Attempting to relactate

[mummyof2littleones]

I have posted previously about struggles I had with breastfeeding and baby not gaining as much weight as she should've in the beginning.

I breastfed for a month and did really enjoy the experience, but I transitioned to formula on the advice of MW and HV due to my baby not putting gaining weight the way we were all hoping she would through breastfeeding alone.

I have also spoken about going down the combi feeding route and hoping to relactate.

Over the last week or so, I've been putting my baby who is now 10 weeks old, to the boob at the start of each feed. At first she was not happy, but we've persevered and she has started to latch on again. There's no pain, but I don't think I'm producing anything as of yet as she fusses after about 2-3 minutes of being on my boob. I've also tried expressing but so far haven't gotten anything.

I've spoken to a local BF support group and have followed tips from NHS website too.

I am planning to get in touch with my HV tomorrow for further support around this, but still have worries around not producing enough for my baby girl, so will continue to give her formula alongside trying to relactate.

I have never gotten past the guilt I have felt for stopping breastfeeding as I had my heart set on it. I am determined to persevere, even if it means I combi feed her, but ideally I would like to EBF.

Does anyone have any positive experiences of relactation or any further tips? Thank you 😊

You could try a SNS supplementary nursing system. It was recommended to me by la leche, I struggled with my supply and needed to keep my hungry, busy baby at the boob long enough to actually feed.

It is a small tube, connected to a bottle of formula, the tube is taped to your arreola/nipple and the formula comes out when you latch the baby to the breast. Does that make sense? I got mine online.

Also I double pumped after each feed. And at night. I carried a hand pump in the changing bag in case I felt I had extra milk left after a feed.

I was a HV and a qualified lactation consultant and I kept combi feeding as my supply never fully got going but all the extra effort meant to was able to give more breast milk than if I'd just exclusively formula fed.

I also did skin to skin to encourage my supply. I also tried a few different positions as he had an anterior tongue tie which affected his latch - making it very shallow and caused the long sucks at the end to be tiring for him (where I live they refused to do the frenulectomy, which was a standard procedure where I trained but anywhooo)

Please don't allow yourself guilt, fwiw you sound lovely and like you are already doing your best.

Hth?

@Thesechipsdontlie

You could try a SNS supplementary nursing system. It was recommended to me by la leche, I struggled with my supply and needed to keep my hungry, busy baby at the boob long enough to actually feed.

It is a small tube, connected to a bottle of formula, the tube is taped to your arreola/nipple and the formula comes out when you latch the baby to the breast. Does that make sense? I got mine online.

Also I double pumped after each feed. And at night. I carried a hand pump in the changing bag in case I felt I had extra milk left after a feed.

I was a HV and a qualified lactation consultant and I kept combi feeding as my supply never fully got going but all the extra effort meant to was able to give more breast milk than if I'd just exclusively formula fed.

I also did skin to skin to encourage my supply. I also tried a few different positions as he had an anterior tongue tie which affected his latch - making it very shallow and caused the long sucks at the end to be tiring for him (where I live they refused to do the frenulectomy, which was a standard procedure where I trained but anywhooo)

Please don't allow yourself guilt, fwiw you sound lovely and like you are already doing your best.

Hth?

Thank you so much for your reply!

I am going to look into a supplementer tomorrow as this was some of the advice given to me by BF support group.

I will continue to put my daughter to the boob on demand at the start of each feed and will also continue to express, but when I used my breast pump tonight after feeding my baby (2-3 minutes of latching on and the rest a bottle of formula), I noticed blood and there was what looked like a laceration on my nipple. It didn't hurt, I just noticed the blood as I was trying to express. I'm still having no luck getting any milk from expressing, so I'm assuming my baby girl won't be getting anything from me by being on my boob yet either?

I will keep going and currently just praying my supply returns! My daughter was having 5oz bottles of formula before I started trying to relactate and for the most part she is still taking the full 5oz. There has only been a few times where she's taken 4oz, so I'm using that as a guide that I'm probably not producing anything yet too.

Hi! Not necessarily...I found the pump far less effective than the baby at drawing down milk, so your DD might be getting.milk even if the pump isn't yet.

If you have a cracked or split nipple don't worry too much but use a little nipple cream (I had a nice aveno one or something) and check her latch? You shouldn't feel the hard part of her palate with your nipple, just the soft roof of her mouth, and her cheeks should be full of breast tissue (rather than her lips being on the "teet" end of the nipple iyswim?!)

Make sure you are relaxed (!) As that will help your let down and that you are hydrated.

Oh and the room is warmish. Cold rooms mean that your vessels will constrict Good luck!

@Thesechipsdontlie

Hi! Not necessarily...I found the pump far less effective than the baby at drawing down milk, so your DD might be getting.milk even if the pump isn't yet.

