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Off Fifth has a ton of great sales right now, including a bunch of stuff from brands like C&C California, Splendid, Vince, and more. (Who knew Vince made so many kids’ shirts? If you can’t get to the free shipping limit of $75, do note that a child’s shirt is only $9, and shipping charges are $7ish… so…). In any event: I like this lightweight, washable jersey cardigan from C&C California. I really got into sweaters like this when Jack was small — no buttons or zippers to scratch baby’s face, and because it’s t-shirt material, it washes very easily. It’s mostly appropriate for a casual day, but it can still be a sophisticated look with a belt, jewelry, and a structured piece like a pencil skirt. The cardigan was originally $108, but is now on sale for $45.49. C&C California Slub Jersey Cardigan (L-3)Sales of note for 3.28.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – Up to 40% off your full-price purchase; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything plus extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off 2+ items; 40% off 1
- J.Crew – 50% off select styles
- Lands’ End – 10% off your order
- Loft – 50% off everything
- Nordstrom: Give $150 in gift cards, earn a $25 promo card (ends 3/31)
- Talbots – 40% off 1 item; 25% off everything else
- Zappos – 37,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – 50% off entire site
- Hanna Andersson – 30% off all swim; up to 30% off HannaJams
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 40% off sitewide; 50% off select swim; 50% off kids’ styles
- Old Navy – 50% off Easter deals
- Target – 20% off Easter styles for all; up to 30% off kitchen & dining; BOGO 50% off shoes & slippers for the family;
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And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
FVNC says
My 20 mo old has her first appointment today with a speech therapist today. Any tips on what to expect or questions to ask? This is just an assessment so I imagine it’ll be a lot of observation and providing background on kiddo’s development, but I would appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Anon says
The only info you really need is to ask about what the amount of delay is and what the plan is to address it. The plan will likely include activities for you to do with her at home. Hanen.org is a great speech language pathology resource with great info for parents.
mascot says
You probably already have this covered, but ask if they are doing a hearing evaluation as well. We were pretty sure that our child could hear just fine, but it was nice to have that confirmed. He was evaluated for speech/hearing at 3 and I just observed/provided background during the evaluations. Also, find out what the options are for therapy, do you have to go to the therapist or does the therapist come to the school/daycare? State early intervention programs each work a little differently for coverage. Our first year we went to the center and paid out of pocket. The second year, he was covered by the school district and they came to him.
FVNC says
Thank you both!
Meg Murry says
I’d ask if they have a general treatment plan, and if so if you can schedule a block of all the appointments now (if they don’t set you up with a standing appointment). Of course, this depends highly on what the recommended treatment/therapies are, but for me the biggest pain about dealing with one of my kid’s ongoing issues is that at the end of every appointment they say “ok, so we’ll see you back in X weeks” but then it’s almost impossible to get an appointment that isn’t at the most inconvenient time ever in X weeks – I finally asked the doctor “so, assuming things go along the most typical path, when are the next 4 times you would want to see us?” and then we scheduled those 4 appointments so I could work them around my work schedule and nap time (because taking a cranky child to a diagnostic test when they have to follow instructions during naptime is completely unproductive). Yes, sometimes we had to reschedule for either our own reasons or the doctors, but overall it worked much better that way.
My children were late talkers (complicated by hearing issues) and I found that Amalah has great advice for speech delays, having gone through it with her oldest son, and then having some concerns with her younger ones. I especially like the bubble popping advice here: http://alphamom.com/parenting/baby/what-to-do-when-you-suspect-your-child-is-speech-delayed/
Meg Murry says
More of Amalah’s stuff: http://www.amalah.com/amalah/2007/09/the-absolutely-.html#.VXmkJdJViko
Meg Murry says
and all her posts tagged as “speech delays” http://www.amalah.com/amalah/speech_delays/
FVNC says
Thanks, great advice and resources.
Due in December says
Thanks to everything for the tips on workwear for the early stages of pregnancy. I’m thinking I may want to consider wearing pants to work more often (off to shop this weekend!). Luckily, with the flowy styles right now, I do have a good amount of shirts to re-purpose.
meme says
I also found pencil skirts with flowy tops did a good job of hiding the pregnancy. At first regular pencil skirts in a size up (you can use these post-partum as well), then maternity pencil skirts with non-maternity flowy tops.
