Well, my Peapod is eleven months old. I always wanted to breastfeed until a year, or whenever she chose to stop, but I also told myself that if it didn’t work, I’d be okay. I thought that when I went back to work, perhaps our breastfeeding relationship would suffer, but it really didn’t (other than that we now only bf three times a day on weekdays). And here we are at almost a year still going strong.

I really feel lucky. I may not have the most supply (my best guess is that, on the weekdays, she gets 6-9 ounces from me per day and on weekends, maybe 14-20), but we have a great time nursing. I’ve never once had thrush or mastitis, she’s never once had a nursing strike, I’ve never so much as had sore nipples (minus the time or two she’s bitten me).

Now that she’s old enough, she signs when she wants to nurse (or, okay, admittedly sometimes she just yanks down my shirt). Sometimes on the weekends we take naps, and she nurses straight through. She takes less formula than she used to, although she still eats a ton of formula during the day. That surprises me, because she now eats solid food, and rather a lot of it.

She’s a big strong girl, and she does very well on the soy formula. I’ve even added some dairy back into my diet (I had cut it out because she’s sensitive to it). She loves everything she eats, and mostly now eats non-pureed food.

Anyway, I just thought I’d update with my good news. We don’t have the most breastmilk around here, but we’ve got a great breastfeeding relationship. That’s why I’m so lucky.

Kara

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It’s hard for me to believe I’ll be jumping on the BFAR merry-go-round again.  This will be my third time breast feeding, and my second after my reduction surgery.  Both of my previous experiences had their difficulties.  I hope to go into more detail in future posts, but for now I’ll keep it short.

My first, “Peanut,” was a preemie.  I had a marginal supply for her that dropped drastically at 6 months.  There are so many factors that played a role, it’s hard to know what was significant.  But if I had known then what I know now, things would have gone so much better.

My second, “Snickers,” was after my surgery.  Because of the damage to my breasts, I had only a 25% supply starting out.  But I learned a lot and tried a few things and eventually increased to a 65% supply!  I still went through mourning for the loss of the “ideal” BF relationship, but overall I was very happy with our success.

This time around, I was really hoping for a full supply.  I’ve learned so much in the last two years, plus I’ve had more time to heal and re-grow nerves/canals.  I may or may not have had a full supply for one, but it turns out I’m having TWINS!  While I’m thrilled, it’s still a little overwhelming to think of BFARing two.  I’m preparing myself to have to supplement again.  Which is fine, but still not the ideal I’d hoped for.

My jellybeans will be here this summer, due Aug. 4 (but I’m at high risk for pre-term delivery).  I’ll have to do my best to be prepared, then just wait and see how it goes.

Jen

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I find that I haven’t updated much lately. When things are going smoothly and I’m not obsessing and being anxious, there’s not much to say. And that’s where we are: she has been eating well, we’ve added cereal to her diet once a day. She still nurses at night, but less frequently. She eats about 8 times a day, and four of them are bottles while I’m at work. But when I come home, I used pumped milk as supplement. I still have to supplement quite a bit, too, probably more than other BFAR moms, but I have come to terms with it. I have milk, for sure, and she’s getting it. That’s enough for me.

Of course, the times, they are a’changing. Now that she’s six months, the doctor has recommended that I give her veggies and fruits several times a day, which means that we’ll cut down on the formula some. I had a fleeting thought that perhaps I could exclusively breastfeed her while I am at home, but I know that’s probably too much to ask. Still, I am happy that she’ll be getting a higher percentage of milk from me.

I was awfully worried about her weight for a long time, but she is now 16 pounds, and about average in weight. Today’s doctor’s appointment was really a relief in a lot of ways. Anyway, that’s the update. My big girl is healthy and happy, and seems to like avocado, banana, and squash! Now we’re off to try new things…

Kara

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It’s amazing how much more relaxed I was at Ani’s six-month appointment. It seems like every time we go to the ped there is this little tinge of fear when it comes time to weigh her. But since her four-month appointment, I’ve felt really very good about things. I can see that she is growing and thriving. Her 3-6 month clothes are getting too small, she’s been sitting up all by herself for weeks now and is just daring to crawl. And she’s babbling all the time, and lately has been saying “mama.” I doubt she knows what it means, but I’m still thrilled.

