relactation?

[sarafet]

some of you may remember my post weeks ago regarding this topic.

i had tried giving aiden some breast milk but eventually my milk started drying up and i stopped completely. now aiden is formula fed.

tonight i have come to breaking point

i am so regretful for stopping breastfeeding and wish so much that i could start. aiden is almost 12 weeks i have been in contact with a la leche counciller who has talked me through relactation, but was wondering if anyone has done it successfully this late on?

i am actually in tears as i type this because it has hurt me so much i really wanted to do the best for my baby but gave it up after 3 days.

i would really appreciate any advice and support here

sarah xxx

 

[*Star*]

I didn't know that you could get baby back onto breastfeeding if you stopped!
has your milk dried up completly??
after i stopped feeding oliver i felt so guilty, but i was pregnant again (and i think bf was partly to do with my 2 mc), and i had to think about my own mental health and the baby!

i felt so guilty afterwards.
it would be great if you could get him back to the breast, but i know when i tried to get oliver to take breast milk from me after he had to stay with family for a few days and had a bottle there he just wasn't interested in taking it at all. he no longer associated the breast with getting milk, even though i had milk there. i did think about expressing but figured it would be too much hassle, and tbh the bond i had with him was via bf, not via giving him a bottle so in the end i decided to stop fully.

sorry for the essay! hope you get some good advice from someone!

 

[daftscotslass]

Sarah I remember that feeling well. Don't beat yourself up over it, gonna PM you

 

[laracomps]

I tried when Phoebe was 4 weeks oldish to get her back from mixed feeding to breast feeding exclusively. I was given the wrong advice from the midwives when she lost weight and was told to give her 3oz top ups, no wonder she never wanted to booby feed.

Anyhow, I also sought advice about relactating and I tried for 2 weeks. I was feeding her as often as I could 2-3 hourly and expressing at least 10 mins each side every time - even through the night. Though I didn't do 2-3 hourly at night, it was 4 hourly.

I ended up exhausted, and probably gave up a bit too easily because I couldn't bear to see her crying with hunger.

So after 2 weeks I decided to stop, it was an extremely hard decision. I mix fed until she was 12 weeks and now she is just on formula.

I understand completely where you are coming from, if you can, I'd go and talk to someone about it as I believe its part of the reason I have PND.

I'm sure I read about someone relactating a few months back, and I know that Squiglet did in the early days after lil miss was in SCBU.

From all the research I did, it is possible until your baby is 4 months old. But it will be very hard work, for me I think the fact that I tried and then failed to relactate was probably worse than if I had never tried if you see what I mean?

Now that I have accepted what happened and can see Phoebe is thriving, it no longer upsets me. The best advice I can give is don't beat yourself up about it, and enjoy Aiden rather than constantly thinking about not feeding him. I know that is easier said than done, as I ignored it all

If you do try and relactate and would like some support, or want someone to rant / talk to, gimme a PM xx

 

[kelsey]

I don't personally know about relactation but i found this which will hopefully help

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/relactation.html

 

[lfc_sarah]

I dind know you could but

Good luck

 

[MissThing]

I had problems with breastfeeding Daniel right from the start! Had to relactate several times. The most he ever went without breastfeeding (I was still expressing) was about 3 weeks. Basically you can do it its just a VERY VERY hard job!

Basically what I have done, was well...forcing him to have my booby milk. I had to hold his head really tight, and he would scream, then suck for 5 minutes, then scream for 10 and so on. Took about 5 hours of that non stop process. He just was very frustrated, that there wasnt that much milk as from the bottle. I never really went on fully breastfeeding. It mostly was combined feeding (boob, expressed, formula) but we went on till he was 4 months old (when again he stated playing off and I had no power to fight him again)

If you have any questions -pm me hun

xxx
Carina

 

[maria1976]

I wonder if you could try those herbal tablets to help bring milk back in cant think what they are called???
Or defo try to let babs suckle as much as you can.

Hope it works out

Its so difficult at the beginning with exhaustion, try not to give yourself a hard time xxx

 

[laracomps]

I wonder if you could try those herbal tablets to help bring milk back in cant think what they are called???

Fenugreek - you can get it from Holland & Barratts. Be warned it makes you pong of curry.

 

[BabyMagic]

My antenatal teacher (who also helps with bf:ing problems) said that she has successfully helped adopted mums to breastfeed so I guess it is possible, but must be hard work. It would be great if it worked for you so that you could then tell us all about it.

If it doesn't honey don't worry about it. The world is fully of formulafed babies who are both happy and healthy xxxx

 

[kelsey]

I wonder if you could try those herbal tablets to help bring milk back in cant think what they are called???
Or defo try to let babs suckle as much as you can.

Hope it works out

Its so difficult at the beginning with exhaustion, try not to give yourself a hard time xxx

Fenugreek increases milk supply - is that what you mean?