Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Advice

Hello!

I induced lactation two years ago for my daughter who was born through surrogacy in India (I had a hysterectomy when I was 35). My little girl was labeled "content to starve" as she never cried to nurse and was failing to gain weight. When the doctor weighed her before and after a 30-minute nursing session, she barely gained an ounce at a month old.

She was 7 weeks when I finally stopped breastfeeding and switched completely to bottles in order to get her weight up. She never latched properly with the supplemental nursing system (we have a Lact-Aid). She did get a lot of donor breast milk, though. She is now 2 years old and is as healthy as can be.

Anyway, our surrogate is due with another baby in a few weeks and we are leaving for India on November 12th. My husband was not on board with me inducing again as it was a huge strain in our relationship last time. He finally agreed to let me take Dom, but doesn't want me pumping. He seems to think that I can just use the Lact-Aid from birth and the baby's sucking will cause me to make milk. I really want to pump for the next two weeks so I'm producing at least something, even if it's just drops.

My question is, should I try to convince my husband to let me pump or should I just hope that my body will respond once the baby is born? I welcome any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

I would try to convince your husband to let you pump. Perhaps if we understood why he didn't want you to pump we could offer better advice.

Hi, PaminLA! Thanks for weighing in. He doesn't want me pumping because he's worried I'll stress out about how much milk I'm producing like last time. He's also concerned that I'm going to be sleep-deprived before the baby even gets here if I'm waking up to pump a couple of times a night. I wasn't a very fun person to live with while trying to nurse my daughter. We talked at length again today and seem to have reached a compromise. He says I can pump, but only during the day. I'll take whatever support I can get...

I got it, and that makes sense. This is the third day of pumping for me and I'm feeling really stressed out and didn't sleep very well. I'm glad you reached a compromise.

By the way, our baby is due in Mumbai in mid-December.

I would try to pump before she arrives at least some. Even if you could just wake up once at night, that would be very helpful. I would not wake up more than once.

I also had a baby that had a small appetite. She grew appropriately, but was always small (below the 3%). My doctor wasn't concerned, but she was gaining. She is now a very normal sized, but skinny 4.5 year old.

Jennifer

You wrote this "Advice question" under "Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk" but you do not indicate that you followed any protocal??
Using one of the protocols really does help bring in a better milk supply.

Colette

Jennifer, I wish my doctor wasn't so concerned with our baby's growth/weight. The pediatrician really did a number on me when we got back from India. I was convinced that my baby was starving to death based on the doctor's diagnosis. My daughter just never had (and still doesn't have) a huge appetite and was always in the 5th percentile. She's just slim and petite.

Colette, sorry I wasn't more clear. I induced lactation 2 years ago and am in the process of inducing again now using the Menopause Protocol (Provera and Dom for 60 days) since I had a complete and total hysterectomy about 4 years ago. I suffered from severe endometriosis and underwent five surgeries in 4 years plus multiple fertility treatments to try had conceive. We finally got our daughter through a surrogate.

I didn't pump too much in advance (the first time it was a stork drop so I started pumping the day we were placed with her and the second time about 10 days in advance), but we adopted, so there was a lot of unknown. If I was in a surrogate situation I would pump for at least a few weeks if not a month or more to try to build my supply. It is time consuming, but worth it.
Jennifer