The Pumping Diet

Recently the one of the best people in the world, Jenna, had her first baby. Jenna is one of the best people in the world because she introduced me to Trey, and helped set us up on our first date. Jenna's little boy was born 8 weeks early I believe and she has been pumping breastmilk for him. Which is a noble and very difficult pursuit. I know I did it for 14 months. It takes a certain kind of crazy to pump breastmilk hence why most people don't do it when nursing fails them. I'm so proud of Jenna for being as crazy as me and to help I'm posting the diet I used to help keep my milk going.

Water! 2 quarts (8 cups) is what is recommended for the regular person, for nursing and pumping moms we are talking closer to a gallon. Yes that is a lot. I suggest investing in a nice water bottle that is easy to use one handed so you can just hold it all the time until you get used to drinking that much. Once you are used to your new intake level you will seek it out a little bit. The downside is you will have to go to the bathroom more. Especially as you are trying to build up your breastmilk levels water is crucial.





Meet your new favorite food- Oatmeal. Oatmeal is a fantastic source of whey which builds milk supply. Now oatmeal as a cereal
is best. Rolled oats, steel cut, and flavored packets all worked the same for me. Oatmeal cookies and oatmeal cream pies were a great desert too.
 

Yummy, green, and great for milk supply it's Avocados.
Fresh, sliced, creamed, or even as guacamole, eat up and enjoy. Some woman it takes 12 hours to see improvement others its a day or so. Either way all those healthy fats should help your system make some wonderful food for baby.

Are you ready to go nuts? Well try some almonds on for size. That's right almonds can help with production too. Grab a handful as a snack or have a smoothie made with almond milk. Yes you can even get the chocolate almond milk, it will still work. Oooo how about some sliced almonds on a salad, I'm starting to get hungry. :)

Now that you are sick of water how about something new to drink, Ovaltine. Now it has to be the name brand on this stuff. I have yet to find another brand that uses whey in the their ingredients. And since whey is what we need to increase supply well the other brands don't do any good. You can use the original malt, malted chocolate or milk chocolate. They all have it. It's winter time so make your hot chocolate out of Ovaltine. A yummy treat with a purpose.

Not a fan of Ovaltine pick up any brand of Whey Protein Powder. Add it too your milk shakes, mac and cheese, smoothies, or just mix and drink in milk. Whey Protein Powder maybe easier and cheaper to find depending on where you are. Or maybe your significant other once was a body builder and there is still a jar sitting on top of your fridge. Open it up start using it.

Still want/need more? Try these supplements, Fenugreek, or Malanga. Fenugreek is cheaper and a little easier to find. It will be at most heath food stores. It can make some people smell like maple syrup. But there are worse things in the world. Malanga is a little harder to find and tends to be more expensive, it does tend to have a greater results. The choice is up to you based or your needs and what you can do.

 When you are pumping make sure you over pump. Milk is based a lot on supply and demand and since pumping is not nearly as effective as nursing you have to trick your body into making more. So once it looks like you are empty and nothing else is coming out leave the pump on for a couple minutes more for the extra stimulation. Trust me you'd rather have too much hanging out in the freezer for a growth spurt than not enough.




Lastly snuggle. Carry, hold and snuggle your baby a lot. Even if
you aren't nursing having baby close can help keep your body in tune with baby's needs. Not to mention it just fun to hold those squish little ones.



Okay now to put it all together this is what a normal day looked like for me.
Breakfast: A giant bowl of Oatmeal. usually about 1 cup or oats. Cooled down with a little Almond milk
Snack: Smoothie with Whey Powder
Lunch: Whatever we had planed
Nap-time: Snuggling with Squeaker
Dinner: Quesadilla with Guacamole
Snack: Oatmeal Cream Pies, Almond milk with Ovaltine

That was what I did at the worst of times. During the good times I wasn't nearly as strict. I got to a point where I only pump 2-4 times a day. I just made sure the fore milk (the thin watery stuff) was mixed with the hind milk (the thick creamy stuff). That way Squeaker was getting good balanced milk all the time. Which when a child is nursing happens normally.

