Tiger's Milk

I've been trying to increase my milk supply to help with my baby's growth. One of my friends who happens to be a doula introduced me to Tiger's Milk. It's milk loaded with lots of good stuff your body needs to make good quality milk!

Tiger's Milk
-1 cup warm milk (organic if possible)
-1 tablespoon coconut oil
-1 teaspoon of BLACKSTRAP Molasses (it has to be blackstrap!)

So how should this help? Well to begin with warm milk helps the rest go down! It actually turns out quite yummy. The coconut oil helps supply the medium-chain fatty acids found naturally in mother's milk, making it rich in these health improving nutrients. Blackstrap molasses is an iron-rich leaving from the refining process of sugar and a traditional remedy for low milk supply. It is important to choose a high quality product because cheaper brands may be diluted with corn syrup.

To be honest it's hard to tell if it's helping. I'm only pumping before bed and in the MOTN. It seems like I'm starting to get a little more milk. I started drinking this twice a day to really kick in the nutrients. We'll see how it goes!

My Friend, The Breast Pump...Whaaa???

..whaaaat?? I know what you're thinking. "You just posted about how you thought it was your evil nemesis." Well, if you are a pumping or even a breastfeeding mom-you can admit that the pump has it's place. I'm actually EXTREMELY grateful to this little contraption. My baby boy wouldn't be as big, healthy, and thriving without it {in my opinion, nothing against formula}.  He's always had a great spot on the charts (between 50 and 80 percent)-not that the charts mean anything though, lol. He's never gotten sick! Since I'm a working mom, I have had no choice but to bottle feed him for a few feedings. I went back to work at 12 weeks, and stayed at that job until he was 5.5 months old. It was too far to go feed him 3 times a day. So I chose to pump, and pump I did. And more pumping. Did I say I pumped?

I pumped 3 times a day at work. I had to pump for at least 30 minutes each to get enough milk since I had an irregular let down pattern (at least from what I can tell). Oh and this was in my car, since my company didn't have anywhere for me and I didn't want to make a big deal. Even though my car wasn't the most set up, it was actually quite comfortable. I had my heater (it was winter), music, i could take off my shoes. It was actually a nice quiet time to myself. Occasionally I had to pump after I got home from work. Once Peanut started sleeping through the night, I had to start pumping in the middle of the night to keep up my supply. This was a milk-saving pump session. It wasn't fun to get up when I could be sleeping, but not only did it keep up my supply for my 6 oz. bottle eating 4 month old, it gave me at least 6-10 oz of milk. That would usually make up for a what I was short the next day. Adding it all up, I've pumped about 156 hours in the past 6 months.

Pumping is much harder than I expected. Here's a few tips for you (and for me if I have to start again!):

1. Drink PLENTY of water. Meaning more than your usual 8 glasses gals.
2. Eat OLD FASHIONED oatmeal in the mornings. This will up your supply naturally.
3. Pump longer than you would nurse your baby(even if milk isn't coming out!). Wait for the second letdown. Mine usually happens around 20-25 minutes. Most women has this happen around 15 minutes from what I hear. Remember the pump (no matter how expensive) will never be as effective as your little professional nurser, so be patient and work hard to get that milk!
4. Massage, massage, massage. Keep compressing and massaging to pull that milk out. Sometimes I would have to do it the full 30 minutes.
5. If you have problems letting down, keep a photo of you baby with you, a blanket that smells like them or brings sweet memories, or I even have a 'let-down' song that I play each time I pump. It's like ringing the bell for dinner. Your body knows what it means.
6. If you need to increase your supply, pump 5-10 minutes on each side after nursing or add on this time to your pumping session, again even if milk isn't coming out.
7. Remember, your milk is a supply and demand deal. If you demand it, your body will supply it. It works the other way too. If you stop demanding or reduce your demand, you body will reduce or stop your supply. This is why I believe most mothers dry out earlier than they wanted to.
8. If you're bottle feeding during the day, which most pumping mothers are, make sure to stick with the smallest nipple-size 0 ladies. Even if your baby gets frustrated with the flow, don't increase it. The faster the milk comes out of the bottle, the less they have to work. Our nipples require work, so we don't want our little ones to get lazy with the breast and prefer the bottle. Also, try to keep to the wide nipples. I made the mistake of getting the narrow Dr. Browns (even though they have the wide) and my little guy now nurses with a very narrow latch.
9. Try out some pumping accessories. I like the Pumpin' Pals Super Shields. I feel they really do bring more of the breast in the shield to get a wide 'latch'. If anything, at least you don't have to lean forward. I wasn't too fond of the strap though-I'll explain why. Since I have larger breasts (D's), I need inward pressure. The strap gave good lift, but not inward pressure, so I stuck to my nursing bra. I like the Simple Wishes one.
10. Have an extra set of accessories. If you can afford it and know you'll be pumping a while, get a few extras. An extra bra, so you can use one while the other one is getting washed. Extra collector bottles, regular bottles, and shields. I hated how every night I had to wash everything for the next morning. Once I had a lot of bottles, I did bottles every other night-which was great!
11. Now, I'm not guaranteeing this tip is the most sanitary, but I felt comfortable with it. Instead of washing your pump parts after each and every pump, throw all the parts in the fridge then you can use them again the next time without washing. If the milk is good, the milk on the parts should be fine too right? My little guy never got sick and this saved me time and sanity. I had a friend who liked the idea, but still wanted to rinse the parts-that works too! Whatever you're comfortable with. I only did this during my work pumps though. I washed it after that.
12. Invest in a good pump. If you're going to be using it every day, multiple times a day-you need a good quality pump that will help you pump fast and efficient. I decided on the Hygeia Enjoye LBI. It has an external filter that you can change in between babies or mothers! Did you know the average pump isn't approved for multiple users?? It's because you can't change the filter! Also the LBI has an internal battery that you can charge so you don't have to have it plugged in. I only have to charge mine about every other night.  This was how I pumped in my car! I would HIGHLY recommend the internal battery if possible. You can pump anywhere!
13. Here's a tip from a reader that I forgot-eat A LOT of protein!!!  String cheese, yogurt, even plant based protein is great.
14. If you're nursing as well as pumping, and one breast produces less-make sure your baby nurses on the lower-producing breast first. Usually a baby is a little more 'ferocious' when they first latch and they'll drink more-thus creating the demand.

