Inducing Lactation x2
Intro:
In case you didn't read, or don't remember, I induced lactation for Rudi as well. It involves taking birth control and domperidone and pumping to get milk flowing before baby is born. It's A LOT of work.
Part 1, Written at the beginning of November
So here we are, a little over 3 weeks into pumping around the clock for inducing lactation for baby #2. It is very different from Rudi.
First, I know more now. I never made much milk with Rudi, so this time I'm taking it more seriously. Being off work helps immensely. I'm pumping around the clock, as I mentioned in my last post and I'm seeing increases in milk!
After 1 week I was getting about 45mls a day
After 2 weeks I was getting about 90mls a day
After 3 weeks I was getting about 120mls a day.
It's so encouraging to see the increase, but I have a loooong way to go to a full supply for baby - that's not my goal anyway. My goal is just to see how much I can get, I guess. Once baby is here I can't keep pumping like I am, although nursing will help keep things flowing.
I had to stop measuring every day, though, because I became obsessive about it. There is nothing in my life that my self-talk is more all over the map on than this. Seriously, I have to work triple duty over time to stay positive in my mind.
Part 2, Written now, 7 weeks into Lindsay's life
As I mentioned above, my self-talk around lactation was all over the place. I'd be so happy to see progress (I made about an oz more a day each week) to the very next second wondering why I was working so hard for something for which there was no guarantee of success (although I guess that does define fighting through and past infertility).
For 2 weeks I pumped 9x a day while working, including once in the middle of the night. It was so exhausting the first week I was off work I basically pumped and slept.
When Lindsay was born I was making about 8oz of milk a day, about a quarter to a third of a full supply. I was happy with that, and indeed, the first few times she nursed I had to only let her latch for a few gulps and then take her off because I had much more milk than someone who had just given birth. I had enough milk pumped in the freezer to feed Lindsay entirely by myself (between nursing and bottles) for 26 days. ALMOST a month!
For the first 3-4 weeks of her life I did 'triple feeding'. It is horrible. It means you nurse, then offer a bottle, then pump. The whole ridiculousness happened at least 9x a day and took an hour each time. As you might imagine, it was very draining and although I wanted to keep it up until Christmas to give my milk supply the best possible chance, I just couldn't maintain the schedule. I comforted myself that I still had a significant amount of milk and supplementing was not a big deal. Indeed, taking the pumping part of the routine out of it made feeding feel completely manageable!
Lindsay has a lip and tongue tie which made nursing somewhat painful for the first 2 or 3 weeks. There were more than one or two moments where I wondered if nursing was going to work for us, especially after reading the book 'Cribsheet' which goes through parenting studies. The chapter on breastfeeding concluded that the actual scientifically measurable benefits were minimal - made me wonder if I should keep going. It made me pause and think about why I was doing it. I decided, though, that the reason I induced lactation again was to have the experience of nursing, and all that comes with it - tired, nursing all the time, clusterfeeding, the whole 9 yards.
Lindsay has figured out her ties now and we're on a roll. I always nurse her first, even if she's fussing an hour after eating from the bottle, instead of offering her more bottle, which is what I did with Rudi.
Y'all....my supply has increased! She is only taking between 8 and 10ish oz a day of top up milk! And she's 7 weeks old, so drinking a 'full supply' of 24-30oz a day. By this stage Rudi was getting 24oz a day in bottles. I was wondering if she might not be gaining enough but I weighed her today and she gained 14 oz in 3 weeks, right on target!
It has worked! It is working! I'm learning how to trust my body to have milk for her and trust her when she doesn't want the bottle after nursing.
It's amazing to hear her gulping away - sometimes she gets a little overloaded and pulls away to get her breath. It's incredible!!
I don't know if my supply will still keep increasing - seems unlikely as I'm not doing anything after she eats to tell my body to keep making more milk. But we'll see. I would have been happy with making 8oz a day and doing the rest bottles, so am feeling pretty good about things right now!
That may well change yet, but for now we celebrate :) Right now Lindsay is drinking milk pumped for her by Sara, her surrogate, so she's being fed by the two women who gave her life :) Pretty special.
