Breastfeeding - Supply & Storage

First, determine how much milk you need to store.

• If you plan on mostly being around (no business trips) during the duration you plan on nursing, then 150oz is more than enough. This will cover a small supply for your babysitter/mother/daycare for their freezer so you can quickly drop off your baby if needed; plus your own emergency supply for when you drop your full bag of milk in the garage loading up the car to go to work (I’ve had this happen and was heartbroken). It will also cover a weekend away with hubby if you’re ready for it, and a small supply at the end to wean baby over to formula. (You’ll need to pump roughly 5 oz a day for 5 weeks)

• If you have a couple (2-3) business trips in store for you for the time you plan on breastfeeding, you’re going to need far more of a supply. I average 32oz a day for each day I’m going to be gone on a trip (I’m imagining a slightly older baby here, a baby 3 months or less won’t drink that much). Multiply that by how many days you plan on being gone and add that to the above estimate.

• If you have a LOT of business trips coming up, then you’re going to want to do the gung-ho plan and freeze as much milk as possible, because honestly, it’s going to be difficult to keep your supply up with only a pump and occasional nursing. Not to discourage you of course, just plan on storing a lot up initially on your maternity leave. Pumping and storing IS your new job.

Initially, as we all know because I’m sure you’ve read every book out there on nursing , you won’t have milk, but colostrum. So, not only will you NOT be producing milk, but your baby will be freaked out and acting hungry by crying and wanting to nurse all the time. Hang in there and just let that baby nurse. Keep your nipples liberally waxed with Lanolin and let him or her go to town. The more they nurse, the better your milk supply will be when it comes in. It’s like they’re placing their food order early – and you’ll deliver it about 3 days later.

Side note: This is how my daughter was, but my son, after he was born, was really not interested in eating for the first full 24 hours. He only earnestly nursed 3 or 4 times during that period and I thought we would have problems. Not to worry. After the first day he ‘woke up’ and decided he needed to eat. Hang in there, your baby may just be in a bit more shock and just want to sleep. Not a big deal. Try and avoid giving formula if you can, babies aren’t necessarily hungry right when they’re born, they just got done with, essentially, a big meal.

Be prepared. When your milk comes in, you are very likely going to feel it, and it’s very much going to be uncomfortable for probably 2-3 days or a week. You can tell when your supply comes in as you will feel like you have rocks in your boobs, they’ll probably be noticeably larger, firmer, and probably really painful. Be aware that if you feel like you’ve got the flu or the pain is REALLY intense – go to the doctors. You may have mastitis. I’ve read that some women don’t know when their milk supply comes in….but I’ve never actually met one of these women. Perhaps you will get lucky.

So, the thing you hardly ever read is that breastfeeding is how painful it is (or it’s VERY downplayed). And it is. Some people can live with it, some can’t. Some women are hardly bothered, for others it’s very traumatic. I’ve never gotten the cracked bleeding nipples…but I think it’s because I used a ton of Lanolin in the first two weeks. After two weeks, it gets better for most people. However, if it’s not getting better for you and you’re hating it – STOP. It’s ridiculous how many women push the issue too far. Most of the ‘amazing’ research done on breastfeeding and breastmilk is largely inconclusive (yes, I said that but check it out for yourself). This isn’t a hill to die on. Bond with your baby and enjoy your maternity leave. If nursing is hampering that then let it go and live in peace. (I will now step off my soapbox)

So your milk has come in. This is a VERY important time for those of us who are going to pump and start storing milk for work. When your milk comes in, you start off with an oversupply, and then eventually that supply will taper off to exactly what your baby needs. No more, no less. We don’t really want this. You’re going to want to ‘catch’ your supply at oversupply stage and start storing all that milk. As your supply evens out, you’ll have more than enough for your baby, which means you’ll be able to store milk without inducing hunger. Here’s how you can store extra milk – it’s what worked for me.

SIDE NOTE: with Gwen I only stored 65oz of milk for my return to work. This was not enough. So with Garrison, I’ve been on the ‘Gung Ho Plan’ as I have a few business trips coming up and want to make sure he’s taken care of. To an extent, you’ll need to customize this for you because no one plan works for every baby or mom. Still, remember that while it is easy to adjust your milk supply DOWN, it’s very difficult to build it back UP.