As a side note I used the 8,8,8 rule for milk storage
8 hours out of the body
8 days in the fridge
8 months in the deep freeze
I pumped directly into the bottles Squeaker drank out of. Only if we were traveling did they not make it into the fridge right away. Then if they had been there for 6-7 days I would put about 15 oz into a glass canning jar and put it in the bottom of our deep freeze. There it would stay until needed, or time for rotation. Once frozen and then thawed milk cannot be re-frozen. Also NEVER EVER EVER harshly shake breast milk. It will speed the break down of all that is good which means less for baby.

Hope it helps!

Kool Aid Play Dough

Here's the recipe:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 package Kool-Aid (unsweetened)
3 tbsp oil
1 cup boiling water

Put dry ingredients in a bowl. Add oil, then boiling water. Mix with a wooden spoon as much as you can, and then use your hands to knead it all together. Have some extra flour handy so you can add it if the dough is too sticky. Warning -- the dough will be hot (duh, boiling water) so you might want to have some cold water running nearby to cool your hands.

I used two packages of Kool-Aid for more vibrant color. It makes it smell yummy, instead of doughy.

This came from Nell my sweet sister in law. I LOVE IT! Pretty easy, smells great and when stored in ziplocs bags or containers it lasts a long time. Squeaker has been playing with the first set I made for about 3 months now. :)

Dinner Tonight

Burger Sandwiches and Homemade French Fries

Burger Sandwich

--Sandwich Bread

--Burger Patti

--Tomatoes

--Letucce

--Mayonaise

--Cheese

Honestly it's just a burger how ever you want it on regular sandwich bread. Here are my reasons for choosing sandwich bread. 1) I had it on hand. 2) They are not as tall so it's easier for little hands to hold 3) Cheaper.

Homemade French Fries

--Potatoes

--Aluminum Foil

--Cooking Spray

--Baking Sheet

--Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F

Wash your potatoes, peal if desired (I don't). Then cut the potatoes in the desired shape. I use the Pampered Chef Fry Cutter. In my opinion if you use it more than once it is well worth the price. 

On your baking sheet lay down the aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. You don't have to use the foil it just makes for a much easier clean up. Once your baking sheet is ready to go place your potato slices on in a single layer. Lightly salt and pepper. Put baking sheet in preheated oven. Set timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes increase heat to 450, turn fries, and bake another 10 minutes. 

The same process works for sweet potatoes to make sweet potato fries, which are yummy with cinnamon instead of salt and pepper.

Extra Calories Part I

A friend of a cousin was looking for ideas to increase their "petite" child's calories. I was going to write and e-mail with everything I could think of then I remembered I have an awesome blog I can put the information on :) For this post I'm sticking mostly to high calorie foods. There is a little too much information for my brain to write in one post.

Of course a good place to start by getting extra calories is buying high calorie snacks. I'm listing name brands so everyone knows what I'm talking about. Most store brands tend to be very close in calorie count. 
Here are some decently healthy options. Most of calories come from carbs or protein not all fat.
Cheez-It Crackers- 27 Crackers (~1/2 cup) 150 calories
Keebler Club Crackers- 4 Crackers (~1/3 cup) 70 calories
Triscuit Crackers- 13 Crackers (~1/2 cup) 120 calories
Wheat Thins- 15 Crackers (~1/4 cup) 140 calories
Cheddar Cheese- 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup) 80 calories
Plain Hummus- 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup) 80 calories
         -Homemade hummus is about the same calories 

This make some great snacks and the crackers of course toss into a bag for outings. I prefer to put out snacks in container instead of a bag. That way the crackers don't get smashed or I end up with crumbs everywhere.

You can also take several of the these items and make a mini meal. Ya know a little bigger than a snack but not quite a meal. And you can make a couple of slightly different mini meals so with the same items. Based on what your child likes, or simply to use the same items but not the same meal.


Triscuts Crackers
Option One

Triscuit Nachos
6 Triscuit Crackers
2 Tablespoons Hummus
4 Tablespoons Cheddar Cheese

Place the Triscuits on a cookie sheet put the cheese on top of the crackers. Heat in oven (or toaster oven) at 400F (204C), just long enough to melt the cheese. Use the Hummus instead of sour cream as a dip.
Eat it all and you have a 300 calorie mini meal. 50 Calories per cracker with a little hummus.