JEB says
I LOVED the ASOS maternity pencil skirt. It didn’t have a panel, it was just super stretchy and extra long, so you could pull it up over the bump. I’d imagine that it would work well for the early weeks/months as well. I’ve even worn it a few times post partum at my waist (instead of pulled up closer to my bust), which really just changes the length and not the fit.
Katarina says
I liked underbelly maternity pants and stretchy non-maternity skirts for early pregnancy and postpartum.
NewMomAnon says
Has anyone used Amazon’s cloud photo storage system? It seems pretty user-friendly, but I got burned with Apple’s iCloud after I had spent quite a bit of time setting it up. I want to get away from storing all my photos on my phone or computer. I have a tablet-style computer with a lot less storage than I’m used to, but it comes with OneDrive (another cloud-based program). I don’t love DropBox because it has loaded viruses onto my computer before, but I do have an account so that’s another option. Or I could be convinced to try to work out my differences with iCloud…but only if it apologizes first.
Momata says
Following because I was considering the same switch. Kat – this would be a great topic for a targeted post — how people back up their personal photos and documents. I have my photos and essential financial documents on iCloud, and I make a photobook once a year so that I at least have my favorites printed out somewhere.
In House Lobbyist says
My solution has been snapfish. I haven’t done cloud storage but I do love Amazon so I will be interested in what others say. Snapfish has an app so I can easily upload from my phones and I like to make photo books and calendars for grandparents regularly.
NewMomAnon says
Yeah, I use the app on Shutterfly, but I really want to be able to store all my videos since that is what eats up space on my phone/computer (and I expect it will get worse as kiddo becomes verbal and saying all the adorable things). An Amazon Prime membership gets you unlimited photo storage and up to 5 GB of video storage, which I’ve already maxed out (oops!). But the app was easy to set up.
Meg Murry says
We just started using SmugMug for our family photos, based on the recommendation of a friend. It is unlimited storage, from what I can tell so far. Since it’s unlimited, we signed my mom up for an account, and then we are putting all of her pictures, my pictures and my sisters pictures there. It looks like they also allow videos, up to 20 minutes long / 3 GB each :
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93278-what-types-of-files-can-i-upload-to-smugmug-
We haven’t gone with Amazon cloud storage, but mainly only because the Amazon Prime account is under my husband’s email address and it is technically his business account so he doesn’t want me logging my phone and tablet in to his Amazon account.
pd in mo says
Hive:
I’m a public defender – my first day back from parenting leave was Monday, and I was scheduled to handle arraignments the day I came back. Because I hadn’t had a chance to talk with my client for more than a few minutes, I asked the judge for a continuance. (For anyone unaware, continuances in these situations are granted all the time – conflicts with ongoing trials, clients don’t show up, prosecutor is in the next room over, etc. etc. Hardly unusual.) The judge actually ROLLED HIS EYES at me, and said, “Fine, but I’m guessing I’ll be hearing that excuse from you a lot for the next few months.”
I didn’t know what to say. I appeared in front of this judge while I was pregnant, so he knew I’d just gotten back from my (very short) 8 weeks of leave. I was already on the verge of tears from dropping the baby off at her first day of daycare, and I hadn’t been able to pump before court so I was in some discomfort as well -I ended up just mumbling something and running off to cry in my (shared) office.
How should I have handled this, and how should I handle it going forward? I’ll be appearing in front of him several times a week. He’s not my boss so I can’t complain to HR (which might not be the best route even if he were my boss), but I feel pretty strongly that he was inappropriate here. Thoughts?
AEK says
I’m so sorry. The first day back is so hard, and the first daycare drop-off is excruciating. The last thing you needed was that kind of BS.
The judge was out of line, but since you were justifiably flustered, don’t waste time worrying about what you could have done differently. It’s done now. If it comes up again, you won’t be taken by surprise, and you can have something prepared. Maybe you should just pointedly ask whether your request for a continuance works any hardship on the government or the court?
