Am I all Dried Up?

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 - Day 55

Well, let's just say that my milk makers aren't making as much milk as they were when Tia was born. It is my fault because I stopped pumping around the clock about about a month because I was needing my sleep through the night and so instead of staying up after feeding Tia and pumping, I'd hit the hay and get as many zzzz's as I could. So I stopped pumping at 11pm, 2am, and 5am. So I was basically just pumping at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. But the past few weeks, I've become lazy and I think it is because I know we have formula that we've been giving her 50% of the time. I was still pumping enough at the 7am, 10am and 1pm for enough bottles to supplement for 50% of the time, so I started dropping the 4pm and 7pm because Chris would get home and we'd have family time with Tia and it was the last thing on my mind with cooking dinner and getting ready for my early bed time. But then I got sick this past week and the last thing I wanted to think about was pumping, so we just used what I had stocked up in the fridge to supplement her about 30% of the time. However, when I started feeling better the past couple days and I went to pump, it was virtually a half ounce each - that's it. That wasn't going to do it. With only a two and half weeks before Tia starts daycare, I'm not hugely concerned since we were going to go to all formula at that time anyways. We have some milk stored in our freezer we'll crack out to get us to that point and I'll still try to get the milk makers working again, but at this point I think I'm all dried up. I was really enjoying my bigger boobs too...I guess I get to watch them shrink back to their normal small size again ;) I know many women pump up until 6 months, but I really don't know how they do it. I have had several people tell me to consider pumping while I'm at work, but with my job, I just don't see me being dedicated to slipping away to a conference room and knowing that every person knows that I'm pumping my milk makers in there because it is tight quarters where we work. I do know others have done it, but I'm not big on taking breaks at work anyways so I'd rather not even try. I even had one girl tell me she does it while she is driving - now that is dedication. What I've learned about pumping is that you have to be very diligent about it meaning you have to pump round the clock and if you don't, you start drying up, quick. At my 6 week OB check-up, my doctor said it best when he said 'let's put it this way, I was not a breast fed baby and I think I turned out pretty normal...I think' and he's right. I tried my best to breast feed Tia for as long as I could and if I can get her through the rest of maternity leave, I'll be happy.