Breastfeeding & Exclusive Breast Pumping - What I Wish I'd Known Before Having a Baby

Before I had my first baby, I remember hearing female friends say "Breastfeeding... that was the hardest part of having a baby," and I naively wondered what could be so difficult about it? You just put the baby up to the breast, and with a little maneuvering, they drink! While that might happen, what I came to understand is that it can be extremely complicated. And what can be so difficult is the frequency at which a mom breastfeeds, not just how well the baby latches.

The Frequency

When have you EVER had to get up every three hours in the night to do anything? It was worse than the all-nighters I pulled off in college cramming for an exam. True love.

Low Supply

I was one of those girls who was only a full size B cup in college and always wondered how my supply would be. I'm the first to say, a larger cup probably will help, but less stress, plenty of water, and commitment do more for your supply than anything else!
 

General Advice around Breastfeeding & Pumping

First, try to get some rest and heal up from your delivery, but don’t stress too much about the breast milk. It will come. Some people just have an easy time breastfeeding, some don't, and some have an easy or hard time with the pump and that’s okay! Just do what you can each day.

Secondly, always take others' advice with a grain of salt. (like this blog post :) Certain tips may not work for everybody, but since I had to start producing in the hospital, and it took me a while to get my milk established, I wanted all the help I could get.

Thirdly, if your milk was established, and you had any medical complications and your body took a hit, your supply might have dwindled. But know that you can get it back as your body heals! If you’re not producing much now, that doesn’t mean the door is closed. Just try to produce a little each day! A nurse from Nurses for Newborns gave me the 'recipe' below and believed in me and that's all I needed to nurse and then exclusively pump for 10 months. 

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR MILK SUPPLY

Consider taking Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle supplements. But use this regimen. Also consider power-pumping.

I understand supplements get mixed reviews, but they worked wonderfully for me once I knew how much take. And in my case, they are better than the other Rx a doctor might give because those pills have a tendency to cause anxiety/depression. With your new way of life as a new mom, I promise you - you will not want anything extra in your body that can stimulate anxiety/depression.

1. Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle Supplement Schedule Regimen

Day 1 

Take Fenugreek (F) - 2 pills, 2X / day

Take Blessed Thistle (BT) - 1 pill, 2X/ day

Day 2 

F - 3 pills, 3X / day

BT - 2 pills, 3X / day

Day 3

F - 4 pills, 4X / day

BT - 2 pills, 4X / day

Try that first. Yes, you’re taking 16 tablets by day 3. You should smell like fenugreek by day three. That’s when you know you’ve had enough and are doing just right.

These supplements on Amazon are my favorites. Cheap and effective.

• Best Naturals Fenugreek
• Natures Way Blessed Thistle 

You can also get them at Whole Body. If you're exhausted, get a friend or loved one to go buy them for you.

2. Power Pump

If the Fenugreek/Blessed Thistle still isn’t doing the trick, do something call a power pump. That’s where you pump for 5 minutes every 10 minutes for an hour. So basically 5 min on and 5 min off for an hour. Let the pump do those first two minutes of fast pumping (stimulating let-down) then let it automatically switch to the slower pump (like baby suckling). Do this Power Pump for three days at only 1 hour a day. Hopefully by then you’ll be producing more milk.

Other moms say to consider trying to get one more pumping session in a day than what you’re currently doing. I always hated that statement because wasn't 8 times a day enough already? But just do what you can and don't stress too much.

MORE TIPS:

About the Pump

The pump and your pumping bra might be your best friends (along with internet on your smartphone) for a little while so you might as well get acquainted. First, make sure you have the right size suction cups on for your nipple size. Mine were too large at first and it hurt terribly. If after you pump, there is a ring of red around your nipple, the cups are too big. If the very tip of the nipple hurts too much, the cups might be too small. I used the 24mm for my average size, but do what you can.

Lansinoh Soothies® Gel Pads

Also, if you get sore or skin breaks, use the soothie gel pads in the purple box. Whomever invented these is rich but they are worth the money. You heal quickly using these. Put them in the fridge for extra relief.

Lansinoh Therapearl® Heated Gel Pads

I also found using the heated gel pads each time I pumped to be very helpful. While my baby was in the NICU and I was in the hospital, I was using a warm wet towel laid on my chest to help bring down my milk. Without the baby there you do what you gotta do, but the wet towel would drip and it was so annoying. At home I switched to the gels and could heat them in the microwave for 18 sec to do the trick. If you have them in the hospital, you can run them under hot water or ask the nurse to heat them for you.

Water

Yes, you’ll hear it but drink lots of water. At least 20oz each time you pump. And make sure to have a snack and relax when you pump. Listen to music on an iPod. If for some reason, you're separated from your baby, some people recommend looking at photos or videos of the baby. Sometimes that was too much for me to handle, but other times it helped.

Hospital Videos on Hand-Expressing and Latching

Hand expressing is always helpful to do at the end of your pumping to help stimulate more milk the next time. And that’s when you get the richest fattiest ‘hind milk.’