By the way, I just want to say that at 8 weeks postpartum I was still a disaster, and am so lucky to have had a longer leave. I really admire you for being back to work already and managing the childcare. I hope you have good support and that you’re able to do some self-care during the transition. Hang in there!
PEN says
I suppose you have to know your Court, but it is something you could bring up with the Administrative Judge or President Judge? Where I practice, that is exactly what I would do…but I know this is an issue the AJ would be outraged over.
anonyc says
I’m also in awe that you’re back in court so soon. Rock on, mama–that is impressive no matter what. Hang in there; developing routines will help for you.
I’d try to let this one go, and try not to get to rattled by it. He was totally wrong, but letting this shake you will confirm his bias for him. Just take a deep breath and try to make sure that when you appear in front of him you are composed, professional, and all business. Showing rather than saying might be the best way to show that yes, people have babies, but they don’t stop being professionals who have jobs to do.
…if you’re really p.o., you could always pointedly add in all future continuance requests the business reason for the record (“for the record, I’m requesting this continuance because the people only produced this material five minutes ago and my client and I need an appropriate amount of time to properly review it; …because the witness failed to appear; …because my client was not produced for this hearing”).
(Was) due in june says
Yes, report that comment to the chief judge. completely out of line. My local county courts and fed district court have a complaint process for exactly this sort of thing. You can complain anonymously or nonanonymously, and the panel gets to confidentially investigate if it wants; the panel has to tell you and get your permission before telling the judge you complained about (and you can say no, so only the panel and chief judge ever know).
However, know your “office” – some judges are just sexist a$$h0les so a complaint may actually result in more harm to your already vulnerable clients, particularly if your local court doesn’t have the complaint process mine do.
Either way, that’s a really terrible statement from the bench and I’m so sorry s/he said that to you.
Anony Law Mom says
What an awful comment. Some people really just do not get it. I think you are in the best position to evaluate whether making a complaint will have any positive impact. Unless there is an anonymous procedure as described above, it might just make him more difficult to deal with next time you appear in front of him. I am not an employment lawyer, but I was required to sit through a HR training recently, and your employer is responsible for ensuring that you are not subjected to discrimination at work, regardless of the source (at least in California). I do not know if your HR department could do anything about a judge, but it’s not a bad starting point if things get worse. That way if there is a complaint to him or his superior, it’s coming from the PD’s office, not you.
Now you know that this judge is going to make comments about continuances (or maybe about being unprepared), so you’ll have some time to think about how to frame your response next time. Maybe preempt him by explaining why you didn’t have enough time to speak with your client, prepare, etc. (assuming that the reason doesn’t have to do with your family).
anonymouse says
I need a safe place to vent.
I have a 12 month old and I have a fairly demanding job – I work long hours and often on the weekends, but the work is interesting, the benefits are great, and I am paid well. I went back to work part time at 6 wks pp, and at 10 wks pp I was back to work full time. The long hours and the weekend hours still weren’t much of an issue, as LO slept a lot more then, though, and DH was able to watch LO a bit on weekends and help around the house.
When LO was 4 mo, DH was offered his dream job, and he accepted. I was very fortunate that my employer allows me to telework full time, as the dream job required us to move to an area where we have no friends or family. It’s also in an industry that has a very busy 8-9 month period, and during that time DH travels a lot and works long hours and often on the weekends. So the vast majority of household stuff (cleaning, grocery shopping, meal prep, laundry, taking care of LO and dog) has fallen to me. I’m overwhelmed. I am really struggling with work and even though I am working as soon as LO falls asleep, I still can’t keep up with my docket. I was trying to figure out how DH’s coworkers’ wives manage – and then I realized that I’m the only one who works full time. The other wives are SAHM or work part time, even the ones who don’t have kids.
I am so overwhelmed at work and at home. And when you work from home, it all blends into one big mess of being overwhelmed ALL THE TIME. And I live in the middle of nowhere where I don’t know anyone and I don’t know where to meet new people, since everyone’s social circles here revolve around church and playdates (which are always on weekdays since there are so many SAHMs here).