She weighed in at 15 lbs. 10 ounces and measured 26 inches long. We’ve started her on solids, and I have to admit, I feel like I’ve been a little less disciplined about pumping. She’s taken to solids so well, and even though we have to dip into the freezer stash each week — between using the breastmilk to mix up her rice cereal and thin those solids that are a little too pasty for her, there isn’t always enough left to feed her in bottles while I’m at work — we seem to be doing OK. Still, I have a few months to go before her breastmilk needs will start to go down, so I need to keep doing the fourth pumping session before bed.

I’m back in the office five days a week now, which is a total bummer. Now I have to pump a lot more. But this is all temporary. Jeff has accepted a new job in Denver that starts at the end of October. The salary is higher, the cost of living is lower and I’m going to stay home and try to launch that freelance writing career I’ve always dreamed about. And mainly, I’m eager to be home with Ani.

Now we just need to start packing and figure out what we are going to do with our house while the housing market continues to suck wind. Ugh…

Tamara

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Andrew went for his check-up today and he is doind great! He’s slipping a little on the weight curve, down to 30%, but neither my Ped nor I are worried because he is active and obviously thriving. In fact, my Ped expects breastfed babies to drop in percentile as they get older, knowing that the charts are based on formula-fed babies. To make up for it he is in the 80th percentile for height. He’ll be 9 months in 4 days and I can’t believe it. He is eating some baby foods and really loving his solids. I also started introducing a cup with a little bit of water and so far he seems to be enjoying it as well.

I am still on my galacts, namely DPD, Fenugreek and Fennel on and off. I would love to stop the DPD but I’m so afraid my supply will plummet. At the very least I’m waiting till Andrew is one and then I think I’ll try to gradually wean off of it. Hopefully in a few more months Andrew will be well-established on solids and can handle whatever drop in supply. At least by then we can use milk. There is no way I want to introduce formula, we’ve made it so far that it’s a no-brainer to me that I need to maintain my supply to make it to one year.

I am trying to slow down with pumping at work. I used to pump 3 times and now I’m down to 2. As a result I bring 4-5 oz less of milk. So far it’s been enough, and I suppose I can always add an extra pumping session at work here and there if need be. I am looking forward to when I no longer have to pump at work at all. If Andrew takes to milk well I can do it after his first B-day.

Polina

…and somehow we’ve made it to four and a half months! She has finally been gaining weight in a steady manner and is in the 25th percentile for weight (instead of the tenth). We got here through a combination of thickening her formula, feeding her more overall, feeding her smaller amounts more often and giving her Zantac for her reflux. I have some guilt about how much formula she has to get, and I wish I had more breastmilk, but I’ve had to come to terms with it. Whatever makes my baby healthy and happy makes me happy. She still nurses about ten times a day — eight with supplement and in the early mornings and just before bed she nurses bare. Often at naptime she nurses bare, too.

Our next challenge is me going back to work, which happens in two weeks. We had a trial run when I had a day-long meeting, and she did very well with her grandma, even napping without a fight or fuss. I nursed with supplement before I left in the morning, came home at lunch and pumped (I normally won’t have that much time), and fed her right when I got home. The next day I went to a meeting for half a day, and for some reason I leaked all over the place. I had to walk around with my arms crossed or a paper in front of my chest. I wonder how that will go when I’m actually teaching all day again. My biggest fear is that she will get so attached to the bottle during the day that she won’t want to nurse when I come home. Or that I will dry up from being away from her for such long periods. My number one goal when I started was to go to five months, when I had to go back to work. But I would be delighted if she self-weaned at a more normal time, like a year (or later). I’m crossing my fingers.

Kara

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So last Wednesday I forgot to take my morning dose of Shatavari before rushing out the door for work. I was slightly panicked when I realized I hadn’t taken it… but was pleasantly surprised that my letdowns while pumping that day were stronger than ususal and my pumping output was slightly greater than normal (about 1.5oz more).

So I decided to “play with fire” and go cold turkey on the Shatavari for awhile. And my supply hasn’t really seemed to change at all. In fact, my letdowns seem to be much more forceful now. And the first night without Shatavari I actually leaked milk in the night (which I don’t typically do). This makes me think I may actually be producing MORE milk without it. I don’t think I’ll add it back at this point…

Today, I took some Spirulina and will try this for the next week or so to see if it makes a difference at all.

Beth