So it sounds like a joke but I’m actually not kidding . . .
Since it’s still August (National Breastfeeding Awareness Month), I’m sharing a recent experience and SOLUTION that I just had. When I was nursing Landon, my oldest, I never once in 13 months experienced a lack of milk supply, so as you can imagine, when I traveled to Chicago about two weeks ago, I freaked out when I felt like my milk supply was decreasing, especially since Liam is only 11 weeks old!
First of all, for any of you who have experienced this or are worried about experiencing it, I want to say stop worrying! I think stress definitely came into play with this. I had left Santa Monica with a freezer full of at least thirty bags of pumped breast milk. After doing some research about shipping pumped milk, I decided against it. The amount of comments I read about bags exploding from the dry ice, was enough to make me lose my mind, so I just packed about 8 oz of frozen milk in my carry-on instead. Since I feed-on-demand this was about enough for two trips to the gym or one night out with my husband. Needless to say, I was panicked about how I was going to pump enough for me to enjoy any alone time or going out time in Chicago. I think if I had just relaxed a little and had some faith that it would all work out (which thank goodness it did), I would have gotten through it a little better.
So what did I do? Well, first I realized that I did not have a fridge with me full of Hint water, Hint Fizz or Essentia (my favorite waters) or my Aroma Water Kettle (Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE hot tea and drink a lot of it – another great way to stay hydrated). Due to traveling and not being in my own home, I was clearly dehydrated. Once I figured this out, I started guzzling water like crazy. To top it off, I had lunch at a girlfriend’s and downed a good old Chicago 312 Goose Island beer (By the way, a glass of beer at 1 pm on a Friday afternoon tastes amazing.) I’d always heard that beer helped your milk supply, and now I definitely believe it!
It was probably about 12 hours later that my breasts were back to being hard as rocks and spraying Liam in the face because of overflow. I couldn’t have been more grateful for water and beer.
Can I promise this will work for you? No, but I kind of think it might. So stay hydrated, my breastfeeding friends . . . and enjoy a glass of beer when you need too (or just want to). If you have a similar story or any other tips on maintaining or increasing your milk supply, please share with your fellow mommies in the comment section below! Cheers!
It’s the brewers yeast in the beer that boosts the milk supply. You can purchase brewers yeast by itself if you don’t drink beer. Mix it into applesauce or yogurt to mask the bitter taste or you can bake it into lactation cookies because who doesn’t LOVE cookies?! The main ingredients in lactation cookies are brewers yeast, oatmeal, and flax. Those babies work and are quite delicious!
Thanks Lauren! Love the cookie baking idea! Do you keep them to yourself then or share with the family? 🙂
Sara I used to make lactation cookies too, they were delicious! And since I didn’t really want to share, I learned I only had to describe them as “my lactation cookies”, and nobody touched them! 😉
I use essential oils. Fennel to increase peppermint to decrease. Works every time!!
Hi!!! I use the brewers yeast too! I mix it with oatmeal and yogurt every day! I did the cookies and then realized it was the yeast that was the ingredient I needed. So then I didn’t eat a batch of cookies every day!!! 🙂