Pumpin Mamma!

Some of you may know and some of you may not, but I have been feeding Will breast milk. I attempted to breast feed but since he is a little monster, he eats a lot. I would nurse him for 40-50 minutes and he would still want another 2-4 ounces. I would then have to pump after in order to give him the 2-4 ounces. I just figured that it was better time spent just pumping and feeding him a bottle. Knowing that breast milk is the best for a baby really isn’t my main motivation for trying so hard to breast feed, the cost of formula is. In my short 2 ½ months of exclusive pumping I have learned a lot about breast feeding. I would love to share those things with you in case you know someone who is having trouble breast feeding or pumping or just wants some advice.

One thing I have learned is that it takes a great deal of work to make milk! Drinking a gallon of water a day is a bit hard. This and rest is the best way to keep your milk supply up. Here are other tips to increase your supply:

If you are more like me and not blessed to be a “cow” then there are natural and safe herbs to take. Fenugreek is an herb that was recommended to me by my doctor so it is so very safe. (This increased my supply by about 2-3 ounces a day.) There is a tea that is called Mother’s Milk Tea. I have yet to do this as it takes 3-5 cups a day to work, but I do have a box at home I plan on using. More Milk Plus or More Milk Special Blend is a mixture of herbs that is recommended by many lactation consultants but not known by too many. (I have just started taking this and so far has increased my supply by yet another 3-5 ounces a day.) If none of this works for you, there are certain prescriptions that increase milk supply.

Eat- this sucks because now you are trying to lose that baby weight but it takes an extra 700 calories a day to produce milk! Can you believe that? 700 calories!

If you are nursing alone, keep baby there eating. He/she has to completely drain you for your body to trigger the hormone that produces more milk. Have the baby eat from both sides as well. If you are like my sisters and I, keep pumping. At least five minutes after you get the last drop of milk, this will do the same thing as having the baby nurse. As funny as it sounds but then do hand expressions. If I do this after I am done pumping, I can get yet another ounce! That is a lot if you don’t get much to begin with.

Cabbage leaves help with mastitis and when you are done breast feeding for engorgement.

Tips for exclusive pumpers:

If you are pumping alone, pump 10-12 times a day for the first few weeks/ months. Your milk supply will be established at 12 weeks post partum.

Olive oil your horns. It causes less friction which is awesome!

Pumping while baby is sleeping does not last long! So, you have to figure out how to entertain your baby while pumping. Somehow you can feed your baby while you pump. I haven’t figured this out yet as it is a challenge to burp Will because he is so strong that I can’t burp him sitting up, he has to be on my shoulder. I sit Will up like a big boy on our chair as I sit on the ottoman with books and toys on the chair so he has my full attention. Some women pump on the floor with their little one lying down with toys all around. When Will becomes mobile I plan on putting him in the pack and play with a bunch of toys in the living room.

You can refrigerate your pump parts so that you don’t have to wash them every time. I do but with middle of the night pumps it would be nice to just go back to bed instead of washing parts.

Massaging your breasts while pumping will get the milk out faster and more efficiently.

Rotate your freezer stash, in standard freezer it is good for 3-6 months and in a deep freezer it is good for 6-12 months.

Power pumping increases milk supply. What is this? Watch an hour long show and pump during commercials. I’m not sure why it does just that it does, or at least I have read that it does.

Apparently pumping sometime in the middle of the night (between 1 and 5) interrupts your deep sleep which releases a different hormone to produce more milk.

There are more tips and advice on pumping and storing milk that I could list but this post would be an epic post. I do hope that this will help someone who is struggling with this. If you do have another question and you know me, just ask, if you don’t know me then look it up on the net. There is so much information out there that it is sad for women who desperately want to breast feed but cant for a number of reasons. This was something that I have wanted for the cost more than anything. I will leave you with one more piece of advice:

It IS okay to cry over spilt milk!

Crazy Life.

It has taken quite a long time for me to get back to feeling normal. As nine weeks few by I am finally feeling better. Ever since our little monster was born I have loved looking at the big guy just wondering what life will bring for him. Will he follow his Dad’s dream for him to be a farmer or will he decide to go to college to do something amazing. I know that we will think that whatever he does is amazing but will he save lives, teach children, build buildings, or anything else that takes a college degree? I love thinking about Will’s future. Who will he marry? How many children will he have? Most importantly, will he be happy? These are the questions that I think about when I look at him. As I do so, it makes me think about Dennis and my past and how we met. Just the other day, Mark (Dennis’s Dad) said something about the wedding dance that brought Dennis and I together. Who knew that going to that wedding dance that night would bring the fate of Will and all the other future children we may have?

It’s funny how things work out in life. Knowing that day that it was that cute blondie from Baileyville’s sister’s wedding, I did want to go. Not for any other reason but to maybe catch a glimpse of this cutie again. Now, five years later we have a son together, three years of almost all blissful marriage, and countless other blessings. I say almost because we are human and like every marriage have had our ups and downs. The saying that goes “The first year is the hardest” I believe holds true. He may get on my nerves some but I know that I get on his and he is so good to me. He has helped me out in so many areas of life. I guess what I am getting at is how life has panned out for us is just interesting. Do you ever sit and wonder how things would have turned out if you hadn’t done something. I wonder, had we not gone to that wedding dance that night for any of a number of reasons, would we have gotten together and started dating? I thank God every day for what He has given me and the people that he has put in my life. I say many times that I am truly blessed for the people that around me. I tell Will that he has no idea how many people love him. He was told that before he was even born.

I am rambling on at how amazing life is but I guess what I want to get across is that I will always wonder if Will, will find someone as amazing as I have. If she will support him in ways that Dennis has supported me. Will she make him grow up in some areas and teach him to always be a kid at heart? Even though Dennis really doesn’t even know that I write this blog I just want to thank him for putting up with me. I know some of you may think I have to put up with him but I do my fair share of complaining and whining. So, for the five years of togetherness, I thank you Dennis, for loving me, for being my husband, and for giving me our son.