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My Breastfeeding Journey with Annie


Well, it’s breastfeeding babe ROUND TWO! I don’t know if I’m alone in saying this but round two was DEFINITELY easier than the first time. If I only had one piece of advice this time around it would be supply and demand. With Leo I was following so many different blogs, rules, ideas, and schedules! To be honest, it kind of drove me crazy and looking back I’m certain ANY fussy times he did have … he was probably hungry … wahhh!!! This time around, I’m following the 2.5/3 hour rule … however, I follow a few of my own rules as well!!

My Journey

At about 3 months, I never wake her to feed. I let her sleep which means sometimes at night she’s sleeping 7 hours (yahhh! I’ll explain more on that later!), and during the day in the car or at home sometimes she will go up to 4 hours without eating. She’s happy, RARELY fussy and gaining weight well so that works for us! We also follow the EAT, AWAKE, SLEEP rule … which means I don’t nurse her to sleep. I learned that while sleep training Leo, it basically teaches them not to rely on food for sleep, which in turn helps them self sooth back to sleep better.

Jillian Harris Breastfeeding Update

We haven’t started tracking nap times yet but I’ve noticed a pretty consistent routine with Annie. She usually wakes, feeds, and then about 45 minutes to an hour later … starts to fuss. It’s at that time that everyone looks at me and says … I think she’s hungry (who else is so annoyed when other people tell you to feed your baby?! LOL) but that is the exact time she starts to get ready for her snooze. and then we start the cycle all over again.

In terms of keeping up supply, I have to admit, when I’m working (I had to go back to work when she was only 6 weeks old!!) my supply pretty much stopped on the spot. When I’m home with her or travelling I have no supply issues. I even pump every 2.5 hours but when I’m not with her, my body kind of tells me “no baby, no milk”.

Jillian Harris Breastfeeding Update

How I Keep My Supply Up

I try to incorporate as much of the following as I can to keep my supply up:

    • LOTS of water
    • High-fat diet (such as avocado, high grain bread, nuts and seeds and lots of nut spreads (cashews for the win!), coconut milk, lentils, peas, peanut butter, and olive oil)
    • Lots of grains (such as oatmeal, flax, quinoa)
    • Happy Planet Coconut Pineapple Smoothie (this is one of my faves and Leo starts his day with it EVERYDAY, so high in fat with the coconut milk!)
    • Fenugreek Supplements
    • Calcium Supplements

Another thing that happened because Annie started sleeping through the night, and there were a few days where we used expressed milk and I skipped a feed (hello, holiday parties!) my body basically told me I was done breastfeeding and I got my period (before she was 3 months)!! I guess that sometimes happens but its a snowball effect because then your body REALLY has a tough time producing (at least mine did). So I got a prescription for “Domperidone” and that helped almost immediately!

A week after my period things resumed back to normal, I only take the Domperidone about twice a day (instead of the prescribed every 4 hours) and I seem to be back on track. I am also travelling with Annie right now so my body senses her presence, so there are no problems. I suspect when I start work again (or travel without her … I’ll have to do an entirely new blog on that!!) that I might have to start taking it more regularly and getting back on the Fenugreek / Calcium and water regimen again.

Jillian Harris Breastfeeding UpdateJillian Harris Breastfeeding Update

My Frozen Expressed Supply

As soon as my milk came in, I started to pump the “other breast” after every feed especially in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning when the supply is the highest. After I received my Haaka breast pump I started using that in the middle of the night and during every “at home feed” and was able to store almost 300 ounces of milk before 6 weeks!!!

Now, I use the Haaka only whenI’mm at home in the middle of the night and during the first-morning feed and I’m able to put away 1 full extra feed a day into the freezer. If I find I’m at home and have a good supply I’ll use the Haaka more than once in a day which means more milk in the freezer. That milk gets used when I go to work, and I also pump and freeze whenI’mm at work … so that means my freezer supply keeps growing!

I suspect I’ll start to wean her off close to a year or sooner … and we will continue to use that milk as needed over the next year, if I have a dip in my supply, decide to drink more than usual or go on a trip without Annie. I’m taking my mom on a cruise and will be gone for almost a week, so it’s nice knowing I have that supply there while I’m gone.

Jillian Harris Breastfeeding Update

That’s about all I can think of right now … I imagine I will get more questions from the above so I’ll try to add to this blog as I see the questions come in!

Also, here is a blog I posted shortly after Leo which might also give some valuable tips and tricks. Another blog I find I visit often is KELLYMOM …. good luck!!!

OH … and if all of the above doesn’t work for you … I am a believer that fed is best!! Don’t stress yourself out too much … I did this with Leo and stopped at 5 months … I regret stressing out so much!

xo

Jilly


Leave a Reply

  1. Great tips! I’m pregnant with my second now and wondering how you keep Annie awake after a feeding for the Eat Wake Sleep schedule.
    I tried it late with my first little one and I couldn’t keep him awake! Any tips?

