Mama got lazy...

...and took things for granted.  when i say "things" i'm referring to my breast milk.  are you sick of me talking about breast milk??  i apologize, but it's sort of an obsession of mine right now.

the perfect storm happened to me recently that i believe caused my milk to go from abundant to scarce.  the circumstances were the following:

1. 3 nights of me not pumping despite engorgement and major leakage.  why...you ask?  because i was tired, that's why!  who wants to pump in the middle of the night when your newborn is still asleep?  i don't!
2. giving a bottle of breast milk to ella more frequently to give me more time to workout, run errands, or spend time with friends.
3. i ran out of nursing tincture and healthy horizons was all out of it for a few days.
4. gabriella and john spent the night at my in-laws to give mama some time to herself.  and instead of pumping every 3 hours like i knew i should, mama stretched it to more like every 4 to 4.5 hours.  btw, thanks mom and dad for the much needed mom-cation!!

so why was i so surprised when one morning when i woke up to pump after not nursing ella for 5 hours that i wasn't engorged or leaking and that i only pumped this amount?

my first pumping session of the day occurs between the hours of 3 am to 5 am and i typically pump a good 8 to 9 oz. in 10 minutes.  you can imagine my reaction when i barely pumped 4 oz that morning.  it was a shock and a wide awakening.

i took my borderline oversupply for granted.  for 3 days my boobs were soft, even if i didn't nurse ella for 4 hours.  my pumping sessions only yielded a meager 2-3 oz.  i freaked out.  i quickly googled ways to increase my milk and i spoke to the lactation consultants at healthy horizons.

did you know at about 4 months, it becomes nearly impossible to increase one's milk supply?  from there on out, you pretty much fight to keep it.

here are the things that i did:

• limited ella to one bottle a night.
• pumped after every feed and or every 3 hours even if very little came out.
• increased my water intake.
• started to take the nursing tincture again.

and it worked.  i went from pumping this...

to this...

mama got the memo.  i am not taking this milk supply for granted ever again!  

i'm not looking forward to going back to work.  i'm sure i'll have a decrease in supply then =(