Almost there!

It's now 5 weeks since I started my relactation journey.  Its working pretty well. I'm reducing formula when ever possible.  Today she just drank 7oz of formula through out the day! It could have been even lesser but she cried for bottle.  I'm so stoked today. Exclusive breastfeeding looks so very doable right now. It's just round the corner! I'm so excited waiting for the day when I don't have to give her formula.  Ot can't come soon enough 😊

Half way there!

Just a short update! I have been on domperidone for 25 days now . Here are the results.  Firstly I've reduced her formula to 2 oz most feeds. Some feeds , especially at night, she just nurses and goes to sleep. But late afternoon she sometimes still eats upto 2.25 to 2.5 oz top up. Rest of the feeds through the day she eats 2 oz . So her total formula intake is down from 30- 28 oz/ day to 22-25 oz/day.

  Secondly we have successfully set up a nursing pattern where she first nurses completely on both sides then I give her top up supplement.  Normally lactation consultants say to finish at the breast. I tried that but if I give her bottle first she refuses to nurse and demands more formula itself.  But if I offer breastfeeding first, she'll nurse from both sides and I can then decide the amount of formula she needs. It seems to be working because she is spending more time at breast and her formula top up is reducing . 

 I don't know if I'll be able to completely stop formula top up. Most ladies on domperidone have seen their supply increase dramatically by 6 weeks.  I'm hoping for the same. Which means I have 2 more weeks to go. Keeping my fingers crossed 🤞😊

CJ

 

15 days later...

So I have some interesting updates here. Firstly today is day 15 since I started with domperidone.  As I mentioned in my previous post about how LO was refusing to latch and hence I had resorted to pumping only since last couple of days. I don't know if it was inefficient pumping or due to non breastfeeding  or sudden increase in milk flow , my breasts suddenly were lumpy and swollen.  It scared the shit out of me as I thought I was on my way to developing mastitis. I spent the next two days pumping,  heating my boobs with warm compresses,  massaging and trying to latch my little babe. Finally got her to latch and suck since last evening and I saw as the lumps cleared my supply was up! And more ducts in my boobs had opened.  Whereas earlier I could see milk come out of just one or two openings on my nipple, since last evening I can see milk pour out of more openings when I hand express. Also I need to put less pressure when I'm expressing to draw out milk.  In fact my left side I can literally see milk shoot out of the nipple when I squeeze it!

  Since last evening baby has been latching easily and sucking well. But it was today morning that she finally nursed well on both sides and I supplemented her with only 2 oz of formula.  Which means combining both the sides I'm making about 1oz!!! Definitely more than 10 ml I was pumping 3 days ago! Add to that,  I noticed today my left boob was leaking in between feeds again! The last time it leaked was when my milk came in 4 days postpartum. 

 I am so extra motivated right now! While I am not sure if I'll completely stop supplementing with formula , I am now hopeful that my other goal of breastfeeding my daughter until she is at least 6 months old looks pretty doable. 

  

CJ

 

Roadblock

Day 10 of starting domperidone : Noticing two main changes since starting the medicine.  One is that my supply has improved a little.  I am able to pump upto 10 ml from both sides combined. Its nowhere near the little one's requirement. But it is better than 5ml I was pumping 10 days ago.

 

 Secondly,  repeatedly getting lo to nurse every feed has established the pattern which means my boobs are filling up every two hours albeit left side more than right.

 But since the flow is still just a trickle,  lo has suddenly started screaming every time I take her to boob before the feed. I try so hard to nurse her but she just screams her head off and refuses to nurse, demanding the bottle.  And I can't nurse her after she takes the bottle as she just falls of to sleep.

  Getting LO to nurse at least 8 times a day is becoming a challenge! One way I found is to start nursing her at the first sign of hunger, when she is just starting to fidget . She is calm and accepts the boob easily.  I think if my supply increases then she will nurse better. I have noticed th that she nurses better at night when my supply is better than in the afternoon when it decreases.  