At your hospital, there might be a TV channel that offers tips on how to hand express your milk. It might run on a cycle and show every few hours, but someone at the hospital may forget to tell you about it, so ask! The videos are usually from decades ago, but they are super helpful and nothing has changed since women first did this. My hospital had two great videos, one on how to hand express milk and one on how to get a baby to properly latch.

Great Web Videos

At my hospital, this Stanford Video on Breastfeeding was recommended like the Gold Standard of Breastfeeding. https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/breastfeeding.html

Other things to search for in YouTube: 

Babywearing, Cloth Diaper How-To, basically anything....

I will add more tips if I think about them... 

Best wishes and feel free to ask questions!

Goodbye to my breast milk pump, "Bessie!" Adios amiga!!

Many people have asked me what's changed the most since I had my first baby last year. You think I'd say, "Oh my understanding of deep, unending love"... or "My husband and I living on less sleep." But in reality, I've changed the most through my deep understanding of BREASTFEEDING and THE PUMP!

I'm one of those overachiever moms (as I used to call them) who started pumping right away to build up my milk supply to store away troves of frozen baggies for later. I would pump for a year or two, no problem, right? Ha! I studied up on all the things to do to grow my milk supply - my baby came two months early so I had to learn on the job. I drank the tea, ate the cookies, took the supplements, and have found all the best comforting things like the gel heating/cooling pack, the Motherlove ointment, the gel pads, the brewers yeast, and the fenugreek and blessed thistle cheap on amazon.

One of the hardest things I've ever done was pump 8 to 9 times a day at first to get my supply established. And I've done some challenging things in my day.

For my particular case, I could only breastfeed about 1 or 2 times a day then had to pump the rest. When I went back to work after about 10 weeks, I started having to pump exclusively when my little guy was no longer interested in breastfeeding. The bottle was obviously way easier for him and he preferred it. But my boy drank breast milk exclusively until about 9 months. Mom for the win!

I'll never forget that horrific cycle at the beginning:

Pump. Make Bottle. Feed. Burp. Wash bottles. Wash pump parts. Rest 15 minutes (maybe). Repeat! 

That was my entire life for a challenging 4 months, around the clock, often doing midnight, 3am and 6am pumping sessions and feedings. Of course, I'm so thankful my husband could help me feed in those early morning sessions. And by 5 months, I worked on pumping only 5 or 6 times a day.

Now I finally get to say sayonara to my pump that I secretly nicknamed "Bessie"!! So why do I have such mixed emotions? I'm thrilled to have more time in my day. But I'm losing my longtime friend! I don't have to drag her around anymore or always make sure I have the parts I need when I leave home. I get to sleep solidly through the night and won't wake up with sore breasts if I 'sleep in.' But there is something so special about providing food for your baby, knowing its packed full of antibodies. At least I did what I could and got him through cold and flu season on breast milk.

I had to do the math on pumping. I realized that I have pumped an average of 6 pumping sessions a day for over 10 months, which means:

I HAVE PUMPED OVER 1700 times in 10 months.

Each pumping session took about 15 minutes so that's about 25,200 minutes, or 420 hours. I'm not even including the minutes of washing and drying parts or bottles, or feeding, changing, burping, etc.

These 420 hours were not those sweet hours where I was cuddling and feeding my baby like most breastfeeding moms. (It's almost impossible to pump and feed a wiggly baby a bottle.) These were the hours alone, often in a darkly lit room, uncomfortable, falling asleep in the lazy boy. Or the times in my office checking email, or parked out in my car in between errands.

Those 420 hours also roughly equal 17.5 days, or two and half weeks of pumping for 24 hours a day!

Good grief I'm tired just thinking about it. And there are many hero moms who pump exclusively for much longer than I did! Unbelievable.

What are some of the most interesting places I've pumped? A large open room during a work conference. The passenger seat of my car before a concert. A bathroom stall at the movie theater. These were times when I had to pump every 3 hours. Sounds easy but you try doing anything consistently every three hours and you'll see what I mean.

Well, I am saying goodbye to my pump as I go back to work to start a new job next week. Now I'll have about 1 to 2 more hours of free time per day to spend active with my baby (or asleep!) No more sitting around pumping and reading Facebook. Or falling asleep accidentally for an hour as I pump.

Goodbye my pump! Parting is such sweet sorrow!.... not.

Traveling with a baby? What I wish I had known.

Looking for tips on flying with a baby?

I asked the same question last week and I wish someone had told me these helpful hints. Now that I'm a bona-fide baby traveler, here are some tips:

1) Take the carseat and stroller. Ditch the carseat base.

You can buckle in the carseat with any car safety belt. No need to tow the heavy base. Also, you'll be able to stroll your carseat and stroller through security, no problem. But they'll make you put in on the conveyer belt so be ready.

When you get to the gate, let them know you're there and would LOVE to be able to take on your carrier. They'll tag your carrier and stroller. You'll gate-check your stroller when you're entering the plane.

