There’s nothing like feeding my baby formula to motivate me to produce more milk. We had to start supplementing with formula yesterday as we ran out of donated milk and she needs more food to maintain weight, much less gain. Aside from the work and the cost, the health implications are frustrating: poor little girl is constipated!! Plus all the research on the many benefits of breast milk. So I’ve chosen to know that I will soon be producing all the breastmilk that baby needs.
This evening after pumping I saw that, as usual, I had some milk still coming out of my nipples. Rather than go back on the pump – which experience told me wouldn’t get a lot out – I tried, for the first time, manually expressing the milk. And it squirted out! I got more out in less time doing it with my hands rather than by machine. This feels like a major step forward. It makes it much easier to express more often, rather than with the pump (less equipment, less to wash up, easier to tell when I’m finished, easier to stop and start (and thus, easier to watch and be with baby while doing it). Oh yay, yet another way I’m going to make more milk faster!