You Made It5:00 AM. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. 

Ah, the sound of your early morning alarm going off. First question of the day, before you even open your eyes… Do you hit the snooze button or roll out of bed and face the day? Decisions, decisions and some mornings are harder than others.

Yes, most of us would rather choose the snooze button (one or two times), but you know the latter is the way to go. You know that a snooze button can result in a hangry baby and/or a very wet nightshirt. Getting up is the option you choose every morning, especially because you are breastfeeding. You get up and face the day, knowing we all have the same 24 hours. Some days you feel defeated before you even start the day but you know this is the only “me” time you can squeeze in. 

Do you choose an early morning workout, watch the news, scroll social media or meditate? Whatever you choose, most mornings include brewing a cup of coffee (or chai or tea or whatever gets you going in the early morning hours). At this point you are hunting for something to eat with your morning caffeine fix: be it cereal, yogurt, peanut butter bread, a breakfast bar, ice cream, last night’s leftovers that you never finished (imagine that!). Aaaaahhhhh, just a few moments of quiet bliss before the babe (or babes) wake up and the day begins. 

Sound familiar? You are not alone. 

We are all balancing our day to day. For some of us we have to add in the layer of breastfeeding or pumping to our already crazy routines. Knowing you are ‘stopping’ or limited in your day to mobility can cause huge amounts of stress. Now don’t get us wrong – we are huge advocates of breast milk – after all we are a lactation cookie company. But we do understand and can relate to the stress of having a baby or pump attached to your boob/boobs limiting what you can accomplish during that time. We can especially relate to those mom’s that have low milk supply and it takes longer to feed or pump. 

Here are five tips that our moms use that can help you lessen your stress and produce more milk. 

  1.  Do what you can, when you can. Leave the rest for tomorrow, no one is judging. 
  2.  Don’t just grab anything in the morning. Start your day with a protein packed breakfast or snack, known to help support milk production, like our cookies (packed with peanut butter and protein) or our lactation granola. 
  3.  Save activities/chores for when you are not as mobile. Of course feeding is great quality time with the baby, but sometimes you have to reply to an email or text or read through mail that’s piling up – and that’s OK! For our pumping moms, we have found portable pumps with bra attachments are great for vacuuming, mopping the floors or playing board games with the older kids. 
  4.  Drink more water. Seriously, it will help with milk supply.
  5.  Don’t forget to build in YOU time. You deserve it.

So, no matter what your situation is, just remember this: at the end of the day…

YOU MADE IT!
YOU WERE SUCCESSFUL!
YOU DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB!
YOU ARE A WARRIOR MOM!

And no matter how insignificant, unwanted, unappreciated you may be feeling at times, remember you have a little one who loves you unconditionally and who NEEDS you, who WANTS you (even when words can’t express that). And they are worth getting up every morning. 

*This post was inspired by Meggie Peg’s original post.