Mommy's milk is best

As soon as I got out of surgery to deliver Nixon I started pumping to make sure that when she was able to get off the IV fluids she would have plenty of my milk. All of the doctors and nurses tried to manage my expectations by telling me that I should only expect a few drops, if anything, and that I would have to work at building my milk supply, especially since Nixon came 3 months early.

Thankfully this was not the case.

My first time pumping I produced almost an ounce (15ml), and the more I pumped the more milk I produced. I was soaking my sheets and the nurses at Hoag joked that if there were a record for most milk produced I would shatter it hands down. For months I was pumping up to 8 ounces every 3 hours, and not only was my freezer at home full of milk, but I had also filled a friend’s deep freezer.

Then, out of nowhere, my milk all but stopped flowing. I was lucky to get an ounce. At first it didn’t seem like a big deal, because I had so much frozen milk that I didn’t really need to produce so much. It was nice not pumping every 3 hours, and I didn’t miss feeling sore and engorged all the time.

Then, as my freezer grew increasingly barren, I realized that my diminishing milk supply was a big problem. Nixon was relying on me for the nutrients and vitamins that formula doesn’t offer, and I was about to let her down. I was hesitant to give her formula because I knew the transition would be hard on her digestive system, and so I started increasing my pumping and taking herbal supplements like fenugreek and milk thistle.

It wasn’t working. As much as I hated to do it, I had to start introducing Nixon to formula.

After scouring the internet for solutions, I read about a few different prescription drugs that are known to drastically increase milk production, so I decided to call my OB and get his opinion. He wrote me a script for Domperidone, a combination drug that has to be made (compounded) and set me back $100. I looked at it as an investment as I’d easily spend that much on formula down the road.

Now, two weeks later, I’m up to 6 ounces every three hours and I’m hopeful that by the end of the week we’ll no longer need to give Nixon any formula at all! Today she only had 2 bottles of formula, and 1 was given to her by accident after I’d already fed her a bottle of breast milk (she felt like a bowling ball after the double feeding!).

I am so happy that my hard work is paying off, and if I could give anyone out there any breast feeding advice it would be to pump often and keep up your milk supply because it can dry up quick if you get lazy.