Ten Ways To Increase Your Milk Supply Fast

Before I share these tips, is your milk supply really low? A lot of mamas think they have a low supply when they really don't. This is harder to figure out if you are exclusively breastfeeding, but as long as your baby is gaining weight steadily you do not have a problem with supply. Okay, enough already, on to the tips!

1. Drink more water. Seriously, no matter how much you are drinking, drink more. I go through a few gallons a day. I drink at least one bottle of water every single time I pump. Water is the best supply boosting tip I have.

2. Try to eat often and include as much protein as possible. It may be hard to sit down for three solid meals a day while trying to wrangle a baby but you need it. I always keep beef jerky and chickpeas in the house for a protein boost. When you don't eat enough, you don't produce enough. Try to eat every few hours if meals are too much.

3. Breastfeed or pump often. The more often you empty, the more chances your breasts have to refill. If you're breastfeeding, your baby should do a good job at emptying your breasts completely. If not, you can pump after each feeding. If you're exclusively pumping, try to pump until empty and then continue for about five minutes longer.

4. Try eating galactogogues. These are foods and herbs that are known to boost supply. My favorite is flaxseed which you can sprinkle in soups, over salads, and even bake into cookies. It has a slight nutty taste and it is one of the cheapest of the galactogogues. Other examples include almonds, brewer's yeast, fenugreek, garlic, and oatmeal.

5. Relax! Did you know that stressing over your supply can actually cause you to make less? Make breastfeeding or pumping as relaxing as possible. I live in a rural area with no close neighbors so I like to go sit in the grass in my backyard and pump. The cool breeze and sunshine help me relax, and I end up with more milk. Try it if you can!

6. Get in as much skin-to-skin contact with your baby as possible. Get that baby naked and cuddle! Skin-to-skin contact is so important for bonding but it can also help you produce more milk. At least once a day, I strip the Crafted Baby down to her diaper and cuddle her against my bare chest for as long as she'll let me.

7. Sleep as much as you can! I know, yeah right. Really though, you need sleep to produce milk. I sleep eight hours a night with one interruption in the middle of the night and that is enough for me. Everyone is different though and you may need more or be okay with less. Sleep as much as you can. If someone can help you by coming over and playing with your baby, use that time to take a nap. It can make a world of difference. Plus, what mama says no to sleep?!

8. Cut back on caffeine and sugary drinks. Your body may not be able to process sugar or caffeine very well and it can cause your milk supply to decrease. If you must drink caffeine, try to do so after you breastfeed or pump.

9. Make sure you have all the right gear for breastfeeding or pumping. If you're breastfeeding, do you have the best nursing bras and breastfeeding pillows? If you're pumping, do you have a hospital grade pump and a hands-free bra? Make it as easy on yourself as possible. This is especially true when it comes to exclusively pumping.

10. If all else fails, talk to your doctor. There are prescription medications you can take to increase milk supply. Talk to your doctor and see if there are any medications that would work for your situation.

Have you tried any of these tips? Do you have any tips to add?

The Crafted Baby's Nursery Reveal

So much work went into making the Crafted Baby's nursery perfect, but we didn't spend a lot of money. Here it is!

The crib and changing table were the hardest part. They were originally a deep mahogany color that we had to sand and paint with baby-safe paint. It took forever. We spent $60 on the set (used by a local woman) and around $40 on the paint. I made the quilt, the bedding, and the changing pad cover myself out of fabrics from my stash.

The wall decals were only $1 at our local dollar store. The Crafted Baby loves to lie there and stare at it before bed.

This little section of her room is probably my favorite. It's just a vase we had from Valentine's Day a few years ago with $1 silk flowers. I framed this picture in a dollar store frame and it makes me so happy every time I see it.

The Crafted Dad and I made this headband holder out of a piece of scrap wood, a ball of hemp, leftover paint from our crib project, and six $1 knobs from the hardware store. Some of these bows and hats I even made myself!

Finally, this is her changing table set up with all of her fluffy cloth diapers. The mirror was a gift from my sister-in-law and the butterflies are wall decals, again, from the dollar store.

What are the colors or theme of your little one's nursery? Let me know!

How To Get Free Baby Stuff

*Please note: This post is what I got in my area in 2016. Your area may be different!*

Having a baby? Need some free goodies to round out your stash? Here's everything I got for free when I was pregnant with the Crafted Baby! Please note, this was 100% free; I didn't even have to pay for shipping.

