The battle this week has not been fitting in
my pumping sessions, but how much I’m
producing each pump. I have watched for the last seven days as my supply has
decreased fairly significantly. As I mentioned last week, L is now drinking 5oz
bottles every 3.5 hours, so I truly need to be pumping a minimum of 25oz a day
to meet his needs and continue to stash one bottle a day. Unfortunately this
has become an almost impossible task. My morning pumps that used to yield
anywhere from 8-10oz are now just barely hitting 6oz and those afternoon
sessions are topping out at 2oz. I keep trying to remind myself that “every
ounce counts,” but when those ounces don’t even add up to one full bottle it
truly feels like a waste of time. I have found myself questioning whether I
should either a) just give up or b) start supplementing formula in his daycare
bottles … neither of which I truly want to do at this point.
L is only 12 weeks old tomorrow and in my
heart I’m not quite ready to give up, but what more can I do? Well, let me tell
you! If you ask the right people, the right questions you will be amazed at
what you find out!
I recently joined a pumping support group on
Facebook and it has been wonderful. It’s nice to know I’m not the only mommy
out there going through these struggles. I mean I know I’m not but to be able to actually talk to other women that
are is comforting. At first I was just a lurker, not participating in the
discussion, just reading about others experiences and the types of things they
did to get through it. I couldn’t believe the success some of them had with
pumping – one woman has 1500oz in her freezer! Yes you read that correctly, one thousand five hundred ounces!! To
say I’m jealous is an understatement. The difference is however, many of these
women pump around the clock. They are waking two and three times a night to
pump. I can’t make that commitment, and perhaps those makes me lazy or a bad
mother, but remember I am getting up
two and three times a night to breastfeed so adding in another 15-20 minutes of
pumping on top of that would result in me never sleeping!
After being on the board for a few days I
decided to post my first question. I asked the ladies two things: what is and
how to know when you’re having a ‘let-down’ and how to increase my supply. The
answers varied but a ‘let-down’ is basically when your boobies tell you “hey it’s
time to express this milk” (http://www.breastmilkcounts.com/let-down-reflex.php).
It was a sensation I’d felt many times but wasn’t sure what it was. Now I am
able to listen to my body and know when it’s time to pump. Amazingly, I
typically feel a ‘let-down’ coming on every 3.5 hours, right when the nugget
should be eating!
The second question solicited so many different
and varied responses. Water was of course the number one answer – basically drown
yourself in water every day. The second most popular answer was oatmeal. I’ve
already adopted both of these into my routine so I began looking at alternative
answers.
After reading through what the women
suggested and doing some back research of my own I have chosen to try the
following:
1) Fenugreek: The capsules I purchased are 610mg per and according to the label should be
taken 2-3 times daily. This aligned with the women as they all said you need to
take about 2,000mg a day to see a change.
2) Mother’s Milk Tea: I have never been a tea drinker and after hearing what the ladies said about
this particular kind I’m sure I’ll never be a tea drinker after either.
According to what they all said this tea is “gross” and they have to chug it
just to finish it. But many of them said they saw a significant increase in
their supply.
3) Lactation Cookies: What woman doesn’t love a good
cookie? From the looks of the recipe it is basically an oatmeal chocolate chip
cookie made with flaxseed & Brewer’s Yeast. I haven’t made them yet, but they are on the docket for this weekend.
Keep your fingers crossed for me and in the meantime…
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
No comments:
Post a Comment