Once my milk supply came in, I immediately started feeding Garrison on one side, and pumping the duration of the feeding on the other. I did this for most of the feedings for that first week (though not all – because it’s also important to relax occasionally and just cuddle). This is a commitment. If you don’t want to do it each feeding, and you don’t have to store that much milk, I would recommend doing this for 4 feedings each day. Early morning (when your milk is creamiest), once during the day, evening, and once during the night. After the first week, go to that schedule regardless; remember that it’s important to also just cuddle and bond with your baby, not every feeding session needs to have an agenda. Make sure that you switch sides with the baby each feeding. Meaning if you pumped on the left and nursed on the right – next time nurse on the right and pump on the left.

Don’t get your hopes crazy-high. The first few times/days you won’t pump that much milk. Maybe half an ounce, maybe less. However, nursing and pumping at the same time will ‘train’ you to let down for the pump like you do for your baby. You’ll eventually probably start to be able to feel when you let down, but initially it will be a mystery. So, just hang out on that pump until milk starts to flow – it may feel a little tingly at the edge of your nipple, maybe not. Your pumping sessions should only last as long as your nursing sessions, though a little shorter is fine too. After the 2nd week, I was able to get in 2 letdowns before stopping the pump and taking a break – but until then it was hit and miss. (If you’re having problems or have questions – feel free to drop me an email and I’ll try to help. I get that this is tough.)

So, though initially not much milk will be collected, keep it anyway and add to it in the fridge with each feeding. Do this until you have 6 oz, then label and store that milk in the freezer. That’s a HUGE accomplishment! Go pat yourself on the back. From there on out, things SHOULD start getting easier. More milk will start to be collected and your supply should really come in . Keep collecting it in 6oz increments until you reach your overall oz storage goal.

If needed/wanted you can also add in solo pumping sessions without your baby. If you want to do this, I recommend last thing at night (an hour after your little one was last fed) or in the morning. For the morning session, first feed your baby, put him/her down for a nap, shower, then before getting dressed have a pumping session – make sure you pump for around 15 minutes for these sessions as the pump is not as effective as your baby. Solo pumping isn’t really necessary, but if you’re going for overachiever status, give it a try.


ISSUES:
It is worth mentioning here that overfeeding can become an issue if you’re pumping ALL THE TIME. I ran into this problem with Garrison. So, observe your baby carefully. If he/she is spitting up a lot, or crying a lot, or has a lot of gas…then you need to adjust your supply down a notch. I found that when I was pumping extra solo sessions a lot, I started drowning Garrison with too much milk. When I pumped while he fed and did only one solo session right before bed…that worked out really well.

At about 3 weeks into it, I was storing 18oz a day, or 3 bags of milk and heading quickly up to 24 oz. We bought a used, small freezer on Craigslist to hold all the milk. While this was great – it was too much for Garrison to take, so I adjusted down and started pumping between 10-12oz a day instead. This has been a much better balance for us.

A good way to adjust down is first eliminate solo pumping sessions (except for 1 if you’d like to keep that) and then do one or two feeding/pumping sessions where you only pump for the first let-down and don’t drain the breast completely. So, only about 5-7 minutes of pumping, then cuddle with your baby. Keeping a log of how much you’re storing per session and then per day can help you keep track of things and see when you can level off.
The freezer we bought on Craigslist is only 6 cubic feet large, and stays just under zero degrees, so it’s really perfect for breastmilk use (and cost us $30). If you clear out one shelf of your regular freezer and lay your breastmilk bags flat – this should be more than enough space as well.

And that’s how I did it. I built up a MASSIVE supply (overkill) through trial and error. Things went much more smoothly with the second baby than the first. A lot of this could be too that your breasts are essentially reforming a bit with the first baby, and by the time the second rolls around they are already ‘programmed’ to breastfeed. So while my methods were much more refined the second time around – remember that it WAS the second time around. Give yourself a break if it doesn’t happen the same for you. Anything is better than nothing. Again, this is not a hill you need to die on. I did my first go ‘round and it really stole some of my joy.

Next Nighttime and Sleeping