Baby and Me; Journey to relactation (Hopefully!)

[baby.3]

So as the title says really. Me and my little one are on a journey to attempt relactation. Darcie is 10 weeks old now and hasn't fed from the breast for 8 weeks, and hasn't had breast milk for 7 weeks. I stupidly gave in EBF when she was 2 weeks as i had no idea what i was doing, she seemed so unsettled and hungry all the time. Couple this with lack of sleep and it was a recipe for disaster. I bailed on breastfeeding one night and sent OH out for formula It went downhill from there. I carried on pumping for a while but struggled to keep it up once OH went back to work, i was still figuring out a routine at this point.

So fast forward a few weeks and i now regret how easily i gave up, i also miss the closeness of breastfeeding and the ease of feeding.

I've read a few articles and i think i have a good idea of what i need to be doing in order to stimulate milk production. I'm going to concentrate on my milk production at first, my pumping schedule will look something like:

6am, 8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, 10pm, 3am.

I've also read that fenugreek and blessed thistle can help with milk production. And as much skin on skin as i can manage with Darcie. I'm considering getting a sling and just having her in there with us both naked! Could work lol.

Once milk is begin made, i'll work on getting Darcie back to the breast. I'm not sure how this side of relactating is going to go as she is so use to her bottles. She rubs her face on my breasts when on my chest, so i'm hoping that is a good sign. I showed her my nipple last night after her feed, she seemed to recoil in horror lol so i think i'll have a battle on my hands when it comes to actually feeding from the breast But we'll deal with that when the time comes.

I'm going to use this journal as a way of logging my thoughts and feelings and recording the highs and lows of this journey. Wish me luck, i think i'm going to need it!

 

[night owl]

Aah good luck baby3, I very nearly threw the towel in on breastfeeding too in the early days, I actually ended up staying in hospital for 4 nights just for the breastfeeding support, had no idea what I was doing and the baby just didn’t seem interested, I was fantasising about going out and buying a perfect prep machine and some formula lol, but I’m glad to say we had cracked it by time she was about 6 weeks old and I LOVE it now! Really hope it goes well for you xx

 

[Kitana]

I had tried for 8 weeks until I threw in the towel. My DD was a premie and didn't have the sucking reflex, she didn't latch on properly. To make matters worse she would only sleep 2 hours in a row which would make sleeping for me impossible (she had a cmpa, and would get diarrhea and cramps).

12am trying to BF, failing, making formula, giving it to her, change nappy, put in bed, she would fall as asleep at 1 am.

1am start pumping one breast for 25min, then switch and do the other for 25 min. Clean the machine, sterilize the plastic parts.

2am go to bed and hope to fall asleep instantly

3am DD wakes up again and the whole thing would start again.

It was endless and I had no rest. My oh was completely useless at night and didn't want to help since he "needed his sleep". I would have smothered him with a pillow, smiling, but I was too tired.
We switched her formula to a rice based one and she started sleeping through the night!

Even though in the beginning I felt guilty, it didn't weight out the fact that I felt more human after a while.

I think it's courageous to start again, but be a 100% certain you want to do this!
Hats off to you hun!x

 

[MoominGirl]

Wishing you lots of luck. I've no experience of relactating but I know it's possible although I doubt it will be easy. Hats off to you for giving it a go though.

Totally agree with night owl - I lost count how many times I nearly threw in the towel in the early weeks and it definitely took 6-8 weeks to feel like we had the hang of it.

Unless you're very lucky, the early weeks can be so so difficult and I really don't think antenatal classes do new mums any favours but leading them to believe that breastfeeding is natural and instinctive so when it's not like that (couldn't have been less instinctive if it tried!!), you automatically think you're doing something wrong. Turns out newborns really do feed that often but when you're not prepared for that, it's not surprising new mums automatically think they're not producing enough milk. I went to several antenatal breastfeeding sessions and not once was cluster feeding mentioned and how important it is for milk supply. We only discovered it was a thing after some frantic Googling at 3am!! Everything you say sounds so familiar among my mum friends as nearly everyone wanted to breastfeed but the ones who didn't continue tell a similar story to you. I don't think that's the same as choosing to stop or choosing to formula feed from the start which is sad as clearly these mums didn't get the support they needed. I wish I could have stayed in like night owl and got some proper help but my postnatal ward experience was shocking and I couldn't leave fast enough. Breastfeeding support just wasn't a priority for them.

It sounds like you're feeling a lot of regret and I'm sorry you feel that way. Just shows how bad breastfeeding support can be. I had to fight tooth and nail for it and at the time hubby thought I was mental as we had so many issues and it really didn't feel like it was ever going to be worth it. I'm glad we stuck with it but even after a very difficult labour, I'd still rather do the labour again than establish breastfeeding for the first time!! Honestly every single time!! It really can be that hard so please don't beat yourself up. The early weeks really are so overwhelming and you just do what you need to do to get through it.

Really hope it works out for you.

 

[WinterWolf]

Ah good luck. I attempted this when bubs was about 16 weeks but gave up after 2 days. Waking up to pump while the baby was still asleep was sooo not worth it haha. I did manage to make some milk though!! Was your baby gaining weight in those first 2 weeks? In that time they’re usually on the boob 24/7 whether they’re getting enough milk or not! I gave up because my daughter definitely wasn’t getting enough milk, so decided there really wasn’t much point in relactating. Your baby is still tiny so I imagine you won’t have very much trouble re-establishing a latch once there’s milk flowing x