If you have a cracked or split nipple don't worry too much but use a little nipple cream (I had a nice aveno one or something) and check her latch? You shouldn't feel the hard part of her palate with your nipple, just the soft roof of her mouth, and her cheeks should be full of breast tissue (rather than her lips being on the "teet" end of the nipple iyswim?!)

Make sure you are relaxed (!) As that will help your let down and that you are hydrated.

Oh and the room is warmish. Cold rooms mean that your vessels will constrict Good luck!

When she's been latched on, her cheeks are full of breast and latch isn't painful. She's doing exactly as she did when she breastfed from the start and was getting milk. I'm using the rugby ball hold which was really effective for us when I breastfed initially. I'm using Lasinoh nipple cream as I've always found this the best and have been eating stuff like oats etc to try and boost my supply also.

Is there a particular time scale where you'd expect to see some initial signs it's beginning to work? I've tried ringing my HV this morning but had no joy as she's unavailable at the moment.

My LO nursed well in a rugby ball hold too, I had to switch the position as he became too long for my arms/nursing chair!

In terms of relactating I would say it's different for every mum, I struggled with supply but my dsis had the other extreme where she was engorged and had a too fast let down.

If you fed your DD initially I would hope you'd see a change in about 2 weeks, even if it's just the beginning of a supply. In terms of her being saited to the point where she drops ounces of formula for breastmilk, I'd expect it to be longer.

Some babies prefer the bottle as the milk come far easier- they have to really work for the breast milk, particularly the hind/fatty milk at the end of the feed- which is what will keep her tum full. Just FYI, not saying that would happen in your case. My baby was quite happy with both (I wish he was as easy to feed as a toddler now haha) so you never know.

I also managed to hand express in the shower, obvs it went down the drain but I was trying everything just to restart my supply. Again that was a la leche tip. But if you hand express just watch a couple of YouTube guides (from good sources!) As the incorrect technique can contribute to mastitis.

I ended up with mastitis but only bc my nursing bra was too tight and bruising my ducts. Worth getting remeasured maybe?

I'd be tempted to try holding her (before she's fussy and hungry) and trying to hand express and see if anything comes out. But that's me talking as a mummy rather than a HV. (Keeping baby close can improve supply at the newborn stage so that's my reasoning there)

Sorry for the long message op!

@Thesechipsdontlie

My LO nursed well in a rugby ball hold too, I had to switch the position as he became too long for my arms/nursing chair!

In terms of relactating I would say it's different for every mum, I struggled with supply but my dsis had the other extreme where she was engorged and had a too fast let down.

If you fed your DD initially I would hope you'd see a change in about 2 weeks, even if it's just the beginning of a supply. In terms of her being saited to the point where she drops ounces of formula for breastmilk, I'd expect it to be longer.

Some babies prefer the bottle as the milk come far easier- they have to really work for the breast milk, particularly the hind/fatty milk at the end of the feed- which is what will keep her tum full. Just FYI, not saying that would happen in your case. My baby was quite happy with both (I wish he was as easy to feed as a toddler now haha) so you never know.

I also managed to hand express in the shower, obvs it went down the drain but I was trying everything just to restart my supply. Again that was a la leche tip. But if you hand express just watch a couple of YouTube guides (from good sources!) As the incorrect technique can contribute to mastitis.

I ended up with mastitis but only bc my nursing bra was too tight and bruising my ducts. Worth getting remeasured maybe?

I'd be tempted to try holding her (before she's fussy and hungry) and trying to hand express and see if anything comes out. But that's me talking as a mummy rather than a HV. (Keeping baby close can improve supply at the newborn stage so that's my reasoning there)

Sorry for the long message op!

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it! 😊 I've been trying to hand express as well as nursing on demand and using an electric breast pump. Expressing in any form hasn't produced a drop of milk yet, but when my baby has been nursing at the beginning of each feed throughout today, I've noticed she's stayed on for longer before she started fussing, so I'm hoping that means she's getting something! I suppose only time will tell.

No probs it certainly sounds like she's getting something. Also maybe her dirty nappies will give you a clue if they change smell or colour, sorry if tmi, I'm not suggesting that you need to do a poop inspection, it's just a possible way of noticing if there's a chance in what she's getting iyswim.

Keeping everything crossed for you op!

@Thesechipsdontlie

No probs it certainly sounds like she's getting something. Also maybe her dirty nappies will give you a clue if they change smell or colour, sorry if tmi, I'm not suggesting that you need to do a poop inspection, it's just a possible way of noticing if there's a chance in what she's getting iyswim.

Keeping everything crossed for you op!

They have changed from a greeny colour back to yellow actually!