My son had low transfer issues since birth and it severely impacted my supply early on because we did not know. He was on me all day nursing and still losing weight. It was a really tough time. We had to start supplementing with a bottle and formula early on to get him to gain weight so I started pumping way earlier than I planned. I was not ready and had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know I would be primarily pumping, my plan was always to exclusively nurse and pump when I went back to work. That meant I had time. That meant I had 3.5 months…right?
Unfortunately, like most things related to becoming a first time mom, plans do not matter. I struggled with low supply for awhile and it really impacted me not being able to fully nourish my baby and working so hard to basically get nothing all day.
What helped me was staying focused on my goal and why I wanted to achieve that goal and what I was willing or not willing to do to achieve it. Goals are different for everyone and what we are willing and not willing to do as well. For me, my goal was to nourish my baby exclusively with breastmilk. I was willing to put in the work for as long as needed because I felt the antibodies and other benefits of breastmilk outweighed my personal struggle and the hard work I needed to put in. I was not willing to completely lose sleep or my mental state so I always stayed honest with myself and kept a pulse on where I was at. I wanted to push myself hard but definitely not past my ability to still be a happy mom to my baby. I did everything I possibly could to increase supply and I went from pumping .4oz a session to 4oz over time and 2.5 months later of extreme hard work, perseverance and literal blood sweat and tears, I was able to get my son off of formula and exclusively on breastmilk. I am so proud of my journey and that I stuck with it. I never imagined I would be able to nurse and pump 25-26oz a day. I always wanted to be here but I really didn’t think I would. I just took it one day and .1oz at a time. As long as I was still pumping consistent or slight increased volumes, I told myself it was working and it takes time.
Sometimes the small wins are really what helps us stay on track towards our bigger goals!