  2. She’s darling – they both are! I had twins first (I nursed, pumped, and supplemented in whatever configuration worked as we went along to ten months) and then a single baby (only nursed/pumped, and still nurse 2x daily), and having some frame of reference eased SO much anxiety the second go around, as did managing the needs of one infant instead of two. I wish I’d done more eat/awake/sleep with her, as #3 is definitely my trickiest sleeper, but now that she’s twenty months, I suspect a lot of that is her own personality, too. I really appreciated the KellyMom site, too!

  3. Hey Jill, first let me say I think your commitment is commendable! However I used domperidone with my kids and then was informed by two different docs that it is really hard on your heart if taken for a prolonged amount of time (more than two weeks)… Please be careful! Xo (also fenugreek made me stink so bad omg I didn’t want to leave the house!!)

  4. Were you able to use your Haaka like a manual breast pump ? I’ve been excited to try it when baby comes ever since you started talking about it … did you ever find that with Leo or Annie that they fed off both breasts ???

  5. Can you do a post on the Eat Awake Asleep method? I have a 4 week old that nurses to sleep… definitely interested to know more

    1. Rebecca, you should check out the book “Babywise” if you are interested in Eat, Wake, Sleep. It explains it all and has helpful schedules and examples for getting your baby on track. I lived and breathed by it with my first baby. I was probably a little too intense about it, but it was the only thing that kept me sane. Good luck! 🙂

    2. Try referencing the Moms on Call book. It’s available on Amazon. The best $20 I ever spent! Helps with sleeping and feeding. My son was sleeping through the night at 12 weeks. Plus, it’s a super quick read. I think it took me an hour to read the entire thing. I didn’t like Babywise because it was too complicated and the book was way too long. Good luck!

  6. We had our second munchkins a few weeks apart, and it has been so great to follow your journey and story as it progresses at a similar pace to my own. Unfortunately breastfeeding has been more difficult with my second than my first, and I stopped right at 3 months, so your last comment certainly meant a lot, because I have been so heard on myself. Take care 🙂

  7. “It’s at that time that everyone looks at me and says … I think she’s hungry (who else is so annoyed when other people tell you to feed your baby?! LOL)” YES! YES! YES! This was totally my experience. As a first time mom I felt so overwhelmed when that moment hit and everyone looked at me. It was a low moment. My MIL told me that I should look into getting the fat content of my milk checked because maybe it wasn’t high enough since he was crying and I just had to walk out of the room! I’m feeling more confident this time around with my second baby due in April, but I still remember those newborn days (& nights!) very well.

  8. When did you start introducing a bottle for Annie to take your expressed milk? Did she take it easily?
    With my first, everywhere I read and all the advice I got said to wait at least a month to avoid nipple confusion and by that time she was so used to the breast that I never succeeded in having her take a bottle if I wanted to get away. Expecting my 2nd in 5 weeks and hoping to be able introduce a bottle to this little one for those times. Any suggestion are appreciated!

  9. We have the haakaa and love it too! I have an 8 week old little girl and a 2.5 year old girl and this time around has definitely been easier but also much different. Im gonna try to use the haakaa in the middle of the night for feeds to see if I can get more because some days has been a struggle to get much milk in there during the day. Thanks for the tip! I’m also curious what tops you prefer to nurse in! How many ounces would you say Annie eats now at each feed? I can never tell! Thanks for sharing this!!

  10. My baby currently nurses before sleep and I don’t know how to turn to eat, play, sleep. I’m worried it will change her sleeping through the night. And I guess I got into it because like you, every time she cries, everyone will give her yo me yo say she’s hungry. So I feed her.

    Right now she’s nursing and sleeping as I’m about to put her down for the night.

  11. Well I think i am doing everything wrong. I do feed my baby to sleep. She does wake up in the night so i am very interested to know how you put Annie to sleep.

    My mother is always telling me to feed her… even though i just fed her something else must be bothering her.

    Babies are so stressful! I also can’t believe you were able to go back to work at 6 weeks 🙁 I could never have done that.

    1. There are so many ways to do mothering “right” because every baby is different! Just because you’re not doing things exactly the same as Jillian doesn’t mean you’re doing things “wrong” and I know she would agree 🙂
      My son really struggled with sleep and the eat awake sleep routine did not work for us, no matter how hard I tried! The only thing that calmed him down enough to make him sleepy was breastfeeding and snuggles with me, and biologically that totally makes sense right! So yes he was a crappy sleeper for a long time and woke up in the night and I had to feed him but I totally believe that was just him and his personality…once I accepted that and stopped looking up ways to “fix” that on google my life got so much easier.

    2. So great to hear another breastfeeding journey. Every mom’s journey is so different and unique, and everyone will have different goals. Something different works for everyone. I still nurse my 17 month old to sleep which is also totally normal and works for us. For me it’s important that nursing is a comfort for my little one and not just nutrition, so on demand has worked for us and has helped our breastfeeding relationship last as long as it has so far (I plan to continue until she’s ready to stop). But again, everyone has different goals, and that’s OK! And I agree that Kelly Mom is a wonderful resource!