In case you didn't read, or don't remember, I induced lactation for Rudi as well. It involves taking birth control and domperidone and pumping to get milk flowing before baby is born. It's A LOT of work.
Part 1, Written at the beginning of November
So here we are, a little over 3 weeks into pumping around the clock for inducing lactation for baby #2. It is very different from Rudi.
First, I know more now. I never made much milk with Rudi, so this time I'm taking it more seriously. Being off work helps immensely. I'm pumping around the clock, as I mentioned in my last post and I'm seeing increases in milk!
After 1 week I was getting about 45mls a day
After 2 weeks I was getting about 90mls a day
After 3 weeks I was getting about 120mls a day.
It's so encouraging to see the increase, but I have a loooong way to go to a full supply for baby - that's not my goal anyway. My goal is just to see how much I can get, I guess. Once baby is here I can't keep pumping like I am, although nursing will help keep things flowing.
I had to stop measuring every day, though, because I became obsessive about it. There is nothing in my life that my self-talk is more all over the map on than this. Seriously, I have to work triple duty over time to stay positive in my mind.
Part 2, Written now, 7 weeks into Lindsay's life
As I mentioned above, my self-talk around lactation was all over the place. I'd be so happy to see progress (I made about an oz more a day each week) to the very next second wondering why I was working so hard for something for which there was no guarantee of success (although I guess that does define fighting through and past infertility).
For 2 weeks I pumped 9x a day while working, including once in the middle of the night. It was so exhausting the first week I was off work I basically pumped and slept.
When Lindsay was born I was making about 8oz of milk a day, about a quarter to a third of a full supply. I was happy with that, and indeed, the first few times she nursed I had to only let her latch for a few gulps and then take her off because I had much more milk than someone who had just given birth. I had enough milk pumped in the freezer to feed Lindsay entirely by myself (between nursing and bottles) for 26 days. ALMOST a month!
For the first 3-4 weeks of her life I did 'triple feeding'. It is horrible. It means you nurse, then offer a bottle, then pump. The whole ridiculousness happened at least 9x a day and took an hour each time. As you might imagine, it was very draining and although I wanted to keep it up until Christmas to give my milk supply the best possible chance, I just couldn't maintain the schedule. I comforted myself that I still had a significant amount of milk and supplementing was not a big deal. Indeed, taking the pumping part of the routine out of it made feeding feel completely manageable!
Lindsay has a lip and tongue tie which made nursing somewhat painful for the first 2 or 3 weeks. There were more than one or two moments where I wondered if nursing was going to work for us, especially after reading the book 'Cribsheet' which goes through parenting studies. The chapter on breastfeeding concluded that the actual scientifically measurable benefits were minimal - made me wonder if I should keep going. It made me pause and think about why I was doing it. I decided, though, that the reason I induced lactation again was to have the experience of nursing, and all that comes with it - tired, nursing all the time, clusterfeeding, the whole 9 yards.
Lindsay has figured out her ties now and we're on a roll. I always nurse her first, even if she's fussing an hour after eating from the bottle, instead of offering her more bottle, which is what I did with Rudi.
Y'all....my supply has increased! She is only taking between 8 and 10ish oz a day of top up milk! And she's 7 weeks old, so drinking a 'full supply' of 24-30oz a day. By this stage Rudi was getting 24oz a day in bottles. I was wondering if she might not be gaining enough but I weighed her today and she gained 14 oz in 3 weeks, right on target!
It has worked! It is working! I'm learning how to trust my body to have milk for her and trust her when she doesn't want the bottle after nursing.
It's amazing to hear her gulping away - sometimes she gets a little overloaded and pulls away to get her breath. It's incredible!!
I don't know if my supply will still keep increasing - seems unlikely as I'm not doing anything after she eats to tell my body to keep making more milk. But we'll see. I would have been happy with making 8oz a day and doing the rest bottles, so am feeling pretty good about things right now!
That may well change yet, but for now we celebrate :) Right now Lindsay is drinking milk pumped for her by Sara, her surrogate, so she's being fed by the two women who gave her life :) Pretty special.
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