Advice and help on re starting after 11 weeks! Totally dried

[@llli*cariadchild]

Hi all. Just wondering if you can help me. I want to start up again. My last baby and regret giving up. She was never really settled on breast. Well first 6 ish weeks she was. She suffered bad with colic. I also have an appointment with peadeatrician in a few days as possible lactose intollerant. She is on lactose free milk and is finally better. Is it still possible to breastfeed? I tried her to breast but she was not interested. I have got some domperidone. Will buy fenugreek. If she goes back to breast and we have a good supply would she still eat at the same time as bottles? She doesn't have a bottle through the night. She is 21 weeks and has food at 5pm. Can I express with a manual pump ( the one I used when.expressing avent worked great for me) thank you all in advance.

[@llli*cariadchild]

I am also feeling bad that I should even consider starting breastfeeding again when she has just settled nicely. Am I being cruel?

[@llli*mommal]

Welcome to the forum!

You are in no way being "cruel" by wanting to nurse your baby. Babies are designed to breastfeed! Not only is formula less nutritionally and immunologically ideal than breastmilk, but breastfed babies find comfort in nursing that they can never get from a bottle. So it's worth the effort to see if you can get things going again. If it works, great! Even just a little milk can make a big difference to a baby's health and to your feelings about how you feed your baby. And if it doesn't work, well then at least you never need to wonder "what if?"

The first thing I would do is to check out this link on how to get a baby back to the breast: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/. The best way to bring milk in is not with herbs or drugs, but with frequent stimulation to and milk removal from the breast, and a nursing baby often is better at removing milk than any pump.

Hopefully the baby will eventually go back to the breast, and get the milk flowing again. If that happens, the next step is to wean from the formula. This link lays out how to do that: http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basi...rease-formula/

If the baby is not nursing, or is nursing but just isn't getting the milk to come in the way you'd like it to (and keep in mind that you are likely looking at a process that could take weeks, not days), then you are going to need to use the pump. Ideally you want to use a hospital-grade rental pump or good double electric pump (like a Medela Pump in Style) with correctly sized shields, to ensure maximum effectiveness. You are unlikely to get far with a cheap electric pump or manual pump- those are machines for moms with good milk supplies who need to pump the occasional bottle. They are not powerful enough for a mom who is trying hard to stimulate better supply.

If your baby will go back to nursing, it is unlikely that she will maintain the same feeding routine you are seeing right now. Breastfed babies tend to take small amounts of milk more often than their bottle-fed peers, and they use the breast as a source not only of nutrition but also as a source of comfort. This is not a bad or abnormal thing- in fact, it's the biologically normal way for a baby to eat. And frequent nursing sessions will bring your milk back in faster than anything else you can do. If you have trouble adjusting to an altered feeding pattern, let us know! We may be able to help you find a way to adjust.

[@llli*cariadchild]

Thank you so much for replying. I can now get drops out which have got more each time I express. How long do you think it will be before the liquid turns milky? I'm away from home at the moment but when I get home will start on the fenugreek as I have a tub.

[@llli*cariadchild]

Oh and I won't be putting baby to breast until I have something there for her. Still feel guilty that I'm trying her again. Mad isn't it.o

[@llli*mommal]

The drops you're getting are milk. The milk the breast produces as it dries up tends to be highly concentrated, and a bit yellowish, but it is still milk.

I strongly suggest putting the baby to the breast NOW, even though there's not much there for her. Many moms think that they will bring their milk back and only then try to get baby back to nursing. But remember 3 things: first, breastfeeding is more than nutrition. A baby who nurses can learn to associate the breast with comfort and pleasure even if there isn't a lot of milk there. Second, if your baby will nurse that will bring your milk in faster than tpumping alone, because babies are often more effective at stimulating the breast than the pump. And third, with every day that goes by, the chances that your baby will be willing to go back to the breast decrease, because her memory of nursing and her instinctive desire to nurse will decrease.

[@llli*cariadchild]

Thank you. I have tried pitting her to breast bit she's just not fussed. I can't see her going back to it. :-(

[@llli*mommal]

Just keep trying. The instant reward and skin-to-skin techniques mentioned in this link: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/ are supposed to be very helpful.

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

Keep trying. You never know. I convinced my 19 month old to lick some milk the other night.

[@llli*cariadchild]

She had a little suck the other night but think she would rather a teat as my nipples are quite flat! Good news is I've gone from being completely dry to then a tiny amount, then drops when expressing and now u can squirt milk out of both boobs when hand expressing. Going to keep up with the expressing.