Exclusive Pumping Success: How Helen Went From Undersupply to Milk Donation

Many new moms assume breastfeeding or exclusively pumping will be a natural process, but it often comes with challenges like low milk supply, pain, and the emotional demands of caring for a newborn. In All Things Conceivable: A Surrogacy Podcast with Nazca Fontes, Helen Avery shares her journey with lactation and pumping, overcoming early struggles to achieve and maintain a successful milk supply. Watch her TikTok Video!

From Low Supply to Oversupply

Nazca Fontes: Can you tell us a bit about your own personal experience with lactation and pumping?

Helen Avery: When my first baby was born, I felt nervous about breastfeeding but overall I thought it would come naturally and easily. I had it in my mind that I would be able to exclusively nurse without any problems. I didn’t do any extra research before giving birth. I didn’t really plan or prepare. When he arrived, my world was completely rocked, which I’m sure many other new moms can relate to.

Nursing did not come easily for me; it was painful. My son had poor weight gain, but I was determined not to give up. I worked with multiple lactation consultants and our pediatrician during the first month after birth to learn how to boost my milk supply.

It was at five weeks postpartum that I decided to try pumping. When I first started pumping, I was getting maybe about 10 milliliters per side. I started doing research on everything to do with increasing milk supply. I was determined. Over the next month or so, I was able to double my milk supply. In the month after that I was up to 50 ounces of pumped milk a day.

I was not latching my baby anymore. That wasn’t working for us, so I was just bottle feeding and pumping. Thankfully, with pumping, I was able to go from extreme undersupply to a pretty good oversupply.

How I Discovered Milk Donation

Nazca Fontes: What made you decide to start donating your breast milk?

Helen Avery: I was in oversupply mode, freezing around 20 ounces a day, and it really started to add up. I built up quite a stash in my freezer and started looking into ways I could make a meaningful contribution with my extra milk. That’s when I found my local milk bank and decided to donate my breast milk. This was during the 2021 baby formula shortage from COVID, and it felt amazing to go from being a mom who struggled when my own supply didn’t come in right away to being able to give back to other moms who needed milk.

I’d get a cooler in the mail filled up with frozen milk, label it, and then overnight ship my breast milk to the milk bank. I knew that my milk was going to the babies that need it most, including preemie babies, babies with weakened immune systems and the babies that are in the hospital that maybe their mom is not able to produce milk. Breast milk is very needed for those babies at that time. Breast milk can be lifesaving for these new babies the same way that a blood transfusion is lifesaving for someone who needs it.

There’s so many different ways to be able to breastfeed your baby and different options available. The Milk Donation Challenge brings more light to that. The fact that you can successfully feed a newborn baby a hundred percent breast milk, even if you’re struggling to lactate, is incredible.

🎧 Listen to Helen Avery’s full podcast episode here!

Get the complete lactation and milk donation journey straight from Helen herself.

💛 Join the #MilkDonationChallenge!

Learn how you can donate your milk and make a difference for babies in need.

📚 Explore lactation resources here.

Tips, guides, and tools to help you boost your milk supply or navigate exclusive pumping.