frustration on what just happened to our once successful nursing. Pumping was the only way that I could feel like I hadn't lost everything.
Like every woman, I started at square one. Producing barely anything and wondering if I could make enough to keep up with what that little child needed on a daily basis. I did my research and followed the advice more strictly than anything I've done before. Let me tell you, if you put the effort into it, it can work. I talked to my sister in law who shared her pumping advice with me and how she was able to pump enough within the first 6 months to quit and have enough in storage to last until her baby turned one year old. I was immediately sold on that idea because, let's be real, pumping sucks. I guess pun intended.
I went from producing barely anything to producing 75-80+ ounces everyday. It's not easy. It's especially not easy when you have a newborn that only take 30 minute naps and demands to be held when awake. So that whole idea of sleeping when the baby sleeps is no where near possible.
I also had lots of days where I had to drive 4+ hours each direction and spend all day in an office or construction site that had zero spaces for a mom to pump. Those were the days when I would have to hide in my car and pump when I would arrive to the office or site and again when I would leave praying that nobody would pay attention to me. Those were during the cold winter months. I'd get up at 2:30am to pump and get on the road stopping halfway at a rest stop to pump again and again when I would arrive to my destination. Then I would leave that same day and make the same long trip home. Only instead of stopping halfway at a rest stop to pump, I became quite proficient at pumping while driving. I know, totally not ideal, and I would never suggest anyone do it. But that's what I would do just to get home a little earlier.
The reason I bring those past memories up is because that is a lot of stress to deal with and to show that everyone has it hard when they're a working mom (or even a stay at home mom) who pumps. Everyone has stress and deals with it in their own way, and we shouldn't discount anyone's stress level because we may not find their situation to be very stressful to us. It just is what it is.
In the end, I was able to pump enough within the first six month to have enough milk stored to last Conner well past his 1st year. We even had to borrow a friend's chest freezer which was filled to the brim with milk. Getting to that point was misery and a lot of work but it paid off. I got to be done pumping after 6 months and truly had my body back. That was a huge deal for me because the prolactin hormone that produces the milk was blocking my body's ability to lose the baby weight (and believe me I had a lot there to lose).
Okay, enough background chit-chat. Here are my top pieces of advice to help increase milk supply.
1) Demand. Demand. Demand.
This is the single most important thing you can do to increase your milk supply. Your body only makes milk if it's needed so unless you put a demand on your body, you won't get the supply you want. This is not an easy one to stick to. I read articles that you need to keep pumping for 5 minutes after your milk runs out to help build it up. I can tell you 5 minutes wasn't enough for me. There were times early on the I would literally sit there for 25+ minutes pumping nothing time and time again to put that demand on my body.
Beyond the duration that you're pumping, the frequency matters too. In the early days, I would pump after every single time that Conner ate - day and night. That's exhausting to feed a baby at night, wait for him to go back to sleep and then finally sit there for 30-40 minutes pumping before I could go back to sleep for a little while before it was time to do it all over again. Halleluiah for an amazing husband that took one for the team by taking a lot of the night feedings so I could pump while Conner was eating and giving me a chance to sleep a little more at night.
When Conner turned three months old and stayed at daycare during the day, I began pumping every 3 hours. That includes getting up every three hours through the night too. That's another biggie - if you're trying to store enough milk, you can't lose that nighttime demand or your supply will go down even when you're baby starts sleeping through the night.
2) Quench that thirst!
Producing that much liquid really takes a lot out of you. If your body is dehydrated, you just won't be able to keep up. Since I was pumping 75-80 ounces each day, I would drink double that amount in water. Every morning, I would fill up a gallon container of water and have it finished that day.
3) Oatmeal
I ate oatmeal like it was the only thing left on the planet. I'd have a bowl at breakfast, lunch and dinner. No joke. We went through so many large containers of old fashioned oats. Oatmeal is considered a lactogenic food or galactagogue which simply means it's a substance that increases milk supply. You can get creative and look on Pinterest for different ways to eat oatmeal.
4) Fenugreek
This is a fairly common supplement that you can easily find at Walmart or most stores. If I remember correctly, I took 1500mg at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Basically, when your armpits start to smell like maple syrup, you know you're getting enough. No joke. You will smell like maple syrup.
5) Invest in a nice pump
If you are pumping exclusively, this is a biggie. I really recommend the Medela Pump In Style. It's got a great mimicking effect and is easy to travel with.
6) Lactation Cookies
There are three main ingredients in lactation cookies that really help. Oatmeal, milled flax seed and the main one... Brewer's Yeast. You may have to go to a local whole/natural foods store or go online to buy this. When I was eating these with Conner, I made mine from scratch. I remember it being so incredibly stressful trying to bake or cook anything and it didn't hit me until so much later to buy the cookie mixes where all you have to do is add butter and eggs. I suggest buying an oatmeal cookie mix and adding 4 tablespoons of brewer's yeast and 1 tablespoon of flax seed to the mix. Chocolate chips are always a welcome addition to these cookies!
7) Stress
I believe stress is the biggest factor on milk supply dropping. Think about women who go back to work after maternity leave and how many times you have heard or experienced a drop in supply. The days that I had to travel for work were stressful for me and it showed in my supply. I'd go from 80oz the day before to 30oz on the day I traveled. Stress.
Stress is one of those things that people tell you to reduce or eliminate, but how? You can't change the environment around you that is inducing the stress. I personally had to figure out what exactly was stressing me out. Most of the time it was the idea of me not making my daily quota of milk because of stress factor A, B and C. Figuring out what I was really worried about helped me because then I could just say to myself, "okay, who really cares if I only make 10 oz of milk today because I have this stressful day to take care of. Just pump and see what happens. Let go of the worry and get through today."
8) Massage
When you massage and squeeze the boob while nursing/pumping, you will get more milk. I promise. I've heard that babies naturally push on your chest but if you're pumping, this will help mimic that pushing/massaging that the baby would typically do. I admit, I felt like a milk cow when I did this, but it was so effective at getting the job done, that I would squeeze away like I was milkin' Old Bessie.
9) Heat
It's amazing at how something as simple as heat can really help. Lansinoh makes a great product called TheraPearl. I love these. You can throw them in the microwave for a few seconds before pumping and they're designed to fit around the pump flange. They are wonderful. And, when you are ready to wean, you can throw these in the freezer and use them as cold packs to help with swelling. Oh, and clogged ducts?.. yep, these bad boys work wonders for that too. If any of my friends are getting ready to have a baby, they will probably be the recipient of a pair of these for themselves.
10) Rest
I feel obligated to put this down, but let's be real, rest is non existent with an infant. And that is why it is last on my list. If you are able to rest, that will help reduce stress levels which we discussed earlier.
Those are my top tips for helping with milk supply. There are so many other helpful tips out there from other mamas that are incredibly helpful for some. These are what personally helped me, so if your goal is to increase milk supply, get researching and start trying different things! And good luck!
And if you still need to supplement or strictly use formula, don't feel bad at all! You still love your baby all the same, and that's all that matter, right!?
Happy Friday everyone!
I feel like this one was for me 😊
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