I have breastfed all my littles since I started having kids. With every little one I went longer and longer. Naturally I decided I was going to breastfeed my last and final child as long as I possibly could. With my third child, Bella who is now 2 years old, I hit a rough patch in breastfeeding her. I had gone back to work and I was working four 12 hour shifts a week with only two 15 minute breaks and an hour lunch to pump. My milk suply had dropped so drastically that I had to send a, “Just in case” container of formula with her to daycare. I had to find ways to beef up my milk supply. I tried a few things and they worked fine and carried me to the end of my 3rd breastfeeding journey but it didn’t give me the umph I was looking for. I am now breastfeeding my fourth baby and I have found a sweet spot that has not only boosted my production so that I can feed my little one but I can also pump and store milk as well!
Breastfeeding is not just a way to provide nourishment to your child, it’s a great bonding experience as well that provides catered nutrience to each individual child.
I am going to share my game changing breastfeeding must haves and hacks that took me from producing 3 oz of milk to 10 oz every pump.
Power pumping
Breastfeeding is an on demand thing. Your body produces enough for baby to drink based on how much baby is drinking during each feeding. Your body also gets into a routine of producing milk around the times that you normally feed your baby. I noticed even when I am not feeding or pumping that around the times that I would normally do those things I would have let down. When my breasts started to not be drained by feeding or pumping my body produced less. When I started power pumping while my baby was sleeping, I noticed an increase in my milk supply. Power pumping is just pumping for 20 minutesn then resting for 10, then pumping for 10 minutes, then resting for 10, then pumping again for 10 minutes. The pumping will tell you body to produce more milk just like cluster feeding which is what we are mimicing when we power pump.
Eat Regularly and Often
When you are breastfeeding you are still eating for 2 just as if you were pregnant so with that in mind you want to continue to eat as if you were pregnant. Breastmilk is easy for babies to digest which means they will generally eat more than a formula fed baby. Breastfed babies tend to eat around 8-12 times a day so naturally you want to eat just as much. You can maintain a healthy weight and keep your milk supply up by eating meals regularly and having small healthy snacks in between meals. Examples of small snacks would be a hand full of almonds and a handful of grapes or a few pieces of broccoli with a handful of carrots.
Add Oatmeal or Oatmeal based Lactaion bombs to your diet.
Oatmeal has been one of the number 1 things that has helped with my milk production previously and now. Oatmeal is super inexpensive as well as you can find some great recipe for lactation bombs that helps incorporate it into your diet. Oatmeal is also fiber so its good to keep thing moving inside you as well. I generally like to use the old fashiond oat as opposed to the quick oats that you cook in the microwave. I have found that I produce more with the old fashioned oats.
STAY HYDRATED!
This is the biggest and most important one of all. Proper hydration can be hard but this is the biggest milk production killer of all. When I was breastfeedig Bella, I was drinking only 1 glass of water a day if that. I wanted to get clearer skin so I decided I was going to drink a gallon of water a day for 30 days and see what change it made in my skin. While I noticed the change in my skin, I also noticed my milk supply went up drastically. I went from producing 3 oz a pump to 10 oz a pump and still had more to breastfeed. Now realistically who wants to drink a gallon of water a day for the rest of their lives? Who has that kind of time to drink it and also go to the bathroom a million times after drinking it? Not me, I needed a solution to that. I started drinking Body Armor drinks when I found out coconut water was the base of the drinks and coconut water was more hydrating than a bottle of water was. These are great but in moderation because they are packed with sugar. Now I drink a drink by a company called Revival that gives me even better results with no added sugars. It’s fast acting, easy to mix, 100% vegan, and it even tastes great! I found these drinks on Amazon.
The Little Black Mama 