My 900th Ounce of Stored Breast Milk

Today is a fantastic day! Why? I have officially pumped and frozen my 900th ounce of stored breast milk for my son. This was not easy and my journey is absolutely not over. However, I am only about 200 ounces away from my end goal. It’s certainly cause for celebration!

Why am I pumping and storing 1,188 ounces of breast milk? Because, while I love everything about nursing my son, mommy still wants a little bit of freedom. Last year, my husband and I were due to be married in September. The pandemic began and we made the responsible decision to postpone our celebration an entire year. We chose to take the time to start growing our family. We didn’t want to let the coronavirus put our entire lives on hold. While the world was still deep in the clutches of the pandemic, we had a very small civil ceremony among our closest family members and tied the knot on our originally intended wedding day. On that day, we also announced that we were pregnant with our first child!

FREEBIE: Download my Breast Milk Storage Inventory sheet by clicking here.

Present day

Fast forward a bit, our son is now three months old. He is absolutely perfect to us and he also happens to be exclusively breastfed. I made the conscious decision to exclusively breastfeed before I was even pregnant. It was so important to me to be able to nurse my child. I wanted that bond. While we had a big snag early on, I made my breast pump my best friend right from the get-go. I am proud to say that I never had to supplement with formula thus far, which was one of my personal goals.

Now, our big wedding celebration is approaching and I still want to be able to enjoy some of the fun things that I was robbed of in 2020. I want to have a little bachelorette weekend with my girlfriends, a nice little honeymoon, and I also want to indulge a little on my wedding night! All of this means that I must pump to ensure my child can be fed while I’m either separated from him or I’m having a few drinks.

I made it my ultimate goal to power pump my way to 1,188 ounces by September 2021. I’ve calculated for a weekend bachelorette party, the wedding, a brief honeymoon, and a 14-day sickness buffer in the event that I was to fall ill and couldn’t breastfeed. At thirty-six ounces per day, the total comes out to 1,188 of stored breast milk and I’m three-quarters of the way there. This is the home stretch!

Backstory

When my son was born, he latched immediately after birth and suckled for twenty minutes. He was a star! When we were moved to our postpartum room, we continued to nurse the colostrum. Overnight, he began to get fussy when we’d latch. The nurse on duty thought he was just trying to suckle for comfort and not because he was hungry. Just in case, she brought in a medical grade pump and taught me how to use it. I pumped for fifteen minutes and produced 30mL of colostrum. We put it in a little collection bottle and set it on ice for a future feeding.

Early in the morning, we attempted another breastfeeding session. My son latched for a few moments and then would let go and cry. The new nurse that shift came in and began to aggressively push him to my breast in an attempt to get him to re-latch. He began to refuse me and cry harder, causing me to feel uncomfortable. I chose not to say anything because I was a new mom and thought what was happening was in our best interest. I fed him the little bottle I’d pumped overnight and we were discharged for home.

All that day, I attempted to bring my son to my breast but he would get so upset that he would scream. Thank goodness I had a breast pump already at home (I was gifted a Spectra S1 for my shower)! I hopped right on and started expressing. After every breastfeeding attempt, I would pump as tears fell from my eyes. I was at such a loss, but I knew that I needed to keep pumping to build up my supply. I would sit and read countless articles from the Medela blog while I pumped and prayed we’d regain our bond.

Coming back to breast after rejection & forced exclusive pumping

After about a week while trying a million different techniques (most of which I learned from reading Medela articles like this one), I was able to coax my son back into breastfeeding without having to supplement with any formula. In hind sight, I never should’ve continued to allow him to be pushed against my breast like that. Maybe it works for some people, but it caused my child to completely reject me to the point I was worried we’d never form that bond again! All I can say is that my breast pump saved me and allowed me to continue towards my goal of exclusively breastfeeding my son while building up a freezer stash of stored breast milk in the process.

Now, here we are at three months postpartum and I feel as if I’m a professional pumper! In the early weeks after my milk came in, I was able to pump up to eight ounces from a single breast. That was huge for me to kick-start my stash of stored breast milk. Currently, I pump about four ounces per breast per session. My pumps are now less frequent than they were in the beginning, but now I incorporate my Haakaa into our nursing sessions. I pull three to four ounces from the other boob from using it while my son breastfeeds. That adds up!

Breast pump options

The Haakaa is awkward in the beginning and it kind of hurts, but I’m totally obsessed with mine now! I registered for two for my shower and received both, so I even double pump if I need to be mobile. They’re affordable, silicone, and BPA-free. Sometimes, carting around the massive Spectra S1 just isn’t practical.

In the future, I’d like to purchase a Medela Freestyle Flex because it’s tailored for an active lifestyle. That’s actually the pump I registered for, but I didn’t receive it. I will say that my Sectra S1 has been my trusty best buddy, though! I certainly consider myself blessed to have it! It’s super reliable and works like a charm. Fun fact: even though it’s like an ankle weight, I bring it with me frequently if I know I’ll be gone for a while because it has a portable battery and a night light.

Regardless of the pump, I always use Tommee Tippee “Closer to Nature” bottles. If there’s one thing I learned from scouring the internet and reading breastfeeding articles on the AAP website, it’s that I should use the most breast-like bottles possible. My end goal was always to exclusively breastfeed, but that also allows for dad and other caregivers to bottle feed my milk while I’m away. In order to leave the least amount of room for nipple confusion and further breast rejection, I chose Tommee Tippee. I have heard great things about Comotomo, but I never tried them. All I can say is that what I did worked for us, so these are my recommendations if you find yourself in similar shoes.

With all that said…

I can’t wait to continue on my pumping journey! I hope life allows me to continue to exclusively breastfeed my son for as long as we want. We haven’t landed on an end date yet, but that’s another topic! I know I need to come back with a vengeance after all of these events are over and my stash is depleted. Stay tuned for another round of “building my freezer stash of stored breast milk!”

All in all, if there’s anyone else out there who went through a similar breast rejection situation, know that you have a friend in me. If you have to pump your ass off so you don’t have to supplement, know that I am right here with you.

Here’s to all the EBF and exclusively pumping moms! My next glass of wine goes out to all of you. Keep that shit up. You are so strong.