Got milk?
Because I'm so worried that I don't have enough.
The highlight of my week is that McKenna has skyrocketed from drinking three ounces of milk at a sitting quickly to four ounces to a whopping SEVEN OUNCES today.
That's almost a cup of milk.
Yes, I'm a little freaked out that I, the milk machine, will not be able to keep up.
I don't know why I'm surprised. When I pump without feeding her first, I get about eight ounces at a pumping so clearly that's what she needs, but I'm absolutely terrified that she's going to tear through the frozen entrees in the freezer and I'm going to have no choice but to have to dig out the canisters of Enfamil in the pantry for when she goes to daycare.
I'm hoping that this is just a growth spurt and my body will catch up...I've noticed the last few days that I'm not able to get full on anything that I eat. I eat a meal, and I'm still looking for more food. I'm thirsty all the time...kind of how I felt when I came home from the hospital...and I'm starting to leak again before feedings, something that hasn't happened in a while. She is sleeping consistently through the night, so I guess I'm going to have to start setting my alarm for like 3:30 or 4 and get up to pump. It's just hard to do that, because I'm enjoying my sleep SO MUCH!
Monday was my first major fire, and my first day pumping in the field. Bottom line, it BLOWS. I already have so many cords and electrical devices in the car, and now I am adding the pump's cord, charger, tubing, not to mention the tricky trick of putting ON the corset also knows as the hands-free bra and hooking up the breast shields WHILE leaving my shirt on and not flashing the entire world. I know my cause and origin investigator was like, "What the F is she doing!?" the other day. I would have been.
And getting dirty? Being out in a nasty burned house by myself photographing and measuring it? Nope, didn't enjoy it as much as I used to. All I kept thinking was, "When can I leave and go home to see my daughter?"
I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but I decided when I went back to work at the end of December that I'm going to put off going into management until I am finishing nursing McKenna for the main reason that it involves a two-week training trip to Simi Valley and I have no desire to be away from her that long when she's this young and I KNOW it would kill nursing because I don't think I'd be able to keep up my milk production with pumping alone for two weeks. But any reservations I had about doing it are gone...I want to be out of the field as soon as possible!
Other than this nasty nagging cough that won't leave P and I alone, we have not much else to report.
Oh, yeah. I have a cavity...yet another treat from McKenna.
The highlight of my week is that McKenna has skyrocketed from drinking three ounces of milk at a sitting quickly to four ounces to a whopping SEVEN OUNCES today.
That's almost a cup of milk.
Yes, I'm a little freaked out that I, the milk machine, will not be able to keep up.
I don't know why I'm surprised. When I pump without feeding her first, I get about eight ounces at a pumping so clearly that's what she needs, but I'm absolutely terrified that she's going to tear through the frozen entrees in the freezer and I'm going to have no choice but to have to dig out the canisters of Enfamil in the pantry for when she goes to daycare.
I'm hoping that this is just a growth spurt and my body will catch up...I've noticed the last few days that I'm not able to get full on anything that I eat. I eat a meal, and I'm still looking for more food. I'm thirsty all the time...kind of how I felt when I came home from the hospital...and I'm starting to leak again before feedings, something that hasn't happened in a while. She is sleeping consistently through the night, so I guess I'm going to have to start setting my alarm for like 3:30 or 4 and get up to pump. It's just hard to do that, because I'm enjoying my sleep SO MUCH!
Monday was my first major fire, and my first day pumping in the field. Bottom line, it BLOWS. I already have so many cords and electrical devices in the car, and now I am adding the pump's cord, charger, tubing, not to mention the tricky trick of putting ON the corset also knows as the hands-free bra and hooking up the breast shields WHILE leaving my shirt on and not flashing the entire world. I know my cause and origin investigator was like, "What the F is she doing!?" the other day. I would have been.
And getting dirty? Being out in a nasty burned house by myself photographing and measuring it? Nope, didn't enjoy it as much as I used to. All I kept thinking was, "When can I leave and go home to see my daughter?"
I can't remember if I blogged about this or not, but I decided when I went back to work at the end of December that I'm going to put off going into management until I am finishing nursing McKenna for the main reason that it involves a two-week training trip to Simi Valley and I have no desire to be away from her that long when she's this young and I KNOW it would kill nursing because I don't think I'd be able to keep up my milk production with pumping alone for two weeks. But any reservations I had about doing it are gone...I want to be out of the field as soon as possible!
Other than this nasty nagging cough that won't leave P and I alone, we have not much else to report.
Oh, yeah. I have a cavity...yet another treat from McKenna.
posted by Erica at 8:50 PM
MoiraKatydid
emgonz
emgonz@msn.com
4 Comments:
Erica I know that "don't worry if your milk slows down" is probably what other people are telling you, but it really is true. I had to suppliment both of my 2 starting at a couple of months old. My son had to have very liquid-y cereal spooned into his mouth at the age of 3 months. I was horrified to do it, but the poor kid was starving! I told my SIL and got a wise nod. Apparantly all of his much-older males cousins did exactly the same thing.
He will be 5 in a few weeks and is totally fine. None the worse for wear for his "abnormal" start.
And if the breast feeding Nazis give you a hard time, just ignore them!
I had the same concerns about milk production as you do (not just because I wanted to solely breastfeed, but because my DH was a SAHD and we couldn't afford the extra expense of formula). I found that I had more milk in the morning so I would try to pump extra in the morning (especially on weekends, about an hour after nursing) and I would also pump an hour after I put my DS to bed at night. The more you nurse (or pump) the more it will keep your production up. I had a co-worker at the time who hadn't started pumping before going back to work and didn't have the frozen milk supply and hers did drop off substantially. I don't want to worry you; as Kelley said your child will be *fine* even if you do have to supplement. If you really want to avoid it though, just try to pump extra when you can and freeze as much as possible.
In the end, despite my worries, I had so much extra in the freezer that I didn't know what to do with it! I went back to work at 3 months and nursed for a total of 14 without formula. Also, it could just be that McKenna is going through a growth spurt. Just relax and don't worry about it; whether you have to supplement with formula or not, she will be just fine and you're doing a great job (((hugs))).
I've breastfed 4 kids, my last being weaned recently, finally! He was 13.5 months old when i finally got him on a bottle. Every mother has this worry, but don't! The more you use, the more you make. If you have to pump more often, your body will produce more to keep up. The best thing is, everytime you make milk, you expend calories!!
It really does vary. I had no problem being a good cow (ended up throwing away some of my frozen milk when DD weaned), but my mom had to supplement pretty early (and eventually just gave up on breastfeeding with me, and never tried for my sibs for that reason) and we all turned out just fine.
So don't worry :) If you have to supplement, that gives P a chance to help feed McK ;)
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