I've said it before and I will say it again, having a baby can be expensive but it doesn't need to be if you're smart about it. Sign up for these freebies and thank me once the goodies start rolling in! Please note, it does take a bit for some packages to come and sometimes the companies won't send packages to mothers who have signed up before.

From Enfamil Family Beginnings, I received 1-12.5 oz. canister of newborn powdered formula, 1-12.4 oz. canister of GentleEase powdered formula, 5 packets of travel newborn formula, and 5 packets of travel supplementing formula.

Similac Strong Moms sent me 1-7.6 oz. canister of sensitive powdered formula and 1-8 oz. canister of advance powdered formula. Both are non-GMO and have a lot of added nutrients, which is great for a growing baby.

These were random goodies that I got from my hospital. I got an insulated bag, an ice pack, a Gerber breastfeeding cover, some samples of bottle cleaners and baby laundry detergent, 1-8 oz. canister of Similac advance powdered formula, 4 disposable breastmilk bottles, and a disposable latex-free nipple. Some of this is not pictured! Sorry!

I forgot to take separate pictures, but we also got things for registering with Target and BuyBuy Baby.
From Target, we got a Avent bottle, a MAM pacifier, 2 Honest Co. diapers and a sample pack of wipes, a Pampers clutch with a newborn diaper and a sample pack of wipes, 2 breastfeeding pads and 2 breastmilk storage bags, and a whole lot of samples.
From BuyBuy Baby, we got a MAM pacifier, 2 Honest Co. diapers and a sample pack of wipes, a Pampers clutch with a newborn diaper and a sample pack of wipes, 2 breastfeeding pads, and 2 breastmilk storage bags.

From my midwives office, we received all of this! Drug representatives give things to doctor's offices and ask that they distribute it to patients. Ask your doctor if they participate in anything like this. I didn't have to sign up for anything. All I did was grabbed a bag after each appointment. When you're going to the doctor every week, it adds up!

Have you gotten anything like this before having a baby? Let me know!

Postpartum Freezer Meals for a Month

The title of this post is a dirty, dirty liar. You don't need a newborn for freezer meals to be a good idea. You just need to be hungry. Here is what we did before the Crafted Baby was born to keep us sane and fed during that first month of sleep-deprived hysteria. Each of these recipes will feed two ravenous adults and one toddler-sized human.

Since this post is so long, I am breaking it here so that my blog's front page isn't overloaded with text!

Organizing Cloth Diapers

I cloth diaper which, in my humble opinion, is almost as easy as using disposable diapers. The part that's harder? Organizing the diapers. They're so fluffy that storing more than a few can take some finagling or specialized organizers. Not anymore. I store ours in a regular changing table and have never had an issue. Our standard changing table fits around 50 changes, our wipe warmer, coconut oil and all of the necessities with room to spare.

Just so there's no questions later, we got the changing table second hand and painted it white to match the rest of the nursery. It was free with the crib (which cost us $60). The pad came with it and I whipped up the cover in about 30 minutes from fabric in my stash. The toy on top and the wipe warmer came from our baby shower. The hand sanitizer and the pink tub on the bottom are from the dollar store. The baskets were a gift from my sister-in-law. The newborn diapers and hanging wetbag are from Diaper Junction. Those ran us $150. The one-size diapers on the bottom shelf were $150 for around 50 diapers, but we sold the boy-prints locally and made $50 back.

On top of our homemade changing pad cover, we keep a toy and a pump of hand sanitizer. In the first two bins, we keep all of our newborn diapers. Then there's the wipe warmer, coconut oil, and some homemade flats. While the wipe warmer is not necessary, it has been such a great thing to have in the nursery, especially since it has a built in nightlight. The bottom three bins are most of our one-sized cloth diapers. The majority of them are from AlvaBaby. On the left side, there is a hanging wet bag for dirty diapers. This works better for us since we have pets.

All of the diapers are ready to go, meaning the pocket diapers are pre-stuffed and everything is snapped to the right rise settings. That's another tip I share with people who are thinking about trying out cloth diapers. When you do diaper laundry, take the extra few minutes to stuff and snap the rise settings on your diapers. In the long run it will safe you time and stress when you're trying to change a wiggling baby! And always store the diapers bottom side up so that when you pull out a diaper, it comes out easily without opening and having the inserts fall on the floor!

We keep extra cloth diapers in a tub in the nursery closet, along with wipes that aren't currently being used.

How do you store your cloth diapers? Have any tips to share with the rest of the class?