But if there is an extra seat, the flight crew will let you bring on your carrier. You must place it in the window seat. If there is room, consider it your lucky day! If not, make sure you have your wearable carrier so you can hold your baby hands-free on your lap. Because you'll be holding him/her the whole way.

2) Take a wearable baby carrier in your carry-on.

You'll want to wear your baby through security. Make sure it's light and comfy and easy to pack. I took a baby bjorn but wish I'd had a wrap that would have folded up even smaller. During your visit, wearing the baby also makes it easy to shop and sightsee in shorter bursts.

3) Take travel-friendly version of your baby's favorite stuff.

My son loves to bounce in his Exersaucer, but since it's too big to pack, I took a similar functioning toy, the Johnny Jump Up which was easy to pack and he could bounce away.

4) See if your hosts, family or friends have any old baby stuff you can borrow, like a:

- Pack and Play or Crib
- Carseat
- Stroller
- Exersaucer
- Johnny Jump Up
- Changing Table
- High Chair

5) Take advantage of curbside checkin.

Since it was only grandma and I with my son, this was super helpful. We flew southwest and could take 4 bags between the two of us. So we checked three bags: (1) grandma's stuff (2) my clothes and my baby's clothes (3) baby stuff, diapers, milk stuff (4) the pack n play. You can check in and get your tickets. Label your stuff and give a tip. And if you're returning your rental, you can do all that and then go return your car, taking the shuttle back to the airport.

6) Make it easy to get the rental car.

If you're getting a rental, let your co-traveler stay with the baby and bags and you go get the rental car. Drive back through "arrivals" and pick them up.

7) Going through TSA Security takes time. Give yourself an extra half hour.

I got lucky because grandma has TSA Pre-Check so she didn't have to wait in the long line nor did she have to disassemble the carseat and stroller. So I gave her the carseat/stroller and met her on the other side. If I had checked in saying the baby would be traveling with her (meaning the baby's ticket would have been stapled to her ticket), then she could have strolled him through without much examination. But I wanted to take the baby through security with his baby bag. But for some that might be a convenient option.

8) Breastfeeding moms, you can also use the airport breastfeeding room. 

Most airports have a room designated for breastfeeding so ask about it.

9) Put all your milk in one bottle for an easier time through TSA Security.  They will have to test any liquids that appear to be milk for the baby.

Because it's a liquid, they will have to wipe down and measure each bottle of milk or any liquids. Each bottle takes a couple of minutes, so reduce the hassle by having the milk in one bottle. You can take empty bottles but they won't have to scan them.

10) Consider taking individual-size travel packets of formula.

My baby is currently drinking breast milk, and I pump exclusively, but for the flight, I took individual travel packets of formula. On the other side of security I bought a bottle of water and made several bottles of milk for the flight. That was so much faster than having them scan tons of bottles of milk. And I knew I wouldn't run out of milk on the plane.

11) Put all your liquids in one bag (like the milk cooler), including medicines or vitamins. And keep your eyes on the meds through security.

In our unfortunate case, TSA absconded my baby's prescription bottle of meds, vitamins, and little dose syringes and didn't let me know. I had over a month's worth of medicine for my baby in there. But that was totally uncool and of course I didn't notice until we reached our destination. Good thing the meds weren't super critical and we were able to get a refill when we arrived.

Note: Make sure to pack in your checked bags, any liquids or frozen milk you don't need during the flight. Also, they will let you carry on frozen milk (supposedly, but I don't try) and will let you take milk on the plane, but like mentioned, they have to test it.

12) Make sure to have plenty of milk to feed the baby on taxi/takeoff AND on the descent. 

It was easy to figure out the first one, but make sure to note when you're about to descend. On the baby's first trip, I couldn't tell we were descending so he didn't start eating in time and his ears hurt so he began crying intensely. I hated hearing him so uncomfortable. So on the next flight, I made sure to note when we were half an hour to arrival and had the milk ready. I even had to wake him to eat but I'm glad we did. He didn't have any ear troubles.


What you REALLY NEED for a flight. A list because I like lists.

Carry-on: diapers, thin blanket, wipes, milk, special toiletries, toys, smartphone w baby apps, ear buds, hand sanitizer/ wipes, teethers, formula packets, camera, 2 burp cloths (i like gerber organic diapers as burb cloths b/c they're super absorbent)

Baby Carrier and Stroller

Suitcase: 

     For Baby: 

• Clothes: If you'll have access to a washer/dryer, pack lightly - this worked for me: 3 pairs socks, 6 onesies (half short, half long sleeved), 3 pants, 1 pair shorts, 1 shirt, 1 hoodie, 1 jacket, 1 pair shoes, 2 sleepers
• Other: 8 diapers per day plus some, washcloth, 2 burp cloths, extra pack baby wipes, little bowl w cap, spoon, plastic bib, teether, tide to go pen, and (optional) breast pump with bottles and cooler, frozen milk

     For You: clothes, shoes, toiletries - pack lightly like your baby.


Extra things you don't really need for a trip:

• Changing pad
• Too many clothes - if you have a washer

Safe travels!!

~ Music City Mamacita