Creating Opportunities To Stock Up Milk Supply

Making time for breast pumping session

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together. - Vincent Van Gogh"

I am now working hard to stock up my milk supply. The milk supply can only sustain for utmost nine days. My baby drank more milk since the day he started taking solid food. Perhaps my irregular pumping sessions few months before is taking toll on me now. Thus, I had to increase my pumping session. It is better to add more pumping session rather than taking once in a while and long pumping session since it will take effect on the quality of milk.

Once in a while and long pumping session may yield abundant of clear milk which is mainly foremilk. Foremilk has more water content and less creamy. A baby needs a balance diet of foremilk and hind milk. Hind milk is creamier and makes the baby full. Therefore, it is better to take a short but regular pumping session. My midwife once said, the more you empty your breast, the more milk you'll get. I guess I've given my body a wrong signal lately. Skipping my pumping session made my body thinks I no longer need to produce milk. After making a few references, I've made a recovery plan.

First, last Saturday I took 10 minutes break every hour to express milk. The effort may not yield or very little amount of milk but the spirit of this effort is to give my body a signal to produce more milk. Alhamdulillah, on Sunday, my first 10 minutes yielded 2 ounce and I changed to pumping every 2 hours for 10 minutes. Later, I duly had pumping session 10 minutes every 4 hours that is twice during office hour, once early in the morning and later before going to bed.

Second, I bought a manual breast pump which can help me pumping on one breast while my baby is feeding on the other side. Hence, I'll have less chance losing milk especially during let down reflex.

Third, I am now reviewing my diet and starts taking more lactogenic food which I used to take during the first months of breastfeeding. Lactogenic food and herbs are food and herbs that promote milk production and boost mother’s health.

Fourth, spare a manual breast pump at the bed side so when your breast is full in the middle of the night, you are ready to pump. Also, make sure you have a drinking water too for you to drink because your body needs more water than normal people.

Fifth, cut off breast pump washing time by storing the unwashed breast pump in the refrigerator. Low temperature helps to retard the growth of bacteria. However, wash the breast pump parts after a couple of usages before the next pumping session.

Six, learn and master the Marmet manual milk expressing technique to have a higher chance to express mother's milk in almost any possible circumstances.

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