Ladies, I am in serious need of help figuring out what I am doing wrong or what I could be doing differently/better. For context, I have an EBF 6 mo and I just went back to work on Monday. (he started a transition week to daycare last week where he went progressively longer each day) I have a very hectic job- I WFH when my project allows but am on the phone basically all day, and am on a client site the rest of the time. My son nursed on demand prior to starting daycare and always seemed to get enough- he has been gaining fine, so I feel like my supply was adequate for his needs.
He is taking 3, 5 oz bottles at daycare each day- they say he finishes them all and when they started out with less, he seemed like he was still hungry.
I don't have a huge freezer stash- I had about 40 oz, and now it is down to about 25. We don't have a great freezer or really the freezer space to have 100's of ounces stored anyway.
I am currently pumping 4-5 times a day to try to eek out enough milk for him. He still nurses in the morning, before bed and 1-2 times over night. I pump once after he goes to bed (he goes to bed around 7-8 and I pump around 10). The other 3-4 times are during the day. I am drinking so much water I have to use the bathroom constantly, and am taking 1240 mg of fenugreek 3 times per day. I smell like maple syrup. Yet still, I can only seem to pump 2-4 ounces on both sides each time I pump. I am using a PISA. I do compressions on each side to get a little bit more at the end of each pump. I never seem to get a second let down no matter how long I pump for. I have been able to cover his needs for the most part for the next day, but it is always so close and I always seem to come up a bit short of 15 oz. I'm so worried that as work gets more hectic it is going to be harder and harder to make the time to pump 3x a day and still make it to daycare to pick him up and get everything done for work. He has just started solids this week so isn't eating a ton yet, plus I know the majority of his nutritional needs should be met by breastmilk (or formula) anyway.
I know that supplementing is an option, but I'm so worried doing so will be the beginning of the end for our nursing relationship. I wanted so desperately to make it to a year. And I was making enough for him when we were together all day! I'm just so heartbroken that this is so hard and don't know what else I could be doing differently/better to produce more to make sure I have enough for him each day, and maybe even a little extra to freeze just in case.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the novel!
Hugs! Pumping and feeding my first son was one of the MOST STRESSFUL parts of being his mom! It was so stressful to be his sole (or main) source of food and I was constantly worried whether I was sending enough. And it didn't help that he was in the lower percentiles for weight and everyone was telling me he wasn't getting enough. I also sent three 5 oz bottles, just like you, but I wasn't nursing as much at home, which is why I feel pretty confident your son is probably getting plenty.
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
11 comments