The topic of breastfeeding is very sensitive for some, and personal for many. Understanding this, I am sharing my story. The first time around for me, it proved challenging and ended quite quickly. This time around, its different. With my first he was underweight and breeched. I was a single mom with no support. I supplemented right away, and it was the best decision for us. It allowed him to thrive and me to have a manageable mental and physical load. This time, my baby was measuring larger and I am married. Our support was also different from the beginning. We had help from neighbors and friends who provided meal trains, assisted with watching our other kids…it was completely different.
I wanted to give Breastfeeding another try and am glad I did. My milk supply was decent upon his birth, and I found a great pump to invest in that allowed me to pump while still chasing behind my three-year-old, cooking dinners and caring for our newborn. Atlas is now around 5 months old. I went back to work after 3 months of paid parental leave. Up until he was 4 months old, he was fed only breastmilk. However, with a very distracting older brother running around and a busy home, as well as spending time at his nanny’s, there was a point where I thought, perhaps I can wean now because there was a lot of distraction and not a whole lot of eating.
This was when we introduced formula. We tried three different ones, but eventually he favored Bobbie Organics. Having now moved to exclusive pumping, I was making around 28oz a day, and that was with at least one nursing session in the morning. We have been able to combo feed and it has been a huge help! It took time for him to adjust to allowing daddy to feed him in my presence, but we eventually got there. Below is the result of a 20-minute pump session using my Momcozy M5.
Combo feeding and exclusive pumping allowed us to be less concerned with fearing a missed pump session or getting rid of spoiled milk and be more concerned with a fed and happy baby. I now pump only 3 times a day (6am, 2pm and 9pm). Overnight, I get extremely full, so that first morning pump is my savior. Either that or my sweet boy will wake me up at 5:30am to relieve at least one boob, while I still have to pump at least once in the morning. I would of course speak with your doctor or work with your family to find what works for you. However, my milk has regulated, my baby is sleeping through the night with only 1 wakeup and I am back to work. This schedule and moving to exclusively pumping has allowed me to extend the amount of time my son gets breastmilk as well as ensures my overall life load isn’t too much.
Below are a few things that have really helped me with this part of the journey.
1. Hands Free Breast Pump
I use Momcozy’s M5 Electric Breast Pump. The charge lasts me at least a day and a half. It is easy to transport too and from work. Is rather discreet. It is not the quietest so don’t use next to my napping baby, but it isn’t extremely loud either. It’s easy to clean and has been extremely reliable for the past 5 months.
Affiliate Link: Momcozy M5
2. Bottle Warmer
For overnight feedings, my husband took those over putting the warmer in the room so that when the baby wakes up he doesn’t have to go very far to get his milk. We usually put the pumped milk in a bottle on the 24hr setting, keeping it warm until he is ready to eat. This saves us so much time and doesn’t get us all woken up overnight.
3. A Schedule
We followed the baby wise schedule from the beginning. We were flexible, but intentional. If he was hungry we fed him and if tired, we let him sleep. Now at about 5 months old, he consistently takes about 3-4 naps a day ranging from 30 mins – 1hr 30min. He goes to bed consistently on his own at 8pm and wakes up around 7 or 7:30am. He wakes up one time at night and then one more time right before I wake up at 5:30/5:45am.
This is our current baseline schedule for our 5 month old:
- 5:45am Mom Wakeup & Nurse Baby
- 6am: Pump
- 7am: Baby and Toddler Wakeup
- 8:30am: Feed
- 9:30am: Nap
- 10:30am: Feed
- 12pm: Nap
- 2pm: Feed/Pump
- 3pm: Nap
- 4:30pm: Feed
- 5pm: Last Nap
- 6pm: Feed
- 7:30pm: Bedtime Routine
- 8pm: Feed and Bedtime
- 9pm: Pump
4. Consistency
We had many false starts and times where we felt like this whole routine thing wasn’t for us. However, by the time he was about 5 months old, things clicked for him. It should be noted that most pediatricians don’t recommend any sort of sleep training until about 4 months old. It’s important for you to do your own research there. This is what worked for us. We tried the Ferber CIO method for 5 mins at a time at 4 months. Now, we can put our baby down while drowsy, but awake. This is the same method I used with my first and now at 3 years old he still sleeps on his own, through the night in his own room.
All that said, fed is best. As soon as I stopped paying attention to one way or the other and just allowed flexibility, things became so much less stressful for our whole family. Even while pumping up to 30 oz a day, we still use formula here and there and it allows us overall freedom to do what works for us and prolongs the amount of time our baby gets breastmilk.
Everyone is happier with a mama who is not stressed out all the time, so do what works for you!
