Relactating?

[lalabaloo]

Hi, my baby is 9 weeks old, we stopped breastfeeding at 2 weeks as I was feeling completely overwhelmed with it, I felt quite sad about it after a little while and still do really. Tonight I noticed my nipple leak milk again, I tried expressing a bit and there was a small amount of milk in both breasts. Could I try to relactate? Would this be a stupid idea? How might I go about doing it?

I certain it is possible hopefully someone more experienced will be able to help

Thanks maples, that's sort of what I was thinking, I don't know if we would ever go back to exclusive breastfeeding but I was thinking offering the breast for a few minutes before a feed and for comfort and try and express and I might build up enough of a supply to supplement the formula. Do you think it would be best to offer milk in a bottle to avoid fussiness? He took really well to the bottle when we moved on so I don't want to cause problems

Thanks catsdontcare, I'm glad people don't think I'm mad, I know I.shouldn't have stopped but I was struggling so much, I would love a second chance at it

Have you tried getting baby to latch on? I think I remember a similar thread and it was suggested lots of lying in bed with skin to skin contact to encourage baby but I do think you should get some proper advice on how to make it successful. Good luck though!

Thanks :) I have tried, he does seem to still latch on, I hope it does work. But i'm a bit anxious the old problems will resurface and then he might refuse the bottle and we'll be completely stuck. Also, my family will think I am crazy, although my husband is very supportive. I just want to do my best for my baby, and I know formula milk is perfectly fine but if I can breastfeed I would prefer to although I hated it at first, I think it was because it was so frequent and I never got any sleep.

lalabaloo - have a go :) It is absolutely not a stupid idea to relactate. It's not stupid to try to revert to your original Plan A which was to breastfeed.

First step is just to do it - put your baby to the breast, and let him take it from there. Second step is to start expressing whenever you can, and giving what you get in place of the equivalent volume of formula.

It may be that restblishing a whole supply is too much and takes too long....your choice. But the closeness and comfort of breastfeeding can return, along with some of the milk, as long as you continue to put him back to the breast.

It does not matter if your family think you are crazy. This is to do with you and your baby - they don't need to have any view on the matter at all. If you think they will undermine you with comments, then don't tell them what you are doing until you gain a bit more confidence.

Babies do feed very frequently in the first two weeks and this can deffo mean a lack of sleep for the mother. But as time goes on, this happens less and less, so the same issues may not return, or they will not return for long.

Good luck! Call a helpline for support, as well and keep posting here :)

Thanks everyone, I had almost given up on the idea then woke up to your lovely comments. I have tried putting him to the breast before I feed him his bottle, he will latch on for a little while but then gets frustrated as there is no milk, he normally breaks midway through his bottle so will try it then too and express what I can. I will call a helpline and let you know how it goes

Spoken to a lovely lady on the nct line, she gave me some good advice. Baby has had lots of time at the breast this morning, just now he spent a good few minutes at each breast and I managed to pump a few more drops. It's going to be hard work but hopefully we'll get there

:) :)

You're on your way, lala :)

Well done you!

Ah how lovely well done you!

Hi, just an update, things are going okay, its not been easy. Things are busy this week so not getting much chance to pump but doing as much as I can. Plan for next week is stay in bed all week with baby and only try to feed or pump

lala, fab you are still at it :)

The more you pump, the quicker your supply will come back....8-10 times in 24 hours plus putting the baby to the breast is the basic. The longer you leave it without doing this, the harder it is to retrieve the milk.

That is great bf did not work for me and I pumped and still pumping six months on and formula when not enough. I tried to put him on the breast the other day but ds is getting teeth and bit down hard. That put me off fr life . I am worried about my supply as we have visitors coming to stay fr two weeks, we will be put and I won't be able to do much pumping, but reading your post has reassured me that me supply will not complete.y go overnight

Meant we will be out and about

Tthanks maples, don't know at 6 months he is a bit too far gone

Hi everyone, thanks for the messages. I know I should be pumping more, but we have guests staying at the minute so I can't really, especially as I haven't told them I am trying to breastfeed again! But as soon as they have gone I'm going to spend the week in bed/on the sofa and just pump and feed. At least the Olympics will be on so I can watch those all day. Does anyone know how long I need to pump for and whether it is beneficial to pump every hour or so or is there a point where it starts to cause problems?

piglet if I were you I would try and pump as much as you can, I know its hard when you have people staying but I am experiencing first hand how hard it is to build up your supply again when it drops, although obviously you have a much more established supply than I do and it won't be so long in between pumping

Ps I think you are amazing for exclusively pumping so long! It gives me hope that all is not lost!