Supply and Demand

If you search the internet you will find many lists of things that people were unaware of or not prepared for when it came to pregnancy/birth/motherhood because nobody warned them. Those things are a wide variety of things ranging from body changes, mood swings, and the gross factor. While I was pregnant I read many of those lists but that still didn't prepare me like I thought it would. And now I have my own item to add to the vast list that circulates the internet world. 

Before my son was born I expected nursing him to be a learning curve. I knew it would be a challenge and that we would just need to stick to our guns until we figured it out. Having that mindset was helpful as we struggled a bit with getting the hang of it and it wasn't until a week and a half into it that we were finally starting to do good. 

However, what I did not expect and what nobody told me was that it takes a lot of work to make milk. I never realized how my diet would affect both the content of the milk as well as the quantity. Now I realize not everyone struggles with this as much as I do but it is hard to keep up a good supply of milk for my son. He is an eater and I know that if I had more of a supply he would for sure be a heftier kid. 

It is a challenge for me to keep up with the demand and to make sure my supply doesn't drop because I chose to eat unhealthy for a meal. It is a constant worry of mine that one day my supply will completely disappear and I won't have anymore for my son. In some ways I will be thankful when he is weened so I won't have to be so concerned about eating all the right fats and proteins every day. 

I wish someone had told me about the challenges of making a good supply. Maybe then I would not have felt so panicked when I noticed my supply start to drop one day. Maybe I would have been able to tailor my diet better right away if I had known that this could be an issue. 

I could go into the what ifs and I wishes but I guess this is one thing that you live and learn and keep going. My son is not starving. He is getting the food he needs. I just have to work hard to keep making that food. It may be tiresome but it won't be for forever. And when the day comes that I no longer am able to feed him this way I will probably miss it. Funny how life is that way.