The Story Of Power Pumping

In my previous post, i wrote about power pumping that can boost breastmilk output. So i've been practicing this power pumping method for three days during office hour. *because once i got home, i couldn't practice power pumping since Asha attached on me all night* Before practicing this method, i pumped 2-3 times a day at office. Mostly i only managed to pump twice a day, because i was busy *not with job but with enchanted site and blog* Hehe.. :p

Image from here, because i don't want to put my photo here :p

Started on monday i struggled to pump 4-5 times a day at office. Tough in power pumping it said that you have to pump for 20-30 minutes every hour. Yes, every hour! Ofcourse i can't do it at office and still it wasn't easy for me to pump every 2-3 hours. But i did :D

On monday i gained 300 ml breastmilk, on Tuesday i gained 295 ml. I wasn't very satisfied with the result because i was expecting more than that. Before Asha was sick and started her meal, i could get at least 300 ml *or even more* a day from 3 times pumping. How come after practicing power pumping i gained less breastmilk than usual? But i refused to give up because i want to give Asha the best i could give, breastmilk.

On third day *today*, i feel that finally it works on me. I pumped 2 times and i gained 190 ml, nearly 100 ml per pump. Almost back to normal result. Yeaayy! I'm so confident that i can bring more breastmilk fo Asha today. I'm so happy, i wanna dance! :D

Image from here. I hope my freezer full of bottles of expressed breastmilk again soon

Here i want to share my tips on practicing power pumping,

- The poin is, never give up. Tough at first i don't get the result as i expected, just don't give up. Keep pumping. It will show the result for sure.

- Keep positive thinking. Believe that your body is on its way to increase breastmilk production.

- Be grateful on every result you get

- Increase your pumping schedule, if necessary you can pump every hour. Or it's still okay i guess if you only able to pump 2-3 hours a day like me.
*oh i don't even pump 2-3 hours a day, only during office hour, but it still works*

- Play some music to make you relax.
*i put my headphone and play my mp3 list or listen to the radio during pumping session. i pump my breast in 1,5-2 songs each. i don't get bored and have enough time to pump each breast. don't change pumping breast often in short period of time, the result won't maximum*

- Don't be too cc oriented. Just ignore the cc bars on your bottle, it will make you stress and it will affect the result. Try not to stare at cc bars. Enjoy your pumping momment, enjoy the music playing, and viola... more breastmilk in bottle.

- Be strict on schedule. Don't let yourself leave one pumping time. This time you have to be more discipline.

- Drink a lot of water

- Eat nutricious food and supplement.
*for supplement i take two spoons of date concentrate and 2 glasses of soya milk a day*

Enjoy your power pumping experience and good luck :D

And Then After 6 Months

The biggest achievment for me as a mom that i want to reward myself with something (or should i ask my hubby to reward me?) was finishing Asha's "almost" exclusively breastfed for the past 6 months. Kenapa saya bilang almost exclusively breastfed? Karena alasan ini nih :

- Asha did drink some formulated milk for three days at hospital right after she was born (i don't know how could i be so stupid by letting them gave the formulated milk to Asha?). Walaupun selama 3 hari itu during the day Asha was breastfed tapi waktu malam dia tidur di ruangan bayi karena harus masuk inkubator untuk menjaga tubuh kecilnya tetap hangat. Nah di ruang bayi itulah si suster2 itu minumin susu formula ke Asha. Huhu..

- Asha started her first meal earlier than it supposed to be. Soalnya hari pertama Asha makan itu harusnya adalah 11 Juni 2012, which is hari rabu. Sedangkan hari rabu adalah hari kerja, jadi saya majuin waktu makannya dari hari minggu. Because i wanted to be the first person who gave Asha solid food, i wanted to see her million dollar expressions when i fed her, i wanted to make sure that it was a good experience for her, i wanted to make example for my aunt on how to prepare Asha meal.  

Jadi kayanya Asha ga fully exclusively breastfed, but she almost exclusively breastfed. Hehe.. :D

Then after 6 months struggling with breast pump, cooler bag, calculating ASIP stock in freezer, and so on, ternyata produksi ASI saya cenderung berkurang sodara-sodaraaa. Cari info sana-sini ternyata memang kalo  bayi udah mulai makan, maka produksi ASI akan cenderung berkurang. Huhu.. Paniikk rasanya liat cadangan botol ASIP cuma tinggal 3 biji aja di freezer. When it used to be 15 bottles left on freezer, today it last only 3 bottles. Nangis2 lah saya semalem di depan hubby.

At office i can pump 3 times a day so i can bring 3 bottles of ASIP @100 ml to home. At home i pump one more time and i can get 1 more bottle. But Asha needs 5 bottles a day to fulfil her hunger. I used to get the extra bottles from ASIP stock in freezer. But now, my ASIP stock only 3 bottles left. Sekarang saya benar-benar bingung!

Ditengah2 kebingungan saya (dan hampir menyerah sama susu formula), saya nemuin artikel bagus ini di TUM. The power of pumping! Ternyata dengan niat, semangat, positive thinking, dan usaha mompa tiada henti, produksi ASI bisa meningkat. After i read the article last night together with hubby, we both optimist that i able to provide ASI for Asha. It's all about how i manage my time to pump more often than before. I don't want to give up.Yes i can! 

Hari ini saya langsung praktekin teknik the power of pumping itu. Walaupun ga mungkin bisa mompa sejam sekali, at least saya berusaha untuk meningkatkan frekuensi mompa di kantor. Dari 3 kali (itu pun seringnya cuma jadi 2 kali doang karena keasikan kerja atau browsing) menjadi 4 kali sehari. And i won't let myself to skip the schedule. So far sudah dapt 230 ml hasil dari 3 kali mompa. Mudah2an hari ini dan seterusnya bisa bawa 450 ml ASIP ke rumah. Amiinn..