Relactating after 3 months

[@llli*shannon.hall]

Hello, My name is Shannon & in short I'm attempting to relactate after 3 months from discontinuing BF. Our daughter, Piper was born 6/13/11 and we successfully BF for 12wks. at which I went to my OB/GYN for an check on extended postpartum bleeding {never stopped bleeding after her birth} which then I started passing clots. I have a h/o of endometriosis and adenomyosis & my OB had discussed the possibility of hysterectomy prior to us conceiving Piper, so I always knew this would become a subject we would face again. Well..we did. I first was given the depo injection to hopefully stopped or at least decrease the bleeding, but had no success. I was told that it was "ok" to BF while having he injection, but I had conflicting feelings about this. If I don't feed our older children cow's milk with hormones why would I feel comfortable feeding my developing baby girl hormones. So, on my own accord I chose to wean & introduce her to formula. The transition was smooth & I just continued to pump & dump, but even with this my supply drastically decreased. On Dec. 7th I had my hysterectomy due to worsening anemia and the failure to stop the bleeding. I'm now just over 2wks post surgery, drug & hormone free & really wish to relactate. I've since brought Piper to my breast during comfort measures & she did latch, but it was not at active feeding session..just fell asleep. After only this one sucessful latch, she refuses. I've been pumping every 2hrs 15min. each breast with maybe a teaspoon being expressed from both breast. I never discontinued my prenatals and I'm drinking Yogi's Woman's Nursing Mother tea at least 1x a day. Any suggestions, advise & even SUCESS STORIES on RELACTATION are so appreciated. I will be contacting my LLL consultant in my area and hopefully will receive some positive information that there is hope to rekindling this relationship with her. Thank you in advance for your time.

[@llli*katia11]

You are off to an AWESOME start! to you for continuing to keep your supply up even while she was not nursing. The more time spent at the breast, the better!

I'd also recommend a hospital grade pump.

I am a "success story"- I did not get my son back to the breast very well (we basically gave up at about 8 months when he was biting me because he didn't know what to do) but I did manage to increase my milk supply from 4 oz to 32-34 oz (at my peak) through LOTS of pumping, domperidone, and determination! Feel free too look at some of my old posts.

to you! You can do this mama

[@llli*mommal]

Welcome! I'm sorry you had such a rough time surrounding the birth of your daughter. It's so hard to balance our needs against our kids' needs... It sounds like you weren't offered any easy choices.

Relactation should absolutely be possible, now that the Depo is out of your system. It is notorious for destroying milk supply, so I'm not surprised that you saw a diminution of supply after you got the shot. I would suggest doing the following:
- get a hospital-grade pump with correctly sized shields and pump every 2 hours during the day and every 3 at night
- try to get the baby to nurse- this link should be helpful: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/...to-breast.html. There is no guarantee of success but if you can get her to nurse the payoff could be huge.
- herbs: fenugreek, blessed thistle, and ordinary oatmeal can all be helpful in increasing supply
- drugs: as a last resort, Reglan and Domperidone are prescription drugs which are sometimes used off-label to increase milk supply. Both have additional side-effects and are not right for every mom, so speak to your healthcare provider before taking either one.

Relactation isn't a myth! Lots of women manage it. My mom relactated for my little sister from a cold start after 3 months off due to medical reasons. She never used a pump- just put my little sis to the breast and nursed in between bottle feedings. She was able to rebuild her supply and phase out the formula, and nursed my sis until she was 18 months.

[@llli*rawest]

Hi I too want to breastfeed after 3 months did it work ? Were you able to start back?