First and foremost I want to say there should be NO JUDGEMENT on how parents choose to feed their baby. Nursing, pumping, formula…it doesn’t matter we are ALL doing our best and have our kids best interest in mind. Like a hilarious meme I once saw said…”they all end up eating Cheerios off the floor of the car anyway”. : )
With that being said, this post is geared to those who are trying to make breastfeeding work and are struggling because mama, I get it! I have struggled to breastfeed each of my six kids some only lasted 4 months, others 12 months. This go around is by far the easiest and that’s because of two factors.
- I started following a support group on Instagram and I got so much information {and support} from them which was a huge help. @pump_momma_pump gives tips on relieving clogged ducts, increasing your milk supply, what you can do with oversupply, how to deal with high lipase milk, and more. All though it focuses a lot on pumping, they are very encouraging of all women, no matter how you choose to feed your baby…pumping, nursing or formula.
- I learned about Power Pumping and it was LIFE CHANGING. So anytime I noticed a dip in my supply (which is pretty often for me. My supply fluctuates a lot depending on diet, exercise, water intake all of that. I feel like I’m pretty sensitive to each of those areas and it doesn’t take much to notice a decrease in my supply. Also, baby girl started sleeping through the night {yay!} but it effected my supply as well) So in the past if I noticed a decrease I would try to just feed more often and for some that works great, but I never had much success with it. This time I’ve done Power Pumping and within less than a week of doing it ONCE a day I would notice a difference. So, here’s how it works: Pump for 20 minutes, rest for 10 minutes, pump for 10 minutes, rest for 10 minutes, pump for 10 minutes. As you see, it’s an hour spent once a day but that’s all you need to signal your body that it’s not producing enough and needs to step up it’s game. After our most recent vacation I noticed I was getting a little less than usual when I was pumping (which explained why the baby kept wanting to nurse SO MUCH) but honestly haven’t had a hour each day to spare so I increased my water intake and then pumped my usual amount, waited 10 minutes and pumped again for 10 more minutes (so a total of 40 minutes probably) and I noticed an increase within 48 hours. So with 2 “power pumps”, increase in water and nursing baby still I increased it faster than usual. Keep in mind baby girl is 5 months now so my supply is a little more established, I would definitely stick to a full hour of Power Pumping if you have a newborn and are trying to increase your supply and for sure do it for at least a week.
I just thought I would do a post for any women out there really wanting to make nursing work but struggling. Hopefully this will help. And go follow @pump_momma_pump for sure! If you have tried everything and it’s still not working that is O.K. too! You love your baby and your baby knows it, not from whether you nurse her/him or not but by the love they feel radiating from you each time you hold her/him and THAT is what matters.
If you know someone who may benefit from these tips please share, we can all use more support and encouragement from one another.
xoxo,
Jenny
Homestead Creations 