Well I think that's probably enough for now! Let me know if you have any questions. I'd love to help.

My Nemesis-The Pump (and a distracted baby)

 It's been about 4 weeks since I've had to use my pump on a regular basis. It's been a glorious 4 weeks. Now, after I've gotten my hopes up thinking I'd never have to touch the evil thing again, I'm staring it in the face due to my distracted, possibly teething baby boy. Shall I back up?

I started a new job 2 weeks ago. Before that I had 2 lovely weeks home between jobs. During my time off, I never had to pump. Amazingly, and by the grace of God, we found a babysitter who is 1.5 miles from our house, and only 4.5 miles from my work. This means it's actually more time effective for me to go to her house and feed Peanut than to pump. Praise God! It's been amazing. Not only do I get to skip pumping sessions, I get to spend 15 minutes cuddling my baby boy during the morning and afternoon. To top it off, no washing pump parts or bottles every night. That assembly line has been shut down!

I actually had to pump for my morning feeding this past Monday. Peanut was at his Grandma's which is too far for me to drive. At first, I was almost eager to pump, it was like greeting an old friend. I was excited to see how my supply was looking (something you have no idea of when you're not pumping). After only a few minutes, I remember that I despised the thing.


On to my current problem, the past few days, breastfeeding has been a struggle, a wrestling match shall I say. I barely am getting 4 minutes from him on each side (if that!). It is SOOO frustrating. I just want to lie and the floor and throw my own fit, however my little man has claimed it already. He's way too distracted or could be teething (I hear they don't like latching on when teething). He's pulling off, looking around, or the worst- pinching my nipple and pushing it away! I can't feed him if my husband is anywhere near because all he wants to do is smile at Daddy (cute, but annoying). After getting some advice and talking to my lactation consultant, I realize that I may need to start pumping again during the day-since he eats decently at home. I gave him my chap-stick this afternoon while he was nursing which seemed to help, he also will play with my necklace, so maybe I'll throw on a colorful necklace and see if it helps. I'm going to keep trying the next few days-especially with the weekend ahead, I may be able to make more progress with him. I'll keep you posted, wish me luck.

4 Month BabyWise Update

So Elijah is now 4 mo, 1 week. At about 17 weeks (from due date), he started having a growth spurt. I think this was 1 week before he turned 4 months. His growth spurt lasted 2 weeks. Pretty much at 19.5 weeks it ended. After posting a few questions in the Babywise Babycenter forum, I was introduced to the Wonder Weeks. He was right in his wonderweeks. Now that we're on the other side, I could see that he was effected by them. He did so much growing and learning in those 2 weeks. He went from 4.5 oz up to 7 oz per feeding. He is now back to 5 oz. I was so stressed about pumping enough while I was at work. I started pumping in the MOTN right before this, so I had some milk stored up and a good supply. During these weeks, Elijah started waking up once or twice at night. I think it was because he wanted to eat-or possibly growing pains. I thought it may have been teething, but now I see I was wrong. I also think that his sleep was just disrupted by everything he was going though-the 'wonder' of seeing things a new way.

He's back to STTN and eating every 3 hours. His naps stick around 1.5-2 hours with at least one 45 min nap per day. I think I'm now slowly going to move him to a 3.5 hour schedule and possibly remove the DF. We'll see how it goes!