I tried not to judge the other mom next to me in the baby supply aisle. She so confidently dropped a name brand container of baby formula into her big red basket and kept it pushing.
“How could she give her baby formula by choice,” I arrogantly thought. The sad truth is some women don’t do it by choice and the reality is that some do, and that’s perfectly fine.
However a mom chooses to feed her baby is her choice. Although breast milk is said to have specific nutrients to help babies grow and develop, breastfeeding isn’t for everyone. And for those that don’t, there are plenty of formulas that come close to the quality of breastmilk.
After six months of breastfeeding, I found myself dropping a box of formula into a grocery basket, except it wasn’t by choice and maybe it wasn’t that other mom’s choice either.
There were many if only I had done _______ statements that fired off in my head the day my milk was no longer enough to get my growing baby boy through the day. I had already given him the last bottle of breastmilk and he was hungry.
My tears flooded my shirt, his onesie and the shoulders of anyone that came to check on me that day. The sting of not being able to provide for my baby pierced my heart and it was more than I could fathom.
I became determined to fix what I thought I had broken. If you have ever tasted the dissatisfaction of a decrease in milk production, you probably could relate to the pain I felt.
I realized beating myself up wasn’t going to help, so I decided to find out what would bring my milk back. After three weeks, my milk is back to where it was and my heavy let-down, that I missed so much is back to overwhelming my baby boy (I’ll write a post about how to help baby when you have a heavy let-down soon).
Here’s what I did:
- Pray: I know I usually start my lists with encouraging you to pray but that’s because that’s the first thing I do. I truly don’t know how to do anything else without praying first. This experience was the most emotionally difficult thing I’ve encountered since having my son, so I prayed that God would restore my milk. After all, He’s the God of restoration (Jeremiah 30:17, Mark 11:24).
- Realize it’s not your fault: Even if you could have started earlier or if you had pumped more, your body may not have produced more milk than what you were able to create. It is so hard not to beat yourself up, but trust me, it isn’t going to help.
Instead, understand that you did everything you knew how to do and that you did what was best for your baby by breastfeeding him or her for however long you were able to do it. Even if your milk doesn’t come back, YOU ARE STILL A GOOD MOM!
- Talk to your doctor or a laction specialist: This should be the first step because you may be deficient in something and a supplement that your doctor reccomends may help. There are lactation specialists in the community, at WIC offices and ones that your doctor can recommend.
- Drink Mother’s Milk tea: I believe that Mother’s Milk tea is a blessing from the Heavens! It does taste a bit like black licorice, which is gross to me, but it’s worth it. Add some lemon juice and honey and get to drinking sister! Sometimes I sprinkled a bit of sugar in the mug too, I confess. I tried to drink at least one 8-10oz cup a day.
- Eat oatmeal: Oats are said to help with milk production, so I did my best to incorporate a bowl of oatmeal into my breakfast routine each day. I didn’t get fancy with it. I simply bought the instant kind and added hot water. This helped to fill me up and to increase my milk production.
- Drink lots of water: When I started to notice that my milk output was slowing down, I increased my water intake because I knew I wasn’t getting enough to begin with and what I was drinking was basically being sucked out of me just as fast as I was drinking it. Drinking more water didn’t help immediately, but it surely kept me hydrated and aided in bringing my milk back.
- Pump like there’s no tomorrow, every two hours: I’ll allow myself one I wish I would have statement here. I really wish I had begun pumping as soon as colostrum started coming down. I returned to work once my son was six weeks old and didn’t start pumping until the week before.
For a while, I had enough milk, until we went out a couple of times for date nights. At that point, my extra milk began to dwindle.
If you don’t already pump every two hours for at least fifteen minutes, start today (as long as your doctor says it’s safe). I only did this during the day and maybe once through the night, because I believe lack of rest contributed to my low production, so I got as much sleep as I could. And don’t worry if you’re a working Mom. There are laws that protect your rights to pump at work. Click here to read some.
- Pump while nursing: I have not come across any information that encourages or discourages mothers from pumping while nursing, but I do it and it works! As I mentioned, I have a heavy let-down and when my milk does come down, sometimes I have to pump a little out so my baby boy doesn’t choke on it. Once he’s latched, I proceed to pump on the other side, taking advantage of the milk that is already coming down. Otherwise, I can catch it in a milksaver but I prefer to just pump it out and get a bottle made for later.
It’s never easy to feel inadequate and that’s exactly how I felt when I went from making at least two 6oz bottles a day to barley making 3 ounces a day.
I noticed an increase in milk within two weeks of doing the things I’ve listed above. If your baby has to use a formula for the time being or for the rest of their infancy, our pediatrician recommended Enfamil NeuroPro. Our son had no problem with it and barely seemed to notice the difference.
Mama, if you’re experiencing this, know that I am praying for you and I’ve been there. You will get through this. And as I said before, YOU ARE STILL A GOOD MOM!
With Lots of Love,
Tiffany