Option Two
Triscuit Pizza
6 Truicuit Crackers (Plain works but Tomoato or Garlic ones are best)
4 Tablespoons Mozzerella Cheese
6 Slices of Pepperoni

Place the Triscuits on a cookie sheet put the cheese on top of the crackers. Place pepperoni on top of each cracker. Heat in oven (or toaster oven) at 400F (204C), just long enough to melt the cheese.

Eat it all and you have a 280 calorie mini meal. 47 Calories per cracker.

Club Crackers
Option One
Club Sandwich
8 Club Crackers
1/4 Cup Ham
4 Tablespoons Cheese
1 Tablespoon Hummus

Take a Club Cracker spread a little hummus on it then place cheese and ham. Top with another cracker. Makes 4 Sandwiches.

Eat it all and you have a 385 calorie mini meal. 96 Calories per sandwich.

Option Two
Club Straight Up
4 Club Crackers
2 Tablespoon Hummus

Dip Crackers in Hummus. This is a great time to try new flavor of hummus.

Eat it all and you have a 150 calorie mini meal. 38 Calories per cracker.




All of the books and people of the world will tell you that you have to push fruits, veggies, and a balanced diet on your children from very young. When you have a "low calorie" child like Squeaker you have to think about three things calories, variety, nutrition. And yes in that order.

Calories are the most important thing, if there aren't enough calories going into your child they can't grow, or fight off illness. Variety is the spice of life. Sure it maybe burgers, hotdogs, enchiladas, ice cream, mac and cheese, chili, eggs, plain pasta most of the time that is still a pretty good range. Keep trying new foods so that as calories become less important you won't have a child that is extremely fussy about what they eat. Lastly nutrition. You do have to make sure your child is getting enough electrolytes, fat, protein, and iron but you don't need to be forcing your child to eat fruits and veggies everyday. If they enjoy them great use them, just pair them with another high calorie food. Squeaker used to love strawberries and chicken nuggets together. As for iron and other vitamins we use juice, I know it can be filled with sugar and hard on the teeth but I'd rather risk some tooth decay than have a vitamin deficiency. Squeaker drinks diluted cranberry cocktail juice (half water half juice) almost exclusively. Mostly it's Cran-Raspeberry, but she will do Cran-Apple, Cran-Grape, and Cran-Pomagranate. She will take some milk and occasionally water but mostly it's juice. It's more calories than water and great for iron and vitamins.

Well if I don't get to bed I'm going to have a very hard time driving to Birmingham and back tomorrow. It's the big appointment that lets us know what the long term immunology plan is.

Anit Plauge

The flu has hit our home. Trey carried something home from work and got sick. With Squeaker's lack of immune system I have to go into full out germ warfare mode. Everything has to be washed. All the clothes people have worn, sheets, blankets, towels. One use and it has to go in the wash. All dishes are put in the dishwasher to clean and sterilize. Plus surfaces have to be wiped down more often. It is very tiring for one person to do which can weaken an immune system and make me more likely to get sick. What a terrible circle.

Well since moms don't get a sick day I have to be proactive. I take Anti Plague-

Anti Plague

Ingredients

 

1 White Onion

1 Medium Hot pepper

3 Tablespoons Garlic

1 Small Pealed Horseradish root

1 Small Pealed Ginger root

Apple Cinder Vinegar with mother

Chop and measure veggies. Then add and equal amount of Vinegar. Place everything in a food processor or blender and liquefy.

Store in Fridge, an old glass salsa jar work great.

Take a tablespoon directly or in something. It’s pretty gross but it works.  

If Horseradish root is too hard to find just skip it. It will still work. 

In my last batch I used distilled Apple Cider Vinegar because it's what I had on hand and so far it has worked. If you want a certain flavor to dominate (like garlic or ginger) just put a little extra in. It's a little easier to swallow when the first thing you taste is a flavor you like.

If you have a weak stomach for hot things chase it with a glass of milk. It will still work but without the stomach ache. When I really feel something coming on I take 1 Tablespoon 3 times a day. So far so good.

You can take anti plague after you have become ill and it can drastically shorten how long you are sick.