I resigned myself to having a babysitter come in during the day on Saturdays and Sundays so that I can catch up on work, which kills me – I would like to spend some of my LO’s waking hours with LO! We have a cleaning service, which helps. My other tricks for getting through busy periods – grocery delivery, takeout – aren’t options here. We live in a rural area, so we have one place that delivers pizza. (I think I cried when I realized that grubhub and seamless weren’t here.) We end up eating a lot of frozen stuff and not as much fresh produce as I would like – I may not have time to go to the gym, but I can at least try to eat healthily. And I’m trying to negotiate a reduction in work hours – I thought doing 75% of full time would reasonably allow me to keep my job to more of a M-F 8-5:30 schedule – but it’s taking a long time to get it approved.
I think right now I’m just trying to stop feeling resentful. I am really happy that DH found his dream job, he worked really hard to get where he is. But I hate feeling like it’s inevitable that I have to give up my career so that he can pursue his.
Sarabeth says
Can you get someone to come in and do the housework (either instead of or in addition to babysitting)? I mean more than a weekly cleaning service. It may cost more money, but I’d MUCH rather have someone cook/clean/walk dog so that I could spend time with my kid. If you are in a rural area with lots of SAHMs, maybe a woman whose kids are in school could come over for 3 hours each morning and do daycare dropoff, tidy the house, and fix dinner? In my LCOL area, I’d be able to find someone to do that for $15/hour, no problem. Again, not cheap – that’s $225/week. $135 if she came in 3 days/week. But you say you are paid well, so this seems like the time to spend money to get some sanity back.
To find someone, check care.com. In my area, you can get recommendations for this kind of thing through the local moms facebook groups as well.
Momata says
Seconded – right now you are outsourcing childcare on the weekends. Instead, I would outsource more housekeeping, laundry, shopping, dogwalking, and cooking. I would guess that having this housework handled by a person jointly paid by you and husband would lessen some resentment as it wouldn’t be left to you.
pockets says
Do services like Blue Apron or Plated deliver to your area? These services deliver the recipes and ingredients for a few meals a week. I use Blue Apron (3 meals a week). The ingredients are always fresh and the meals generally healthy.
Edited to add: can you pay someone to go grocery shopping for you and then to make a few meals for you?
Meg Murry says
What kind of childcare do you have? If daycare, there are bound to be other working moms there – can you ask the daycare teacher to introduce you to some of them? One of the daycare mom’s started a drop in “after bedtime happy hour” club at our local bar (yes, our town is small enough that we have one bar).
Could you ask your cleaning service if they know anyone that cooks? You might be able to get someone to prepare a few frozen meals a week for you, which would probably be better than grocery store frozen options. If its a rural area, does that mean that there are local farmers? Its starting to be the season when decent produce comes in, so watch for roadside stands selling strawberries and the like – you can’t beat fresh picked produce! Or is there a CSA option that would get you a box of produce each week? If nothing else, you could munch on the veggies and fruits as your lunch since you work from home.
Could you find a place to work other than home a few days a week (a coffee shop, the public library, etc) just to get out of the house and maybe you’ll meet other people that work from home?
Another thing that helped me was to set up standing phone appointments with a friend who lived across the country. We decided that if we could prioritize every other appointment in our lives, well then darn it, we were going to put each other on the calendar and have a good chat once a week at noon.
Good luck to you, I know being alone is hard, and it was around the 1 year point when it hit me that it wasn’t really going to get much easier for a while – new and different challenges maybe, but not necessarily easier and I had to figure out what to prioritze and what to give up on. To give you some hope for the future, life does get easier once the kids are more self sufficient, and soon she won’t sleep quite as much (both good news and bad news) so the desperate “I just want to see her while she’s awake” thoughts will be less often.
*Internet hugs*
EB0220 says
Agree that creative outsourcing is the way to go. See if you can find more of a housekeeper who would clean, do laundry and make meals or help with meal prep. Maybe a neighbor (if you’re in a neighborhood) can take care of the dog, just as if you were away (walk, feed, play, etc.). Also, my husband really struggled to pitch in when he was at home, just because he felt out of the rhythm of the household. I didn’t really push it, and I wish I had. Now that he’s not traveling he does so much more around the house and it’s much easier for me.
