Random Pumping Advice: building a stash, keeping supply up, etc.

Only pump early morning when your supply is high and the body’s prolactin levels are high. I started using my pump on and off if baby slept later for a morning feed and I wanted to keep my supply up. Maybe an ounce here or there. I only had a couple 2 ounce vials in the freezer till my baby was about 2 months. It’s important not to stress your body or baby by going crazy with the pump in the early days when the body is still trying to adjust to producing a decent supply for your newborn.

For me at 2 months — baby slept a whopping 5 hour stretch (yahoo!). Of course I woke up engorged about 4 hours into her sleep and so I pumped off a couple ounces. I continued this early-morning pumping routine daily to keep milk supply high. I don’t keep an alarm to wake up — I just pump if I happen to wake up and if I don’t wake up I just pump extras after baby is done feeding. I used it to build up a freezer stash for myself when I go back to work.

I don’t have a monster stash — a couple days worth of breast milk basically so total of around 50 oz — enough for emergencies. I use these reusable 2.7 ounce and tiny 1 ounce containers that way I can pump the odd ounce here and there without baby getting shortchanged for milk. (I started using these containers because the first time I pumped these were what I had for free in my hospital bag already sterilized.) They screw onto standard pumps (I use the Medela PISA). If I am freezing, I freeze the same day I pump it. Added bonus is that frozen vials can be safely popped right into a bottle warmer for a quick snack or feed for baby.

I also dip into the freezer stash when I leave baby with her Dad and spend a little time outside the house. Baby enjoys a bottle of “aged breast-milk” as her Dad puts it. Dad enjoys 1–1 baby-time and I enjoy a much-needed break. When I come back home I invariably pump and save that feed — being careful never to mess with the supply/demand phenomenon. This actually works out great to rotate the freezer stash — I defrost an old vial and pop a new vial back in.

For the record I am not one of those women with tons of natural milk over-supply either. I take care to maintain what I have and constantly keep an eye on whether baby gets enough. I drink a cup of Mother’s Milk tea daily — granted it’s not the tastiest cup of tea — but I close my eyes and just chug a lukewarm cup down instead of sipping it hot. Sometimes I eat oatmeal for breakfast or a snack. And I eat plenty of healthy food. Protein, fats, leafy greens are high on my priorities. I try to sleep when I can. I am originally from Sri Lanka so a lot of our curries contain fenugreek — which is convenient — I just throw in extra fresh fenugreek seeds into curries I make now that I know it’s a galactagogue. Not sure which of those things works for me — but I do them all.

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