NOTE: This post will be discussing breastfeeding and will occasionally mention body parts that are used for breastfeeding. If this makes you uncomfortable, please do not read any further. :)
It has been a WHILE since my last post. After giving birth, I barely had enough energy to even look at a computer. Now that my baby is three months old, I think I have gotten used to sleeplessness in general. That means I can now get back to documenting my motherhood journey!
The first thing I would like to talk about is breastfeeding. This has actually been my primary topic of research for the last few weeks. I am a full time mom now and have been breastfeeding my baby since she was born. I did not have any problems with my milk supply so all I had to worry about was whether or not my food will affect my baby.
Everything was fine and dandy until earlier this week. We had to move to a new apartment due to our former landlord wanting to renovate her entire property. As expected, it was exhausting to haul all our stuff on our own. It took us three days to get everything settled. I am mentioning this because I suspect the stress from moving is the culprit when my milk supply suddenly dropped.
I used to be able to pump three to four ounces every time my baby feeds. After the move, I could barely pump an ounce. This isn’t really much of a problem since I only stash milk for emergency purposes (emergencies being trips to the salon). Regardless, I wanted my supply back so I looked up lactation aids to see which ones are effective.
There is so much information out there regarding lactation that it was hard to figure out which ones actually work. That gave me an idea to experiment with my supply for a bit. There are several options for moms who want to increase their milk supply. There are powders, pills, cookies, brownies, drinks, and so on. For my experiment, I decided to just focus on lactation aids that I can drink. Why, you ask? Well… pills and powders aren’t any fun to try and I can’t bake. Lactation cookies and brownies can be bought but they are expensive! So lactation drinks it is. :)
To start off my experiment, I tried a drink that is so common I was surprised it had anything to do with lactation. A lot of moms on Facebook swear that Milo (a chocolate malt drink) helps increase milk supply. The malt in it is the supposed secret ingredient. I drank about two mugs of Milo per day. Weird enough, it seems to work a bit. From less than an ounce, my pumping sessions now yielded 2.5 ounces. My breasts feel slightly heavier too. It’s not mind-blowing but it’s something, right?
Since my experiment was a bit informal, I can’t really say for sure if it worked or my supply just returned because I have recovered from the stress of moving to a new apartment. That is why for my next post, I will be continuing my experiments. I have a few other drinks to try including Quaker Oats drink, Gatorade (was surprised by this one), Vita Coco (coconut water drink), and Moringga tea.
I’ll look into some other common lactation aids and see if I can add to my list. :)
P.S. If you’re wondering about the red warning up top, that’s because some of my friends have been grossed out when I talk about these things. I figured other people might be so it’s best to warn ahead of time. :)
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article sponsered by Northern Michigan certified lactation consulting and Mother Hubbards Country Cupboard
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