I just gave birth to my beautiful boy, Logan, in December. I am now the mother of two incredible boys! And of course I wanted to give my little man the best start I could possibly give him. Among other things, breastfeeding was a priority for me.
Like many moms, I struggled in the beginning even though this wasn’t my first rodeo. His latch wasn’t the problem, it was the ever elusive question: “Am I making enough milk?” The worst part of that is the early weight gain and the pressure to supplement. But I will save that story for another post.
Ultimately little Logi and I cultivated a beautiful and solid nursing relationship. I have a number of tips on what got us to that point that I will post about as well. Anyhoo…all was going swimmingly until I had to face going back to work. Ugh! bring on a whole new set of challenges. Aside from bottle refusal I had to resign myself to hooking myself back up to the machine again…PUMPING. {sad face} Now everyone who pumps know how much pumping SUCKS! And I, like so many, send a big shout out with kudos to those exclusively pumping moms. That is a level of dedication that deserves a special acknowledgement. Definitely put that one on your resume…I don’t know if I’d have the stamina.
So a few weeks before I had to go back I hooked up to the machine one evening and pumped for an hour. Yes, you read that correctly…an hour. (More on the multiple mistakes that I made in that one sentence alone later.) And I panicked. I got nuthin’! Like literally drops…it didn’t even cover the full bottom of the bottle…it was like an old man’s head with the wrap around hair and bald spot in the middle.
So I began to frantically seek out advice online and learned so much. I learned the basics as well as some tips & tricks that I will lay out for you later. Anyway, I ended up putting myself on a pumping schedule and wound up with a very limited freezer stock…mostly because I hate pumping and only pumped the bare minimum so I could spend most of my time actually nursing before I had to go back.
And then my time was up and I had to leave my precious baby and go back to work. Then the real games began…
At home, when nursing, my little one seemed satisfied & happy and maintained his typical output. However we had serious issues regulating his intake when I was away at work. Once he finally decided to accept a bottle he was guzzling milk like it was water instead of liquid gold. One afternoon the nanny recorded him drinking 23 ounces in 12 hours…what?!?! My sanity & supply could not keep up! (I will post about both our struggle with bottle refusal and then our subsequent search for the best bottle!)
So back to the internet to find the best ways to increase supply and pace feedings to help balance his intake. Here comes the good stuff:
Let me start by telling you that I am in no way affiliated with Mrs. Patel’s and am in no way compensated for my testimonial. In fact, they don’t even know who I am, but OMG do these work! If you need to increase your supply fast you need these bars! Just go and order them now and then come back to read the rest of this post.
I’ve tried a bunch of different things. A bunch of teas, bread, cookies, granola, pills, etc. These bars cannot be beat. They look like cookie bars, but ,though they are not bad, I would not necessarily eat them for fun. But who cares…they work! Eat one bar before going to sleep and you will pump a TON more the next day. I swear! You may get even better results if you eat it them in the morning as they recommend. I just eat mine at night due to a medication I take in the AM.
I take these in conjunction with supplements for the best results so far. When I get home from work I take the Vitanica Lactation Blend and NOW Alfalfa. Then for my dessert before bed I eat one of Mrs. Patels bars. The next day, over the course of 3 pumping sessions, at work my supply increased by almost 70%. I tried these after reading someone else’s rave review just browsing on Pinterest. I ordered them thinking I might see marginal results, but I was amazed! You will be too!! If you order soon, then you may be able to get in on their 20% OFF deal for your first order with code: “FIRSTORDER”
Oh, and don’t let yourself run out! I made that mistake and boy did my supply pay for it! My new order just arrived today and I couldn’t be more relieved! Happy pumping!!
- UPDATE: I’ve begun to notice that this is a very popular topic {since this post is so popular} so I would like to throw an “ASK” your way. If you have a quick second I would love for you to comment and let me know if there is anything else you would like information on or any specific questions that you have. I’m working on another post and would like it to be as informative as possible. Thanks so much for reading…you are awesome mama!
Leave a Reply