BONUS GAME CHANGING TIP INCLUDED AT THE END: Secret Weapon to Building my Breast Milk Supply Stash!
Breastfeeding can bring about a whole new world of learning for a new Mom. All of a sudden you are expected to know about let downs, breast pumps, nipple pads and all of the other things that come along with nursing your baby.
If you want to know how to maximize your breast milk supply, then this post is for you!
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Beginning to Think about Breast Milk Supply
Like a lot of moms, I really wanted exclusive breastfeeding to work for me but I knew that I would have to return to work soon after my daughter’s birth, and may have to explore other options. I figured it was a good idea for me to start considering fairly early how she would be fed when I couldn’t physically be with her.
I did extensive research on the best formulas, pumping and storing breast milk, feeling fairly confident that I would eventually figure out a plan and routine that worked for us once the time arrived.
The Start of my Breastfeeding Journey
It wasn’t until she was actually born that I really considered how much of a task feeding baby is! Until you have your little baby in your arms and are responsible for nourishing them , it won’t hit you that feeding them literally consumes YOUR life.
Your baby will eat at least every 2-3 hours, sometimes even more when they’re cluster feeding or going through a growth spurt. And imagine, that’s when their tummy’s are still minuscule, barely able to hold more than up to a few ounces of breast milk at a time.
By the time my daughter was 4 weeks old, she was eating at least 3 ounces per feeding, and there were points when it seemed like she was stocking up to be able to sleep longer stretches during the night, eating nearly 4 ounces in one go.
A Rude Awakening
After about a month or so of this I seriously considered giving her formula. Up until this point I hadn’t, she had only consumed breast milk. I nursed her during the day and during most nighttime feedings, but because I had a caesarian and was recovering, there were times when I was drained or in pain and needed help. I pumped and had my husband give her a bottle when I felt like I really needed a rest.
Weighing In: Breast milk or other options
Having a breast milk supply stashed also helped if we were on the go or I had to attend an appointment and couldn’t physically have her attached to my breast. When I thought about it, I loved that I was able to nourish her with something that came from my body up until this point. Not that I see anything wrong with formula, but she seemed to love nursing and consuming my breast milk, so I was happy to provide her with it.
As my return to work date approached, I had to ask myself, could I realistically keep up with pumping and nursing plus create enough of a breast milk supply stash for her to consume throughout the day while I worked?
Preparing for Success
I did what so many of us do when we’re feeling unsure, I talked to friends and family, read articles online, read forums and watched videos.. Before long, I felt encouraged but still a little skeptical. I set out to see how much I could stock up over a weeks time, adding a few suggested tips from my research to my pumping routine.
Seeing Results
Before long I started to notice that I was producing more breast milk, even though she was eating more. It was enough to nurse my daughter, collect for those night time or appointment feeds, and still have enough left over to store a few storage bags each day.
It wasn’t easy! I mean, it took up some extra time and effort but the strategies I used seemed to work so quickly that I felt empowered. By the end of the following week, I had actually tripled the amount of breast milk I could collect at one time.
Looking in my freezer made me proud of my breast milk supply stash! Plus seeing my daughter grow and gain weight made me feel even more accomplished.
My Top 10 Tips to Increase your Breast Milk Supply: Game Changers for my Success!
Do you want to know what I did to increase my breast milk supply? I’ll share my top tips for establishing a good breast milk supply and building a stash with you! I hav
e even added a secret bonus tip at the end that I think was a game changer to establishing a healthy breast milk supply and an awesome stash. If you want to know what it is, keep reading!
I’ve separated these tips into a three categories. We’ll start with what I refer to as the basics, call them the foundation for a good pumping relationship.
1. Choose the right breast pump for you!
No matter what type of breast pump you decide to invest in, you should consider it just that, an investment! Whether you’re an exclusive pumper or a part-time pumper you are going to be spending a lot of time using this device. Considering there are so many different brands, features and functions to choose from, it is worth selecting one that best fits your needs.
If you are still pregnant and preparing in advance, this is a great item to place on your Baby Registry!
I will share my criteria with you. It was important that I had a pump that was heavy duty since I knew I’d be returning to work soon. I wanted it to be durable, yet portable so that I could pump at work or bring it on trips (we do a fair amount of travelling around the island). It was important that I wouldn’t be bogged down and plugged in while pumping. A double pump made sense to me considering the volume of milk I wanted to express. Those were my main considerations.
What pump did I choose?
After doing a lot of reading I settled on the Spectra S1 because it was chargeable, dual voltage, recommended for heavy duty use and was a double pump. It was also highly recommended by many of the Moms I spoke to.
By a couple of months into my pumping journey I was very happy with my decision. It has been great!
