Restarting BF at 4 months?

[Puddlelane]

Ok bear with me here.
I have a 4 month old dairy free formula baby.
Currently it was thought he may have silent reflux which infant gaviscon...it's not really made any difference. He was never sicky or cried after feeds just very mucusy.
So I am now at the stage where we are going to ask to change his formula to neocate to see if it's the
Milk. He is thriving, putting on weight and meeting milestones.
Due to reasons I would rather not get into right now I breastfed for not very long then was moved over to dairy free formula due to history of previous children under medical advice etc.

Could I restart breastfeeding at this stage? I would give him formula until I have milk obviously. Google leads me to believe its possible but google isn't always right!
Am I mad? I really want to do this for him. I'm dairy free anyhow!
Please be gentle I really don't want a bun fight or to be attacked due to decisions that have been made re formula.

Hi I completely lost my milk on 1 side due to severe cracked nipple, about 6 days post-birth. I got a decent pump on loan from the feeding clinic & used it about every 2-3 hours during the day, & twice a night. I went from literally not a drop on the first day, to about 6oz 4 times a day, over a period of 6 weeks. It was hard work but worth it. I never fully got the supply equal on each side as my milk hadn't got fully established in the first place so the milk ducts weren't fully developed. However it was enough & by the time DD was 5 weeks old we stopped using formula.
If you get a pump, check out all the options & make sure you get one that is comfortable to operate as well as on your nipple - some of the manual ones are not friendly to the hand/arm muscles. Read lots of reviews before purchasing!
Good luck, it is hard work but you sound really determined & I definitely think it was worth it.

Oops x post. Puddlelane was the nipple already cracked before you pumped? I did find that pumping aggravated the soreness BUT it was a lot less painful than DD's suck. If it wasn't already damaged I'd say you've got a crap/defective pump or you're getting the technique wrong.

If you've made your nipple bleed then perhaps the breast pump flange doesn't fit very well? Hopefully LLL can offer some advice.

Can you hire a hospital grade double pump for a month or so? Double pumping (pumping both breasts at once) is better for stimulating supply. I also wonder if more frequent but shorter pumping sessions would be more helpful and less likely to make you sore?

I think it's my technique. I really need someone to come to me and help me!
LLL are not in my area- well about 45 miles away.
Waiting on a call back from them.

I have a tommee tippee electric pump, I need a double hospital one don't I?

A double one would make things much easier for you I think, even if it was just to start with. The Ameda do different sized flanges for theirs, so you can use one to fit your breast/nipple size, not sure about others.

It's a shame LLL are so far away. Could you get access to a IBCLC? Some are private but some also work within the NHS.

www.lcgb.org/

Or does your local hospital have a good feeding advisor/lactation consultant/breastfeeding counsellor? I have found from personal experience that they do vary, but usually if they don't have the information or help you need they will point you in the right direction.

Well done for not letting your HV put you off something that you want to do. She is wrong, but you know that.

Spoke to a lovely nct BF councillor she was great.
It's unlikely that I will get domperidone prescribed and at £5 a day I need to talk to DH. I so want to do this but the doctors at my surgery will just back up the HV- have already spoken to the practice manager.
To say I'm devastated is an understatement.
I just wish I had the support after the birth. I don't know where I go from here I can't spend that much I don't have it to spend!
I don't know what to do now other than cry.

Way a pity your GP practice aren't more supportive. Could you maybe try with a hospital grade pump but no domperidone for now? What did the NCT lady suggest?

I think lots of skin to skin would help too,.

Hi Puddle, I just wanted to share something with you, but gently so as not to cause upset. My friends dd had awful reflux and she was entirely breastfed. Just wanted to make you aware that breastfeeding does not guarantee a reflux free feeder. So please don't beat yourself up if you don't manage to relactate, you are giving it a really good try.

NCT lady suggested domperidone and keep pumping.
I just didn't realise I needed 9 a day!
I'm doing 45 mins skin to skin then pumping.
It doesn't seem too likely to work without the drugs and I can't spend that much a week. It would cripple me.

Thanks sands :)

Ouch, sorry to hear about the cracked nipple :( I'm wondering too if it's rubbing against the pump. You could try hand expressing (I.e. no pump), which could be more gentle and is more under your control. This link might help - www.unicef.org.uk/BabyFriendly/Resources/AudioVideo/Hand-expression/

Sorry too that your GP isn't more supportive. Is there anyone else in the practice who might be? Or a pro-bf mw or HV (I know you said that yours isn't) who might have a word?

It sounds as if you still want to give this a go, and it's early days yet - having no milk right now doesn't mean that it's not working.

X-posted re: the domperidone - didn't realise it was so expensive

Me neither!
Will it work without the drugs or am I kidding myself?
I don't know if Fenugreek works in the same way?
I think I will continue pumping and pump through the night.
Every 3 hours.

Thanks for the hand expressing link.

What a lovely thing to do for your baby! If you got a drop of milk already maybe you can get more without the domperidone..?

I have no idea if it's actually effective, but here in Germany the MWs and hospitals give new mothers loads of fennel tea (or fennel& cumin& aniseed mix) to increase milk production. I used to drink pints each day. (They also said it was good for babies' tummies - wind, colic etc.) Also they were very aware of things that (they thought) would decrease milk production, so no peppermint tea or sage.

When the contaminated formula milk scandal hit China a few years ago the WHO advised mothers to relacte, so they at least think it can be done with older babies.

Agree with Deupty that hand expressing with no pump is much gentler.

And don't beat yourself up if it just doesn't work - at least you tried!

Have you looked to see if you can buy domperidone online (Motillium) - it's an over-the-counter medicine now, I don't think you need a prescription. (I am not a Dr or medical professional, just to be clear, merely making a suggestion of something you could investigate...).

I'd also really rate the support from the Breastfeeding Network - perhaps they have someone closer to you than LLL?

Well done for getting a drop of milk out though - that's fab news.

I bought Fenugreek from Amazon when I was trying to increase my supply, really noticed a difference but you have to take a lot (2-3 capsules 3x a day). If you smell like maple syrup curry that's a good thing as it shows it's working!

Oh puddle, it'll be ok! Can you afford to do a week on the tabs, you shouldn't need to keep taking them once your going.
I'm sorry your gp is being so unhelpful!

Have you tried squeezing out a drop so your nipple tastes like milk then offering.

I'm going to ask the support group here and see if a can find any more good advice.

How are you, OP?

Still pumping :)

Puddle,I think I have some domperidone left over from when DS was little and I was trying to get my supply back up, if you want to pm me your address I'll gladly post you whatever I can find, today? Don't worry if you don't want to give me your address though, I won't be offended, I know I'm a random on the Internet!

I hope it's more comfortable now. Sounds like you're doing a great job!