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
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