I love that I only have to charge it about once or twice per week, that I can carry it around with me without having to worry about it always needing to be plugged in (it is also dual voltage- so for me who lives in the Caribbean I don’t have to worry about a voltage transformer or converter) and it is really easy to use!
Replacement parts are easy to find online for a decent price, and I think this is important too, because as I said a pump is an investment, and one you’ll have to continuously upkeep and take care of to get the most out of it.
To summarize, before you purchase a pump, ensure that you do your research and find one that will suit your pumping needs.
2. Get to know your pump!
Once you’ve chosen your pump spend some time getting to know it. Every pump is unique and has features specific to the brand or model. Even if you’ve used a pump before, invest some time in practicing using it.
A great place to start is to watch videos or read tutorials to become familiar. I had been using my pump for about a month, fairly successfully I thought, but it wasn’t until I watched some “hack” videos online that I learned some awesome tips for how to pump even more efficiently.
Next, let’s get down to the tips to increase your breast milk supply that fall under taking care of Mama.
I find that many of us forget that taking care of you is of utmost importance when you have a new baby.
Even though the baby will predominantly be your focus and the focus of those around you, without a healthy mama, you’re unlikely to have a healthy baby.
3. Drink more water
I can’t stress this enough, and if you’re familiar with my blog you’ve likely read it in other posts too… water is essential to just about every single function your body undertakes. It helps your organs to run effectively, rids your body of toxins and literally replenishes you with liquid so that you can pump, and pump well!
If you’re dehydrated you’re not going to be producing much milk, so drink water!
I aim for about 130 oz. per day based on my level of activity and the fact that I sweat more than usual because I live in a hot country. When I don’t drink this much I literally feel sluggish.
I have heard that dividing your body weight in 2 and drinking that amount in ounces is a good number to go by.
Find your favourite tumbler or water bottle, fill it throughout the day every time it gets empty and keep it close by to encourage you to drink water more often. I love to use my favourite mom tumbler that I received as a shower gift from a friend. It has been one of my most used postpartum items and reminds me every time that I look at it that I am a mom and that I’m drinking for a purpose. My husband even received a dad’s version !
You can find out more about this tumbler and other postpartum supplies here and check it out below.
4. Pump in a relaxed (or as relaxed as possible) state
One thing that I’ve learned about pumping is that it is as much a mental process as it is a physical one.
When I first started pumping it felt like a huge burden; I would remember last minute and would rush to get it done whenever I found the time in between chores and taking care of baby. That made it seem like a daunting task and more work than it actually was.
I began trying to turn pumping into a positive experience by pairing it with watching a show that I liked when baby was sleeping, while listening to my favourite podcast or even doing it while I was watching my baby in her swing. I found that pumping while engaging in these positive activities not only helped the time to fly by but also made me produce more milk. My brain formed positive associations and that translated to positive reactions in my body.
We created a really comfortable nursing corner in my daughter’s nursery. It is a great relaxing spot for pumping.
Do you have a similar spot that you like to pump comfortably? You can read more about how we created this space here.
5. Pump up the self care
Another way that I turned pumping into somewhat of a positive activity was to pair it with some tried and true self-care regimens that not only relaxed me, but also improved my body’s ability to produce and release breast milk. This included taking a hot shower or using a heating pad prior to pumping, to massage my breasts before and during pumping, and to apply a soothing nipple cream or butter afterwards.
My go-to nipple supplies include HPA Lanolin by Lansinoh and Earth Mama Nipple Butter. They did wonders for nipple soreness!
These pre and post pumping activities helped to relax my body and stimulate my breast milk supply and let-down.
These next tips fall under pumping method, which I found out was just important as what pump you had and how you prepared.
6. Pump multiple times a day to increase your breast milk supply
Somewhere along my pumping journey I discovered that how you pump and pumping multiple times a day was important. Now I know you’re probably saying, isn’t there one way to pump? You turn on your machine, set the cycle and vacuum speed and woila! But how you pump and when you pump make a huge difference.
In the beginning, I would pump once or twice a day when I found the time, until I learned that a pumping routine is really important if you want to have a good breast milk supply. I soon started pumping multiple times per day to reap the best results.
I would pump at least 3-4 times a day after I would nurse my daughter with my electric pump, and at each feed with my manual pump (more on that later).
This helped me to stash more milk but also signaled to my body that I needed more milk to be produced! I noticed that the more I stuck to this routine, the more my body responded with more milk. If you want to know more about my pumping routine let me know in the comments!
You want to know something interesting?
I found the most important time to pump was early in the morning, just after the first feed with baby. My breasts were always the most full then and by emptying my breasts after baby ate I signaled to my body nice and early that I needed more milk throughout the day.
Two of my other key feeds became right before I went to bed when baby was typically asleep and during one of the night feeds when I had my husband feed her with a bottle of pumped milk. This allowed me to capitalize on the fact that my baby hadn’t nursed at that time, and gave my body ample time to let down more milk before my first morning feed.
