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 =(

Adventures in breast feeding. Part 2, but really part 1.

for some reason, labor never really interested me.  i didn't do a ton of research to prepare myself.  i didn't have a specific birth plan.  all i knew is that i wanted an epidural and i would leave the rest to my body and my medical team.  breast feeding, on the other hand, was a whole different story.  i was kind of obsessed with this topic throughout my pregnancy.  you see, i knew it was going to be hard and i was determined to breast feed my baby no matter what.

if you recall,  i took a breast feeding class before gabriella was born so i could prepare myself.  this helped me out a lot.  i highly recommend any new mom to take advantage of the breast feeding class that is provided by your hospital.

i made it clear to my medical team that as soon as possible, i wanted to put gabriella to breast.  once the nurses assessed her, they placed her on me and gabriella latched on like a natural.  she latched on for almost 2 hours. apparently, right after birth babies are the most awake and it is the optimum time for them to be placed on mama's breast.  after that, they pretty much sleep for the next few days.  once the marathon of sucking was over, my nipples took a turn for the worst.  they were cracked, bleeding, and they hurt like heck despite diligent applications of lanolin cream.

the class helped me because i had an idea on how to hold gabriella during breast feeding.  i also knew what her lips should look like, how deep my nipple should be in her mouth, and the way her jaw should look when sucking correctly.  it is because of this baseline knowledge along with the help of my nurses, particularly the night nurses, gabriella and i were able to feel somewhat comfortable with this new learned behavior.

i don't care what anyone says, breast feeding hurts.  my nipples were on fire for the first few weeks.  what surprised me was that my hands started to hurt as well from holding my boob and her.  it does get better though, i promise.  because breast feeding hurts and you (the mama) have to wake up every 2 to 3 hours to feed your baby and sometimes your baby may not latch on right away...you have to want to breast feed.  you have to have the mindset of wanting to be successful and of not giving up.  if you have that, then you and your baby will be a winning breast feeding team.

next up...pumping...

Adventures in breastfeeding. Part 1.

i am so behind in all my posts.  i have several posts in the queue, but none are done.  i apologize.

in the mean time, in case inquiring minds care to know, here is a short update on how i'm storing my breast milk.

first, let me show you how i store the pump attachments so i don't have to wash them every time i pump.  as you can see, i don't even rinse them.  i wash and sterilize all the parts first thing in the morning.  after i pump, i just place the whole thing in a ziplock bag and put it in the fridge until next use.  trust me, this is completely kosher.  just google it.

right now i freeze the milk in 2 oz bags.  however, i'm going to start freezing 4 oz bags since ella drinks 3-4 oz at a time.

take note that i freeze the bags flat.  that way it takes up less room in the freezer.

did you know that a fiber one box from costco is the perfect storing vessel for frozen bags of breast milk?

i place the newest bags in the back.  so when john has to make ella's nightly bottle all he has to do is grab the front 2 bags.

there you have it.  the first installment of adventures in breastfeeding.  more to come...i promise!