Can I breastfeed again after a 6 week gap?

[PollyDolly88]

Hi

I know this sounds a little crazy but I am interested to hear if anyone has any experience in breastfeeding after stopped for a while?

Basically, I breastfeed my son for 4 weeks after he was born. After breastfeeding my daughter without any problems I naively thought it would be the same with my son - how wrong I was! From the get go he wouldn't latch, thrash his arms about and struggle to keep on for more than a minute at a time. The whole experience became so stressful for both me and my son, the pain was unbelievable and after soughting help in my HV who told me it "was normal" I took him to a baby clinic who diagnosed a severe posterior tongue tie.

It sounds silly but I cried with relief when they told me as I knew that breastfeeding wasn't supposed to hurt like it was :( Unfortunately though they told me it would be another 4 weeks until they would even consider doing a revision due to it "being too thick at the back". After no sleep, constant crying (from me and my son!) I dreaded the next feed and hearing those words broke my heart.

A few days later I decided I would express my milk to give my nipples a chance of recovery, this was great at the start but as my sons tongue tie made it even hard for him to seal a bottle teat he was left so unsettled so making time to comfort him and express was virtually impossible. After a further day or so, I had to give in.

Initially I felt relieved to give my son formula as I did feel on the verge of depression with the whole thing but now he's 12 weeks he is still having major issues even latching onto a bottle...

I took him back to the baby clinic and they are snipping his tongue on Tuesday.

I know this sounds mad but part of me still gets really upset when I think about how things turned out and I wish I could have had the will power to continue breastfeeding. But I suppose this logic does come from finally getting some sleep!

I had a big milk supply when I was breastfeeding so I was wondering if anyone on here or knows anyone who actually managed to go back to breastfeeding after a gap of 6-7 weeks??

I just feel that he has issues with bottle feeding anyway and with him finally getting some treatment this could be a fresh start?

Obviously, I know this may just be crazy talk!

Thanks in advance for any help or advice :) xxxx

It's probably possible, you can certainly try it and see what happens. To get a full milk supply back you'd need to express regularly to begin with until you've got a good supply of milk. If your DS latches and will feed then you can try it at every feed before giving a bottle. You can also get something called a
Supplemental Nursing System, it's a tube that you tape to your breast to give milk whilst the baby feeds. I've not used one myself but I've read that they can encourage your baby to persist at the breast.

Have you tried expressing recently?

Thank you! Will look into the tube nursing system - never heard of anything like that! :) I tried expressing just now after I posted this out of curiousity and only got 1/2 oz out of one boob and just a few drops out the other so not great I know but will keep trying and see how it goes :) x

Kellymom has some good info about relactation.

It is possible but it's hard work. Worth it if you can make it work though. Second the kellymom recommendation. Good luck x

Thank you for the replies and recommendations :) xx

It's hard work but totally possible and very satisfying. I was lucky in managing to relactate after only BE for 4 days post-birth then a gap of 8 weeks. Took a while to get cranked up and you do need a proper hospital grade pump but I produced literally litres, DD was enormous. Kellymom's resources were really useful.

And I lost 2 stone in weight as a side effect. Bonus!

Worth a try I'd say

Can't believe it's taken 12 weeks for them to sort it out for you

Half an ounce is really great OP - don't expect to get a full 8oz bottle out of each boob every time!

Have a look at this link for what's normal and tips: kellymom.com/mother2mother/what-to-expect-when-pumping/

Thanks, Ragusa that's amazing that you managed to get back into the swing of it! I think I'll look into a hospital grade pump as my hand held one is good but not great.

Thanks BertieBotts :)

Yeah it's been very frustrating at times - thank god for these baby clinics! So quick and easy to check! I suppose it's all a learning curve though... one I won't forget in a hurry!!

Xx