Carrie M says
I think there’s great advice above. I just want to add, with respect to your last paragraph re feeling like it’s inevitable that you have to give up your career: One thing that really resonated with me about Lean In is that she also talked about knowing when you’re at a point in your life NOT to lean in because of personal/family reasons. It sounds like you’ve recognized this, and it’s why you’re negotiating for the 75% schedule. But that doesn’t mean that it’s inevitable that you’ll cycle out of your career. Nothing is forever. Maybe thinking about what your dream job or best-next-career-step would be, and formulating a plan to get there in 1/3/5 years, would help keep you from feeling like you’re giving up on it? Hang in there!! You’re doing a great job!!
In House Lobbyist says
Can you see if your area has any Facebook groups. We moved to a more rural area even though it was only 30 miles away and knew no one. I have found college and high school babysitters and a house cleaner that way. I also love Money saving moms blog for all her freezer and crockpot meals. It might help you with the lack of food options. We had the same problem so we had to figure out some food options.
D. Meagle says
No real advice other than what has already been said — can you hire a housekeeper/nanny who is basically a “wife” (i.e., she will run the house, buy groceries, prepare meals, care for LO, laundry, light cleaning, etc.)? I feel for you though. I have a very demanding job, and my husband just switched to a new job that is significantly more demanding than his previous position. The juggle of our competing schedules (I need to work late tonight, no I need to work late tonight) is getting to be too much for me. I am overwhelmed. Work is piling up. House is in shambles. I feel like I am scrambling and failing on all fronts.
Anon says
Lots of good advice here. Just wanted to add that this is a problem for your family so your husband should be part of the solution. Eg- he is responsible for finding and paying and coordinating the dog walker.
Alli says
Agree completely. This is not just your problem. Enlist your husband– not to “help” but to take his responsibility. For me, this involved having a purposeful conversation with my husband (and making sure I was not angry, upset, or dictatorial) where I explained that I felt I was managing the household alone. He was a little hurt and responded that he “always helps when asked,” so I explained that I can’t always be the one to ask– it’s not my responsiblity to identify everything that needs to be done, it’s a SHARED responsibility. We don’t use the word “help” in reference to him doing his share (the same way it bugs me when people say fathers are “babysitting” their own children). It’s his family, and these are his problems to solve as much as they are yours.
DFW pumping says
I am a male dominated industry conference at a major sports arena and found a private place to pump. Hooray!
I’m flying out via DFW tonight. Does anyone know if there are pumping friendly facilities or should I shell out for the airline lounge
JJ says
It completely depends which terminal you’re in. D Terminal at DFW (and some parts of A) is very new and very nice with a lot of private “family” restrooms that you can use. If you’re in other part of A, B, C, or E, then you may want to buy in to the airport lounge. However, if you have enough time before your flight, you can take SkyLink (it’s in the secure area) to a nicer terminal to pump and then come back to your terminal.
Meg Murry says
I haven’t been in that airport in years, but I made the mistake of thinking I could pump in the car in the parking lot of the rental car return. Nope – as soon as you exit for the rental car return the only place you can go is to the gas station – after that it puts you in lines to return your rental car. I wound up pumping (and dumping) in the rental car place family bathroom which was rather gross. So if you are thinking of pumping one last time before returning a rental car, get off the highway a few exits sooner to do it somewhere else.
JJ says
There’s a BabiesRUs a few exits east of the airport on 635, on MacArthur. They usually have a nursing/pumping room there – worst case scenario.
Spirograph says
I haven’t ever looked at DFW, but I have to vent this story, and I don’t have an appropriate audience IRL. Good luck to you with your airport pumping adventure.
When I flew out of a small midwest airport a few weeks ago, I ended up just pumping in the women’s restroom. The changing table area had an outlet right next to it, so I was able to set up there. It wasn’t too bad, except the first restroom’s changing counter was occupied by an emo 15-year old who thought it was her own personal lounge where she could sprawl and play candy crush with her phone plugged into the charger. Why she couldn’t do that at the charging stations in the waiting areas by the gates is beyond me. When I asked if she’d mind letting me use that space to pump she just shrugged and said, “there are two outlets” and went back to her game. The best response I could muster was “wow” and I walked to the women’s restroom at the other end of the terminal – luckily I had a little extra time before my flight. Several other women made sympathetic comments, at least. Also, Freemies for the win in that situation.
