Being sick for the last five days has taken a toll on my breast milk stockpile. After tomorrow, ther will be ZERO ounces of milk in my fridge and freezer! Brek is increasingly hungry and I have nothing stored. I am officially panicking. Today, I only pumped 6 oz yes, 6 oz out of three pumping sessions. I was pumping 15ish a day at the end of last week, and I was freaking out then because she eats 20. What am I to do? I do not want that sweet baby on nasty formula.
The guilt.
The horror.
The shame.
The tears.
The spit up.
The nasty poop smell.
I am going to try to do a power pump this weekend. I started drinking mother's milk tea. I am going add a 3 AM pumping session back into the schedule. I am going to increase protein. I am going increase water to over a gallon (I already drink about a gallon day.) I could try fenugrek again but I don't think it worked.
Loves and hugs- I can overcome this, I have to overcome this!
Erin
You can do it! Mothers milk worked great for me. but don't be so hard on yourself - life as a new mom is hard enough;) I only made it 6 months - but if you really want to increase your supply stay stress free- it really hurt me! Good luck mommy!
ReplyDeleteWait a minute--she eats TWENTY ounces while you're at work???????????? Babies should only eat 1-1.5 ounces an entire day, so 20 seems like a lot. Do you think hubby might be giving her too much? sometimes what we think are hunger cries are really just sleepy cries?
ReplyDeleteI don't know...anyway, the worse thing you can do is stress. Stress will make your supply take a nose dive. TAKE A DEEP BREATH.......Never give up on your worst day, and do not stress. The best thing for your supply is nursing your baby, not power pumping. So put down that pump and nurse nurse nurse your baby every second you can! Were you nursing when you were sick? That's the best thing for the baby, so she gets your antibodies. =)
Also, did you try oatmeal? That is the best for me. And almonds. I heard spirulina works too. =)
Don't stress.
Nurse.
Eat oatmeal.
you are a great mama!!!!!!!!!!!! Deep breaths.
Oh wait, I just read your other posts....I take it you couldn't nurse because of the antibiotics you were taking? I'm slow.
ReplyDeleteBut I totally agree with everything Brooke said about stress. YOu can't plan an illness. Shit happens. If Brek has to get a bottle of formula once a day for a couple of weeks while your body rebounds, it's not a big deal. just relax. I promise your baby will be fine! Just get organic formula, lol, and prepare for stinky poo! You will get back to exclusively breastfeeding, I'm sure of it. You can also check out human milk for human babies. There are lots of women who donate milk to mamas in your situation--a short term solution. If I were down there, I would gladly gift you a few bags of my milk!! So sorry you're going through this!!
I'm an idiot, babies eat 1-1.25 ounces AN HOUR they're away from their moms. GOsh, i'm such a dork. Sorry to mis-speak. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you for my tips! I am going to use EVERY single suggestion. I misspoke, Brek eats 12-15 oz during the day but 20 on Fridays. (I have school on Fridays so she eats the majority of the day out of the bottle). My milk is starting to flow again. I pumped 11 oz yesterday and she ate 13, today I pumped 9 (I missed one session because of my work schedule) but it is on the upswing! Phew!
ReplyDelete