Re-Lactation

[kayzr]

Me again.

Is re-lactation worth it? Or is it more hassle than it's worth?

Last Wednesday I made the hard and horrible decison to give up BF. But I haven't come to terms with it really.

So please tell me the truth about re-lactation.

If it's only been a few days I would have thought it would be fairly straightforward. It takes months sometimes for prolactin levels to drop back to non-productive levels, I think. I suspect a bf counsellor will drop by this thread soon!

kayzr - only you can answer that question....is it worth it, I mean. It depends on what you will need to do to relactate, and how strongly you feel about breastfeeding. These are both individual circumstances, personal to you.

kayzr, I hope tiktok sees this and can advise.

I would imagine though that you will still have something there although it'll be hard work to get it back.

There's some information on kellymom

Good Luck, whatever happens

aha...as if by magic

I'd like to give it a go. I'm not enjoying FF.

I do still have some milk, but I'm not feeling full anymore.

It's domperidone which is usually prescribed for this - lots of threads about it.

Relactation succeeds when it's worked at - and you have had weeks of difficulty, kayzr, beginning with truly awful 'support' at the start, so relactation is something you will need to be highly motivated and committed to, sorry....'giving it a go' won't do it

One thing mums sometimes do in your situation is to retain the comfort of the breast - they give lots of skin to skin to their baby, let the baby suckle as and when, without the hard work needed to build up a full supply. So this might be an option? It retains all the lovely intimacy of bf without the pressure to make it the baby's sole source of food.

These, as I say, are individual choices, and they come from the heart not the head

I am highly motivated and committed to do it, it obviously doesn't come across like that but I am.

I'm going to go to bed now and have a cuddle with DS2.

kayzr - I wasn't in the least critical of you I was making sure you knew that relactation is hard work.

You aren't highly committed and motivated to relactate, otherwise you wouldn't have asked if it was more hassle than it's worth....there is nothing wrong with not being highly committed and motivated to relactate! There are more things in life than breastfeeding, and it's a judgement to be made by the individual about where on the scale of things it fits!

Fantastic if you want to relactate - but I was explaining that if you just 'give it a go' you will end up disappointed Better to know what's involved, don't you think?

Whatever you do, it has to be right for you - and you deserve support whatever that decision is.