Could my baby go back to breastfeeding?

[Heliwebb]

Hi all - this is my first time posting here. I'm really hoping someone can help me. I'm in a total mess. My daughter is 9 months. She is dairy and egg intollerant and has reflux. From 8 weeks old, I have expressed all her milk for her because my letdown was so fast it choked her and she used to vomit entire milk feeds. She is also on Gaviscon and I found it didn't work unless it was mixed with the actual milk. I now desperately want to stop expressing because I am SO tired of it and my milk has almost completely dried up. I don't know what to give her instead. I don't want to give her soya because there is so much evidence now that soya is bad for you. I obviously can't give her cows milk. She won't drink formula no matter what. The ideal scenario would be if I could get her to breastfeed because this would stimulate my milk supply again but she won't. What should I do? I'm so confused! My HV is completely and utterly useless. Would it be within the realms of possibility to get her b/fing again? Or am I just being stupid? I have tried a couple of times but she just looks at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

First thing is to get some good skin to skin contact going.
Take your top off (and her clothes if warm)
Hold her close,and express a little milk onto your nipples.

what about contacting a breast feeding counsellor,or la leche league?

Well done for expressing for so long!

I'm afraid I can't answer your question - this is one for a bf counsellor. or keep it bumped for Tiktok (fab 'resident' MN bf counsellor).

some one will be along with advice for the restarting bf but just wanted to say, well done for expressing for so long! you should be really proud of yourself, even if you stop now you've done so much for her and i hope you manage to convince her to bf

btw, have you tried her on goats milk? my dd has a dairy intolerance but is fine on goats milk.

Oh sorry,realise she's nine months old.I misread as weeks.
Blimey,good for you.that is incredible.We have another poster (Fastasleep) who did this,and donated and made breast milk soap with surplus!!!)

Heli,would imagine getting her to relatch is very tall order.There is no reason why she can't have (some) cows milk.
Follow on milk is largely a silly marketing ploy anyway.

Heli, it can be done and it has been done....but after all this time, you need a lot of motivation (which you have), a lot of support and a lot of patience. Expressing might be necesary to give your baby some reward for sucking, any sucking. It's late and I have to go to bed but if you call any of the bf helplines, they should be encouraging and if you look up relactation on the web and on Mumsnet you will find more info and people's experiences, too. Keep us informed

She's dairy intolerant, moondog!

Sorry.am being very thick tonight.

No, you are trying to help

AFAIK, it can be done, but I don't think it would be easy, heli.

Definitely phone one of the helplines. My experience of them is they're very friendly, knowledgeable and encouraging.

Thank you all. I am definitely going to call one of the helplines and see what they say. In desperation because I didn't have enough milk, I gave her a bottle of soya milk lastnight and we were up all night with her crying so I think she must be soya intollerant too. Right now I feel utterly lost. I know one day in the future, I'll look back on this period and it won't seem so bad but right now, it feels truly awful. I hope it gets better soon. Thank you ladies.

Here is a link to information about relactation, hope that helps.

www.kellymom.com/bf/adopt/index.html

bumping this - anyone else?

Thank you everyone. I talked to a couple of b/f counsellors today and the general feeling is that at 9 months old, it really would be an almost impossible task to get her to b/f if she doesn't want to, and the truth is, she REALLY doesn't. I went to see my GP today and he told me that at this stage, it isn't so crucial that babies get milk. This seemed to me a wierd thing to say but he was really adamant that as long as she gets enough fluids (she loves water) and I try to get other sources of calcium into her then he didn't think there was a problem if she only got a little ebm. Does anyone else think this sounds...odd for a GP to say?

Heli,GPs don't know anything about breastfeeding.They get next to no training re this.
S/he might have just wanted to make you feel better though-it is true that your baby has had breast milk when she needed it most.
I think you deserve a medal-what a fantastic effort!

Have posted on your other thread as well - soy intolerance is common in cows milk intolerant babies (we had that one as well)
Your GP is right - at 9 months most of their calories will be from diet and milk most important for calcium which you can give from other sources - minadex syrup good.
Hope you are feeling better this morning, there is light at the end of the tunnel - most children with egg and dairy allergies will grow out of it. My DD was eating dairy by 18mo and passed egg food challenge couple of weeks ago (2 1/2).
p.s my GP (who had BF but not had any 'training') knew a whole lot more than my HV (who had done all the courses but never actually done it herself)