Thursday, August 9, 2012

I Think My Boobs Are Staging a Rebellion

Yep.  You read the title of this post correctly.  I'm pretty sure my boobs are, in fact, staging a rebellion.  A coup.  A protest.  Whatever you want to call it, the girls have stepped out of line, and decided to go wild.

Eisley has always been an exclusively breast-fed baby.  That's the way we both like it.  It's good for her little baby immune system, it's good for our bonding and relationship, and it's good for my bank account because it is free.  I went back to work part time at 3 months and the girls were still happily plugging away, making milk like it was going out of style (consequently, that expression has never made much sense to me, but I'm going to use it anyway, darn it!).  After about a month or so of working and pumping most of the day two days a week, my supply slowly started to deplete.

Uh-Oh.

Now here we are, one week away from Eisley's 6 month birthday (whhaaaat!?  Already?  Holy Crap) and I just pumped like 2 ounces.  Total.  As in out of both breasts.  Now granted, I did just feed E, so I wasn't expecting to fill a milk jug or anything, but 2 oz?  Oh no they didn't!  We started Eisley on solid foods about two weeks ago, largely because she was ready, but also because I was worried that she needed a few extra calories.  The thing is, that food is just supposed to be supplemental at this age.  Eisley still needs a whole lot of milk to keep her chunky little body growing strong and healthy, and I'm just not ready to start running dry.  My plan has always been to breast feed Eisley until at least one year.  Now obviously that doesn't mean just breast milk for a year, but I think that if you're able to do it, breast feeding for at least a year gives your kid a huge boost to their immune system.

So get with the program, boobs!  You are here for a reason, and it's not just to be so big that I can't find cute dresses that don't let you roam free.

I've been filling up on tons and tons of water, taking some supplemental herbs, trying to pump after E eats... it's a battle right now.  I'm not sure I'm winning.  The next thing I'm going to try is to just offer Eisley snack time a whole bunch for a few days to see if that helps my body kick it into gear, but I'm feeling a little frustrated.  I never thought that I'd look in my freezer and panic about the dwindling milk supply in there, but that's where I'm at.

Any of you mamas out there deal with this?  Any tips or tricks to boost supply?  I figure, it was just world breast-feeding week, so it's an appropriate time to talk about boobs.  I'm also going to add this post to the list of things I didn't think I would discuss in public before having a baby.  And I'm going to laugh at my naive pre-baby self.


5 comments:

  1. Lactation boost granola! Worked wonders for me. Also Mothers Milk tea seemed to help me as well.
    Also, pumping is truly not an indication of supply. So it could just be that your body is changing it's reaction to pumping. Some mom's never respond to pumping, but bf w/ no issues! Keep nursing her as often as you can and they will keep up :)It's awesome you've almost hit the 6 month mark - you go mama!

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  2. I'm having the same issue. I look forward to seeing what feedback you get. Where do you get this lactation boost granola? can it just be made (I'm on a huge "making my own granola" kick)

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  3. I don't respond well to the pump at all, so I've had issues with pumping enough since I went back to work. I take vitamins, fenugreek supplements, domperidone (prescription), and drink LOTS of water. I still only pump 6-8 oz./day. Isla eats 16 oz./day, so obviously there's a pretty significant gap.

    I have a frozen stash that I built up while I was out on maternity leave, but I use it pretty sparingly so that it will last until 6 months. I've finally stopped stressing about it, and we supplement with formula while she's at daycare so she gets about half milk and half formula. We still nurse at night and on weekends, too, so she's getting MOSTLY breastmilk. It's not perfect, but I'm not going to beat myself up over the fact that my body just doesn't like the pump. We do the best we can. :)

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  4. Thanks Stephanie. =) I'm having Nick pick some mothers milk tea up for me when he gets off of work. Where did you find lactation boost granola?

    Katie- I think my body is just getting used to the pump too. I just don't seem to get much out with it these days, but my daughter doesn't seem hungry. it's just going to be an issue of when I'm at work. oh well... what can you do? You're absolutely right about just doing the best we can. =)

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  5. Copper have you heard of Hyenacart? It's a site that stocks by store and sells WAHM made products (lots of cloth diapers, etc). My friend sells lactation granola through there: http://hyenacart.com/stores/Bliss/ or on her FB page: https://www.facebook.com/dakotagirlproduct

    It's super yummy ;) G/L Copper!!!

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