The adventures of breastfeeding and returning to work.

This isn't how to maintain your breastmilk supply, there are a ton of articles on baby sites that will help tell you how you can maintain it. This is more of the experiments I did while trying to keep Mara on exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months.

I so far am at the 5 months, 4 weeks mark and felt that should share what I found really convenient after returning to work.

I was one of the mothers that had an abundant milk supply, Mara was feeding off 4 oz for a long time while I was pumping 6 oz each breast. Mara's pediatrician was impressed that I could pump 14oz in one session. I had to start freezing some of my milk and hope that if my milk does wane, then I have a frozen supply to sustain for at least month after returning to work.

My breastpump is the Ameda Purely Yours. I chose this because it wasn't as expensive as the Medela and was marketed where you can pump directly in the bottles. Also a perk was that the pump didn't have milk going through tubes to the bottle, so less time washing parts. I bought mine from Amazon.com $100 less than retail too. I also found out that Ameda and Lanisoh parts are interchangeable, I haven't had a problem with not replacing parts yet. This breastpump has held up for me pretty well seeing that I dropped it a couple of times.

So my first adventure was unfreezing my milk and putting it in bottles while pumping into bottles at to pour into Lanisoh Milk bags to freeze since I had so much and didn't want the ones in the freezer going bad. What a pain I thought, too much bottle washing and less time to spend with Mara and Wedge after returning home from work.

So I researched pumping into bags directly. I found that Medela has bags you can attach to your pump. When I found this out, I already had 150 bags of the Lanisoh, so I didn't want to toss those out, I read that all the Medela ones do is have a velcro strap that attaches to the bag and pump. So I decided to rig my Lanisoh bags with tape and pump into them. Was nice but very unsturdy. I had spilled 2 bags and was frustrated (6oz each). So then I found that Ameda has this pump into bag system. You buy an extra package that contains 20 Ameda milk storage bags, 2 attachment that you screw onto your flanges. Well, I thought this was pretty dang awesome, and it was, except that the Ameda bags were this crunchy hard plastic that didn't really expand well while pumping. I had to get enough weight in milk and kind of hold the bag open so it would shoot right back up and out. So I improvised again, the Lanisoh bags so far are my favorite because of the volume they can hold. Again, I pump 6 or more per breast, so this was why I preferred them. They are a softer plastic so expanding wasn't a problem like the Ameda ones, and the Ameda ones are 5 oz with an easy pour spout. If only Ameda were a little bigger and softer plastic, I would continue using them. The only problem I found with the Lanisoh is that after freezing, somehow they would puncture and I wouldn't know until I thawed out the milk. So what I did was used a letter opener or knife or sharp pen to puncture a hole where the attachments of the Ameda bag pump system held in place and pumped directly in the bags. That part never comes in contact with the milk so I didn't worry about getting ink punching holes with a pen. It was awesome and so I would pump into these bags and take it home to freeze and thaw out the older milk.

Then I got even lazier. I was tired of making sure I had to have certain bags thawed the night before, as well as throw away any extra bottles Mara didn't drink at daycare. (Breastmilk is good for only 24 hours after thawing)I was mad at the waste, so then I decided to give Mara my fresh supply and just keep the frozen stuff for weening. I decided this when Mara was 4 months, so my milk supply in the freezer would be 2 months old when she hit 6 months. (Frozen milk is good 3-4 months after freezing). So then I started to pump into bottles again and feed her directly from that, if there were any extra bottles at daycare, I told them to keep it for the next day. Convenient for me! Eventually my milk supply went down to something a little more normal where I am still an extra bottle ahead of Mara.

Diaper Reviews

Just a brief overview of my thoughts on diapers.

Pampers Swaddlers - Hospital sent us 2 packs of these when we left for home and I got a coupon for 1 jumbo pack for free from Diapers.com. Well being these were the first ones I tried out, I wasn't sure what to expect. They did their job and didn't give my baby a diaper rash. All the mothers I have spoken to had told me Pampers gives their babies horrible rashes. Luckily, Mara had no issues with them and I ended up liking these the best. Pampers tend to have Sesame Street characters on it, except for the sensitive brand. I only preferred the sensitive brand because of the cute, non-bright colors of the characters/artwork on it. It's more pastel. Also Swaddlers Sensitive has this yellow line that turns blue when the baby pees, so you can measure if she's in a really soaked diaper. Overall, I preferred these diapers out of all that we have tried because of no issues with leaks, diaper rash and has contained Poomageddons well.

Huggies Snugglers - When I held her to nurse her, I kept getting wet. Thinking it was me, I set her down and there was a wet puddle under her booty, so these diapers leaked on me bad. I had to return whatever was given to me to get more Pampers. And I"m not a big Winnie the Pooh fan, and these diapers are all about Winnie the Pooh

Pampers Baby Dry - These diapers look just like diapers with sesame street. The difference with Swaddlers and these is that Swaddlers are more soft, and in my opinion a little more roomier. These did the job well too, I just prefer the softer Swaddlers over these cause I felt I didn't have to upgrade diaper size as fast.

Up&Up (Target Brand) - The crotch area is too narrow, and the diapers have blue and green dots (size 2 ) all over it. I don't mind the designs on it, I think its kind of cute but I didn't like the narrow crotch. Just made me think of the impending Poomageddon that would leak through.

Luvs - They aren't bad, they are more plastic and crinkly sounding that most the diapers I tried but I felt they held up as well as Pampers Baby Dry. And the design is Blues Clues, which I like. Fits also like Pampers Baby Dry, so if you tried those out, then you aren't getting much of a difference but price on fit here.

Parent's Choice (Walmart brand) - I think these also do the job well, they are designed like Pampers Baby Dry, and by design, I mean not leak protection or whatever, but the fit.

Babies R Us Supreme - I just tried out Babies R Us Supreme diapers because I had a coupon for it. Wow, these are so awesome for the price. It's soft and not diaper sounding, no scent (though I don't mind scented diapers) and the elastic tabs work well too. Overall, I think I found a new favorite.