EB0220 says
I have seen this so often – from older women who should know better! I would seriously have whipped out my pumping parts and scared that kid off. But after 2 kids and almost 2 years of breastfeeding, I have no modesty.
Potty trained but rash says
My son has been mostly potty trained for a few months now but doesn’t always make it entirely t the bathroom in time – so a tiny bit of pee comes out and dampens his undies. This results in a rash. Is there anything to do here other than change his undies asap? Not even sure what to google. Tia!
Samantha says
Maybe use preventive diaper cream on him – a non staining kind like the Babyganics one (looks like vaseline).
Samantha says
Maybe use preventive diaper cream on him – a non staining kind like the Babyganics one (looks like vaseline).
Samantha says
I posted about a baby who didn’t take the bottle before and I was worried about going back to work. I’m happy to report that suddenly, a month after I started work, she is doing great on the bottle! It’s probably the 4 month growth spurt I think?
For various reasons, I don’t have enough bm stocked (didn’t build a freezer stash because nutrients get lost that way, didn’t pump very many times the first month back at work since she anyway wasn’t consuming much) so now she has out-consumed my supply!
I’m working to up the pumping (pumping 3 times at work now) and build up stock. Consuming garlic because it aids supply. She’s had formula a couple of times because we were out of bottles and I’m basically breaking even (or sometimes not) on a daily basis with her consumption. Any other tips to help me catch up? It doesn’t help that I’m low on sleep and sometimes don’t get a chance to eat or drink a whole lot – given the workload/stress at work, so I’m working on those things.
hoola hoopa says
Find additional pumping slots – which unfortunately meant pumping when not at work. Try first thing in the morning or before you go to bed. Try to pump once on the weekends. It’s sucks.
Hopefully you can get a modest freezer stash and go back to just pumping at work, especially once she starts solids. Definitely built a freezer stash.
Anonymama says
Pump a couple minutes longer if you can swing it, and also pump once before you go to bed. Keep a water bottle and some apples or granola bars with you so you can stay hydrated and get enough calories.
Meg Murry says
Sleep, eating and drinking are going to help more than anything else. I’d never heard of garlic helping with supply, but oatmeal and almond are supposed to help, as is pretty much anything with a decent amount of fiber and/or good fats – so avocados and nut butters are good choices. Pumping every morning after the first feed (even if you barely get an ounce for the first week or so) will kick up the “demand” signal. Aim to pump after at at least one feeding a day on weekends (2 would be better, but don’t make yourself crazy and choose a nap over pumping if you can). Taking to bed with the baby for a weekend day where you just nurse and nap and snuggle and only get up for quick meals or to use the bathroom is a good way to recharge too.
Keep things like protein bars and Lara bars in your desk and/or pump bag – I used to use Amazon Prime to have them delivered to work.
AEK says
I used fenugreek to boost my supply at the suggestion of my lactation consultant. Combined with pumping / BFing at every possible opportunity, it helped.
ETA: When I had supply issues, I looked into this quite a bit, and never saw garlic suggested .
KJ says
Look up power pumping. That might help, and I also second everyone’s advice on eating and drinking.
EB0220 says
I know I’m late to reply but I had very marginal supply for the first 9 months or so (until my baby started eating significant solids). Here is what I tried:
– Drink a ton of water. Keep a large bottle with you at all times.
– Eat oatmeal. I eat some every day. Who knows if it helps?
– Drink Mother’s Milk tea once a day. Again, I have no idea if this helped.
– The biggest thing that helped me was more active pumping. This included stopping the pump around 15 min in when the milk flow slowed, taking a break, and then restarting. This encouraged a second letdown and really helped my supply. I also massage toward the end of the session, which seems to help.
– Added a pumping session at night after baby was alseep. I hated this but it helped me catch up and took off some of the pressure. I dropped it once I started getting ahead around 9 mo.
– Make sure you are warm! I get less when my office is freezing.
– Look at pictures or videos of your LO (I’m sure you have this down)
– For a while, I carried around a used bib to smell when I was pumping. Seems weird but it really helped me feel like I was nursing my kiddo.