7. Slow pump for the win!
I found that I accumulated a lot more milk when I pumped on a lower vacuum setting.
On my Spectra S1 pump for example, I started on vacuum level 2 for the first 2 minutes of pumping, then moved up to 3 for the next five minutes and ended the session with 6-8, increasing the vacuum level every few minutes.
With this method I began getting at least 4-6 ounces per breast quite quickly in one sitting compared to around 2 ounces when I pumped at a higher setting right off the bat. This slow setting is similar to your baby’s latch and helps your body to yield a more successful result.
8. Empty your breast for a better breast milk supply
When I first started pumping I worried about leaving enough milk for my daughter. I would be careful to feed her first and then pump for a short amount of time afterwards. This was to ensure to leave enough milk just in case she woke up and wanted more. I did this for the couple of weeks or so, and was baffled as to why I would only produce a small amount of milk when I pumped.
What I soon learned is that the opposite way of thinking is much more effective! The more you empty your breast and use up the available milk, the more will be produced. That means more available for nursing and pumping.
You see, our bodies are amazing, and respond to what we demand of them. Basically, milk production works on a supply and demand basis. The more we tell our bodies we need milk by nursing and emptying our breasts, the more breast milk that will actually be produced. This is why ensuring that you either nurse or pump every few hours is essential to keeping up your milk supply.
9. Add a prime-time pump to your daily pumping routine to increase your breast milk supply
For me, this was a middle of the night pump or pump when someone else is feeding the baby. Expanding on the previous tip, I learned a little trick that helped me to collect and stash even more milk almost effortlessly.
We are human and sometimes we need a break from nursing. We want to sleep or just simply not have a small child attached to our ever so sore nipples sometimes.
As I mentioned earlier, my husband really liked getting to give her a bottle when I needed some extra rest. The first few times this happened I capitalized on the opportunity to get a little sleep or just unwind a bit, but I came to realize that the unused milk in my breasts began to make them extra engorged and sore. It was to the point where my breasts would leak everywhere without me even touching them.
So I began pumping while he fed her.
Yes, it would have been nice to sleep and sometimes I did just that; but I found the ten minutes or so I spent pumping really paid off and with little effort. That’s because your body also replenishes itself why we sleep, meaning that I found that I had more accumulated milk than at any other point during the day.
Using my hands free double pumping bra so I could literally lay my head back and not have to do anything made pumping even easier. And 10 minutes later, I was rewarded with at least 5- 6 ounces per breast. This soon allowed me to add even more to my breast milk stash without exerting a lot of energy or time.
I call these final tips my secret weapons! I found them to be game changers and the final tools that I needed to up my pumping game.
10. Add these to your diet to increase your breast milk supply!
We are what we eat and I found that to be especially true when it came to nourishing our bodies for breastfeeding. I noticed that when I drank a lot of water and ate certain foods I could see an increase in my breast milk supply.
There were a few foods and drinks that I found most helpful to increasing my breast milk supply. The first was nursing tea. These over the counter teas typically included herbs known to increase your milk supply, such as fenugreek or fennel. I liked Mother’s Milk by Traditional Medicines and Milk Maid by Earth Mama Organics. Both were mild tasting, I could drink them hot or cold and were reasonable priced. I talk about these lactation teas and other essential postpartum supplies in this post.
The next product I added to my diet was coconut oil. I’d read that this powerful fat could be miraculous for milk supply. I soon found that adding a tablespoon to smoothies, salads or even my oatmeal gave me noticeable results. Any extra virgin coconut oil will do, but I loved Kirkland Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.
Speaking of oatmeal, it was one of my favourite things to eat postpartum; It was filling and nutritious, and I was told that it helped with milk production. So I made a conscious effort to eat it as my evening snack or for breakfast. I don’t know if my healthy milk supply could be credited to it, but I don’t think it hurt!
Some other popular choices for increasing your breast milk supply include lactation cookies, coconut water or other popularly mentioned items. Whatever helps right!?
So there is my list of top 10 tips to help with breast milk supply and amassing a huge milk stash!
Before I leave you, I did promise to share my secret weapon! The one thing that I found most helpful in my milk stash journey. It’s a little device that I used every single time I nurse my daughter. It helps me to effortlessly collect even more breast milk without doing much at all. It’s a silicone pump called a Haakaa.
You suction it to the breast you aren’t using to nurse to catch the let-down milk while you’re nursing your baby. I was a bit skeptical at first but after realizing that this device effortlessly caught all the milk that would have otherwise leaked while I was feeding I was impressed. My stash soon increased without having to spend extra time pumping.
There are two versions: one with a suction base and cover, and the original model with neither of these features. I found these so helpful that have one of each!
