Pumping like crazy

I have a love/hate relationship with pumping. In the beginning, it's what established my milk supply when Elias wasn't able to bring in my milk on his own. It's helped to supplement what he takes in, since that isn't usually enough. But until recently I've only had to pump when I went to work and then an extra time after he went to bed to get that surplus for him.

But last week, Elias would only nurse for a few minutes on one side (not enough to keep up my supply). We think he had a sore throat since we both have one this week. Because of that, I've watched my pumping numbers get ridiculously low this week and seen him get frustrated wanting more. I met with a lactation consultant who said to pump and nurse as often as possible. I'm doing that, but man it's hard. I feed him, then get the pumping stuff washed and ready and then pump. When you take that into account, the whole feeding process takes a really long time.

Thankfully I have seen pumping numbers come up, but they still aren't what they should be. It was suggested that I consider taking domperidone to help boost my milk supply. Before the dr. would write a prescription, I did a blood test to measure what my prolactin (milk producing hormone) levels were. Turns out they were half what they needed to be. No wonder we've had the problems we've had! I get the prescription tomorrow and am hoping that it does the job to boost my milk supply so that Elias can get what he needs without supplementing and we can make it for a couple more months!