Breastfeeding Resources

Last week continued to be a struggle with milk supply. Aaron was eating more fresh milk than I provided, and then he ate the last of the frozen milk I had brought to the child care providers. I opened the freezer to replace her supply, and…nothing. Whoa! I completely lost track of what was in the freezer, and now there was nothing.

It’s hard to have this worry constantly nagging. Because I know that stress and worrying will probably make things worse. So you’re supposed to be alert to the problem, I guess, but not consumed by it? Sigh. What’s strange is that the two main breastfeeding references I use, Nursing Mother, Working Mother and The Nursing Mother’s Companion, didn’t provide much coverage for supply concerns after you’ve been pumping for a little bit. One page is not enough when I think about this several hours a day! Milk Memos, which I’m reading now and loving, has a whole chapter devoted to it. That’s what I need.

Clearly the stress is getting to me, because later in the week I remembered that I do have milk in the freezer. It’s in the ice cube trays waiting to be moved to plastic bags. Duh. So that was a bit of a relief. I pumped twice over the weekend at home anyway.

I’m getting the idea that this is not going to be “solved” overnight. And I bet even once I feel comfortable with supply again, I’ll have to be mindful. In fact, maybe that’s what this is all about. I need to be more mindful throughout the day to support the pumping. I need to keep a beverage nearby and drink thoroughly at lunch. I need to get good sleep. I need to take a break from work while pumping. I need to occasionally pump at home during weekend days when the opportunity presents itself.