Got milk?

Got my spoon ready. Wonder what I will get to eat?

So let me jot down how the sizeable stash of breastmilk in my freezer came about. Might come in handy to jog my memory should I have another baby heh. The main secret is... plenty of hard work and determination! My natural supply isn't bountiful by any means and I would regularly panic about not having enough.  :)  Upon returning to work, I had stock of 20 portions of frozen milk.  This dropped to a low of 11 before rising again to a more comfortable level.

On to the to-dos:

1. Time control. Yield is disproportionate to time - if 3 hours yield 3oz, 5 hours may only yield 4oz. So no dilly-dallying when it's time to pump! I would pump at 11.30am and 3pm in the office. Then I rush back home to pump at 6.30pm.  The other feeds are direct.

2. Extension of point 1... waking up in the middle of the night to pump.  Jo Ern was sleeping 5-6 hours at a stretch so I figured I could squeeze one portion out in the middle of that period.  Only worry was that she would wake unusually early wanting milk!  It did happen a couple of times.

3. Pump after baby has finished direct feed. This tells the body that more milk is needed, produce more next time please.  Each pumping only produced 5-10ml, but it adds up when supply is at critical level. 

4. No 'supplementing' with formula allowed.  That tells the body that less milk is needed and it will produce less accordingly.

5. Milkmaid tea, warm drinks and fenugreek didn't seem to make any difference. 

6. After baby has graduated to solids, pump when baby is eating solids.

That breastpump was practically my bosom buddy at one stage!  I would remove the motor and store the rest in the fridge so it'd be available all the time.  Luckily Jo Ern appreciated my efforts, right?  Err, right?

Actually... I don't like milk THAT much. Like this corn, it's nicer than milk.

Sighhhh..  :)  Jo Ern does prefer food to milk.  Especially food that is NOT baby food!