Win-Win

July 1, 2012 by Courtney 4 Comments

We have begun the weaning process. I am logging our progress here. I have read a few posts from other bloggers that gave me the courage to bite the bullet and not come up with yet another excuse to not start today. HA!

I just revisited my milk tracking spreadsheet to see how much of a supply we have built up. This spreadsheet was my main motivator when I was pumping – it kept me on track and focused on the end goal. If I felt like skipping a pumping, I would open up this spreadsheet and remind myself that keeping the “average per day yield” up was paramount to our success. I had an end goal in mind, and I’m proud to say that we have exceeded that by a long shot!

As of this moment, I have 1034.5 ounces of breast milk in my freezer. Counting the pumped milk he’s already consumed, I pumped a total of 1,301 .75 ounces. That just sounds insane!

When I started out on our breastfeeding journey, my goal was to get to 3 months before re-evaluating. We got to three months quite easily (after that difficult initial 6-8 weeks) and then I said that the goal was 6 months. Then, 9 months. Then, 1 year. As my goals got extended, so did our freezer stash. This was a win-win situation!

Matthew will have breast milk until September 10th or a bit later. I figure I’ll have to start introducing whole milk at the beginning of September so that he has a smooth transition to that, so I bet that pushes us out until September 12th or 13th. This makes me happy because that means he will have had breast milk exclusively for the first 14.5 months of his life.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Breast feeding WIN!*

* (Prior to our IF struggles, I never planned to breastfeed. I was going to pump exclusively for three months and be done with it. Oh, how times change!)

Author: Courtney

Hi, there, I’m Courtney. I never planned to stay home with my kids, but I got sucked into motherhood when my first baby came into our lives after years of infertility and multiple rounds of IVF. His brother followed closely behind, something we didn’t plan on after having such a rough road with achieving parenthood the first time around. My boys are IVF cycle twins, conceived on the same day but born two years and one day apart (they were both transferred on the same day in October, but with two years between them). My boys are the best of friends and my husband is a terrific husband, father, and most importantly… friend. He fully supported my desire to stay home (“I just wanted it to be your idea and not mine, I totally want you to stay home and raise our kids!”) and encourages me in everything I do. I am a lover of projects, spreadsheets, fitness, healthy cooking and eating, crafts, selling my stuff on FB (HA!), and the outdoors. If I’m active, I’m pretty darn happy!

4 thoughts on “Win-Win”

nobabyruth
July 2, 2012 at 7:04 am

Holy crap! That is an INSANE freezer stash. WOW!! I’m really impressed!

I really hope that the weaning goes smoothly. I’ll be keeping an eye on you and on how it goes. I’m not ready to wean just yet, but I’m already down to just the two nursing session each day.

J o s e y
July 2, 2012 at 8:51 am

Wow, that is such an awesome stash. Even with pumping every single day since 4 weeks, I only have 100oz at almost 7 months. *sigh* I just have never had much of an oversupply. Good for you!!!

I look forward to see how your weaning process goes.

- Courtney
  July 2, 2012 at 12:05 pm
  
  I worked my ass off on that stash – because I told myself that I would have 2 months worth before I even started nursing. It was an insane goal, but a goal nonetheless. I don’t think I’ll work that hard at it for the next baby. I was a crazy woman early on about it because I thought I would keep working and needed it for daycare. Because we didn’t use it for daycare, I had a nice head start. I won’t be so lucky next time!
  
SRB
July 2, 2012 at 1:32 pm

Holy crackers! You’re planning never ceases to amaze me. And your resolve – I quit pumping months ago. I was just so over it, and didn’t think long term. Fail!

🙂