  12. Yes – I hated hearing “I think she’s hungry!” Haha. Nursing was so much easier with my second baby. I was also better with my second about putting him down awake rather than nursing to sleep. Everyone says to out the baby down “drowsy but awake” but that never worked — by the time they’re drowsy, they are fussy to out down! But one thing I discovered that was a lightbulb moment was that he had a sign of him getting tired before he was noticeably drowsy. I forget what it was – I think he started kicking his feet and looking a certain way – but I realized he did it before he’d yawn for the first time. It was a game-changer when we discovered it. It was like a secret sign that he was starting to wind down before he was actually drowsy to the point of yawning or being fussy.

  13. Hey! You’ve mentioned using Rumina products to improve supply – did you stop using it or was it not helpful? I’d love your feedback on your experience with their products!

  14. Try taking a video or a voice recording of Annie crying when she’s hungry. Then if you play it when she’s not there and you need to pump it will help your body think she’s closer!

  15. How do you use the Hakaa while feeding on the other breast? I try, but baby is in the way and knocks it off. Are you feeding in a different position?

  16. Hi Jillian

    Question about using the pacifier, did your sleep trainer say it was okay to give before sleep training commences? Just wondering as I’m thinking about using it for my 4 week old but don’t want to create sleep associations for sleep training down the road.

    Thanks!

  17. Do you use Rumina Milk Aplenty? I remember seeing a post you had on it and read some great reviews so just ordered it before baby 2 arrives. Struggled a lot with my first too so was hoping it would help with supply.

  18. My heart always breaks a bit to read that self-soothing is something that can be taught. That’s like saying swimming can be taught by throwing someone into a pool and they be “forced” to swim. Seriously! I mean maybe this is judgmental but the whole self-soothe thing drives me bananas, is not based on ANY SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE and is harmful to human babies! Just image a gorilla or a monkey teaching their baby to “self soothe” by leaving them alone in the forest – they would never do that to their baby! We are just glorified monkeys. So yes maybe I am judging but sometimes judging is required for the good of humanity… sigh

  19. What methods do you use to put Annie to sleep for her naps? My 11-week old son eats around the clock and almost always falls asleep at the end of a feed but has a hard time going down otherwise during the day. Fortunately, he does okay overnight although I am still getting up for a middle of the night feed and a (very) early morning feed. I keep trying to get him on a eat, play, sleep schedule but it is more like eat, play, eat, sleep. Thanks!

  20. great blog post. I’m a lactation consultant and always enjoy reading different breastfeeding journeys. On demand is the best way to breast feed for most babies. After all, a baby doesn’t know its been 2 or 3 hours-they just know they want to eat. Kellymom.com is an amazing evidence-based breastfeeding website. Lots of great information. Thanks so much for sharing your journey.

  21. LOVED reading this Jill!! I absolutely love all of your family, birth and postpartum blog posts.

    Thank you for always posting relatable content ❤️

    1. Jillian, God Bless you and your perfect family. You are an inspiration to everyone following all of the successful achievements
      you have made both in Vancouver as well as
      Kelowna ! …wish you all the very best!!

      L U

  22. Hey Jillian!!

    Thank you for doing a post on this!! We sleep trained our eldest as well, so I don’t want to fall into the habit of nursing my newborn to sleep… but I’m not sure how to put her to sleep otherwise? She naturally falls asleep nursing most of the time! What do you do for Annie? Have you not nursed her to sleep since the beginning?

    Thank you!!

  23. Hello. Looking for a “c” pendant for my daughter. I’m in Toronto. Any ideas who carries these letter pendants here?

  24. Domperidone helped me, too! It was so, so helpful! Glad your journey is going well, mama! Question – do you pump only one side and use the Haakaa on the other side exclusively? Or use the Haakaa on the side that you aren’t pumping?

  25. Kelly mom is the best!! I also had to go on domperidone. I had such envy of your haaka stories when you first started using it! My supply was always so abismal. Better luck next time hopefully!

  26. I was watching on instagram story when you were advertising some kind of pills to increase milk supply not fenugreek, also that expensive Willow double pump, and nothing is there in this blog! Why recommend people to buy it if it doesn’t work. And you used regular fenugreek pills and regular cheap pump?

  27. Hello,
    I’m just curious what bottle you use for Annie. I have had to supplement and now my little one is having major nipple confusion which is very frustrating. Was curious if you had these issues?
    Thanks

  28. Hi Jillian, Thanks so much for sharing this journey. It’s so helpful for a new mom like me to read about another mom’s experience. I’m struggling with low milk supply currently, and noticed that for your first baby, Leo, you used Milk Aplenty by Rumina Naturals, and with your second baby, Annie, you used a fenugreek supplement. Was there any reason for the switch? Would you recommend one more than the other? Would love to hear your response, and look forward to trying some new healthy recipes from your cookbook! Thanks, k

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