 Hoping that in another week my supply doubles. 

CJ

 

Got milk!

  Relactation process is simple but requires lots of effort and patience! I started my relactation journey on June 1st, just as my daughter turned 5 weeks old. I began with hand expressing just a few drops of milk to expressing nearly 10 ml from both sides. Four days later I began domperidone.  It really worked its magic. After just 5 days on dom I was able to reduce nearly half an oz of supplement alternate feed! So of total 28 oz of formula through the day we reduced to 26.5 oz .( spread among 10 feeds through the day). On day 15 of relactation I upped my dosage from 20mg to 30mg. And that night was the first time I was able to nurse her. Today is day 17. So far I notice that my boobs get full every 3-4 hrs.  LO (little one) however feeds every 2 hrs. Though I try to nurse her every feed, I'm able to reduce her formula only on those feeds where my milk has come in. I have read that dom usually shows full effect after 4-6 weeks. Most women have seen their supply double, triple in 6 weeks. So keeping my fingers crossed.  🤞

CJ

Relactation

This blog is a chronicle of my experiences into breastfeeding and relactation.  

 My daughter was born on 1st of May this year. Though full term she was a tiny baby weighing only 5.7 lbs . My plan was to exclusively breast feed her. Starting right on she latched well and sucked with force despite her tiny size. Everything went well for about a week.  On day 9 postpartum, I blacked out.  Turns out the hypertension I had through out the pregnancy hadn't resolved postpartum and it had shot up to 160/100. That night I was suggested by my mom to sleep through the night and that she would bottle feed the little one with formula.  The idea was to give me rest. And as I didn't have a pump we had to rely on formula. 

 Next day however my already low milk supply tanked. She began to get more and more fussy at the breast.  And after the feeds she was still hungry. So after every nursing session I started supplementing with formula. Pretty soon we were supplementing more and more formula and she was nursing less and less at my breasts. She would only prefer it when she was sleepy or a little while after drinking from the bottle.  By week 3 my supply reached all time low. Now she was drinking 2-3 oz of formula every feed and was rarely demanding to nurse except to fall asleep. 

 

 I was devastated.  I really wanted to exclusively breast feed her and this upset me.  But I resigned to my fate. By week 4 however my blood pressure started to drop and I began to feel better. And this prompted me to think about restarting breastfeeding. But was it possible with literally no milk?

 I began to search online if I could get back to breastfeeding again. I learned about relactation and how it was possible to get back to breastfeeding after a break. But most articles online insisted that to get back to breastfeeding I had to pump for 8 to 10 times a day with a hospital grade pump. Now that was a snitch. Hospital grade pumps are really expensive here where I live. And not covered by insurance.  I kept looking for other solutions until one lactation consultant on her blog said the best way to get back to breastfeeding was by bringing the baby back to the breast as much as possible.  She said no pumps can remove milk from the breast as efficiently as the baby.  Well that was my cue.

 So as we entered week 5, I began my journey into relactation.  At first I began nursing her after every bottle feed. Sometimes she would fall asleep right after she finished her bottle and refused to nurse. But I persisted.  At least 4- 5 times in a day I managed to nurse her for a few minutes at time. But she resisted at night and screamed bloody murder every time I tried to nurse her. So I would hand express milk a few times in the day to empty my breasts 

 Four days after I began relactation I was still not making any milk.  Just a few drops every hand expressing session.  I wondered how long it would take to re-establish milk supply.  Then I read about the miracle pill 'domperidone '. I started it 4 days into relactation.  

 Today marks 6 days since I started domperidone.  I am glad to say my supply definitely has increased!! I am expressing 5ml of milk at times. And when she nurses at both breasts I can definitely hear her drinking! I have managed to reduce her formula by half oz every feed!

 I still have a long way to go until I eliminate all her supplement.  Maybe it won't be possible to completely stop formula.   It will take a lot of time and patience and effort to get there. But mainly I see hope, of me finally exclusively breast feeding my baby!

CJ