Wow Wee!

Thus was my reaction when I did a recent 'stock count' of my milk production. 260 ounces in the freezer, 12 ounces in the fridge. That's a total of 272 ounces since I got my Medela Freestyle pump (absolutely love it!!!) when Alyssa was 6 weeks old. She's turning 15 weeks tomorrow and that marks the 9th week of my electric pumping journey

Looking back at the days prior to the pump, I had a manual Medela one which required 40 minutes of non stop squeezing on the lever to yield a total of 2 ounces of milk! I religiously did that for a whole 6 weeks, round the clock, every 2 hours. How I managed to remain sane? God's grace! I remember praying before each pump, for God to bless my factories and enable them to do what they were made to do. 9 weeks down the line, my freezer is living testimony of His providence and grace! =)

Now I get an average of 5-7 ounces per pump session if I pump every 4 hours. Some days I get busy and stretch it to a 6 hour gap, I can get up to 10 ounces. So far the record has been 11 ounces! *clap clap*. I run the pump for an average of 6 sessions per day, so that's an average of 30 ounces minimum per day. So far Alyssa drinks about 24-26 ounces per day. Still hoping for her to up her intake.

With the pumping routine well established, I've set a goal to keep providing her breastmilk till she's 1. Still haven't worked out when I'll start cutting down on pumps sessions to wean my factories off.

Which then brings me to the next issue - solids!!! I first got excited when Karlyn's mom bought me a baby recipe book! Browsing through the many recipes got me all excited!! So what occupies whatever free time I have now is reading up about solids. From what I can gather, 6 months is a good time to start. Introducing solids too early has its risks. So, as it stands, 6 months is the mark.

What I especially like about the whole breast pumping and solid food making scenario, is the great sense of achievement gained from being able to provide for my daughter. I am really amazed at God's design. The more I read about pureeing, the greater my delight! I'm getting goosebumps just typing this! But that said, I've read that some moms really dislike the pureeing stage. Only way for me to find out is when Alyssa gets to 6 months and I try it out on my own.