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Hello all!

I've just registered here and wanted to introduce myself.

I'm a mother to a five and a half year old daughter (through my own pregnancy). She stopped nursing a couple of days after her fifth birthday (the last 12 months of "nursing" was just before sleep, 10 minutes at most, questionable whether there was any milk at all).

I'm expecting through a gestational surrogate in mid December and interested in nursing again (I had a hysterectomy after my daughter's birth, I have my ovaries). We are just now at 13 weeks pregnant and I am still terrified of losing this baby, but at the same time, I know if I wish to nurse, I should start my research now. I've been reading about the Newman-Goldfarb protocol and other websites that recommend other protocols, some without any medications.

On my to do list is call my local La Leche leader, my LC from 5 years ago when my daughter was born, my OB and my GP. I live in Los Angeles.

So thank you in advance for any advice. I 'll be reading for a while before posting specific questions.

xoPam

Welcome Pam! For the best results I would recommend the regular protocol since you have the time. There is no guarantee what kind of results you would get with the other protocols that don't involve medication. There is more to breast feeding than the amount of milk you produce though.

Good luck!

Additionally you can get the medication for the regular protocol on inhousepharmacy.biz which may be easier than going through your doctor.

Thanks Claudia.

I was just wondering whether I would be in a better position to re-lactate if I started pumping now rather than starting the med. protocol now and pumping 6 weeks before delivery. Although I don't have milk right now, I still do have bits of dried up milk that come to the surface.

I will begin by calling my OB and have her call in an rx so I can start stockpiling the pills (insurance won't fill it every three weeks, I don't think)

But the again...I don't really want to pump for the next six months...

Lots of information. I'm glad I found this resource.

Pam,
I had a bio son that stopped bf about 18 months before we adopted our daughter. I did the regular protocol. We had a stork drop situation, so I started pumping the day we were placed with our daughter. I built up to her needs within 2 weeks (but she was small, so her needs were pretty small too). We were able to ebf from that point on.

I don't know if having nursed helped me in my supply. I do think it helped that I knew how to nurse a baby. My experiences were totally different. I worried about supply a lot more (I never had supply issues with my son).

I was not prepared to pump long term. Even when we adopted again and were matched ahead, I did not start pumping until 10 days before she was born.

If I was in your situation, I would start the regular protocol now and start pumping 6 weeks before the baby was due (since you know the baby is yours - which is different than our adoption situation).

I also used inhousepharmacy.biz. I think you can get bcp's there too.

Jennifer