Friday, November 22, 2013

43

Last week I was afraid my breastmilk supply was tanking so I took the time to calculate how many ounces I was making per day and I came up with 43 ounces three days in a row!! I was really surprised to get this number and I thought that the first day was a fluke.  The last time I calculated I was getting 38-40 per day consistently and didn't figure I could get it any higher than that.  I was also pumping 7 times per day and these days I'm down to 5.  I just couldn't take getting up in the middle of the night anymore for many reasons.  For one, it was taking time away from sleep, and for two, once I was awake for 30 minutes it was really hard to go back to sleep.

Since the boys are on a lot more solids these days, they are taking a lot less milk.  I actually have about 150 ounces in the freezer and 40-50 ounces in the refrigerator that I probably need to put in the freezer.  The boys drink 3 bottles during the day (before each nap, and before bedtime) and at least one at night.  So 18 ounces each during the day (36 total) plus 8-12 for Oliver and 4 for Elliott at night.  That amounts to roughly 50 ounces per day.  I generally make formula for them at night because its faster and if they don't drink it or spill it then I don't really care that much.  I started freezing some when I was testing out theories about Oliver's digestive issues, so I guess that's where it started.

This is as good as its gonna get!  My goal is to provide mama's milk for 12 months.  Today they are 9 months old so we have 3 to go!  The original plan was to BF Elliott after I quit pumping at a year but since he quit breastfeeding, I don't know what my plan is.  I really do hate pumping but I'm sure I will be a little bit sad to let it go when I finally do decide to stop.

No comments: