Above: Gavin all dressed up, playing with Octotunes before we left for K’s fullmoon party

Tips for Keeping up Your Breast Milk Supply When You Are Away from Your Baby

For a breastfeeding mother who is taking a trip away from her child, maintaining her breastmilk supply is usually one of the biggest concerns that plague the trip. Likewise I was also concerned that my trip to Shanghai would result in a reduction of my supply by the time I got back to Gavin.

Most of the literature recommend exclusive breastfeeding on the breast upon returning from your trip to help increase your diminished milk supply to meet the needs of your baby.

During the entire trip I was so afraid I would not have enough milk by the time I got back or that Gavin would forget how to suckle. Since I could not do much to prevent the latter from happening, I concentrated on keeping my milk supply up as much as I could by doing the following:

• I continued stock piling right up until the day I was leaving because that would artificially boost my milk production because I was producing more than Gavin was taking. Even if it dropped while I was away, hopefully it would still be sufficient to meet Gavin’s regular needs.
• During my entire trip away from Gavin, I would express at least once every four hours (although I did go about six hours without expressing because I slept through the night).
• If I had a let down I would still express even if four hours hadn’t lapsed since the last express.
• Each time I expressed, I tried to get at least four ounces. The largest haul I produced in one sitting was about ten ounces. I have to add that after the difficulties I had during the period I was stock piling it was quite hard to pour my milk down the sink - I felt almost like I was crying over spilt milk.

I guess these tricks worked for me because when I got back to Gavin, I found that I was producing more milk than he was drinking. Gavin was taking all his feeds from me and I found that there were times when my breasts would still be full but he was not hungry. It took about a day for the two of us to adjust to each other and I’m glad to say that everything is now hunky dory.

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