Milk Maiden Update #8

Usually, I start off with my supplements list but this time, I’ll start off with this picture:

I haven’t been taking any supplements lately. This was the first time I’ve pumped in maybe 2 weeks. Well, I stopped pumping for a week, pumped some more, then stopped pumping again. As I was coming up on Finals Week for school, I was feeling a bit distracted and tired and overwhelmed with life, so one think I could definitely do less of was pumping. I was still expressing milk every now and then, but definitely not for 8 to 12 times a day for 15-20 minutes each session.

I turned to reddit (r/AdultBreastfeeding) and asked how long I could do this for. The consensus was, if I was emptying enough, this could work out long-term, but if not, my supply would diminish. Well… what was supposed to be a temporary thing ended up being a lot longer lasting, and surely enough, my boobs stopped aching every few hours, and I could go full days without pumping or expressing.

Now that I’ve made it over the finals hump (passed all my classes, btw), I’m ready to get back on it.

In the picture above, you can see that I’m still able to get an ounce out of each boob, so I haven’t completely dried up. At my peak, however, during my first morning pump, I was able to get 4-5 ounces. Now is the time to build that back up.

OHHH, but I totally did an experiment during my in-between pumping time!!

I took an Evian bottle (33.3 oz) and challenged myself to see how many days worth of pumping I’d have to do to fill it up. I would pump, collect my milk in a 4 oz bottle, refrigerate it, then transfer it into the Evian bottle (also refrigerated). Each bottle that got emptied into the Evian bottle was the same refrigerated temperature. I did this for 3 days, and by the 4th day (morning), Mission Complete!!!

Well… back to the drawing board!!!