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

Hello to everyone. This is my first post.
My story is a long one, I'm 36 and my husband and I have been tryiong to have our biological children for 12 yeras, we have been blessed by six angels, but unfortunately we lost all of them either the day of birth or two days after they were born. Our last twins were lost 1.5 years ago and after their loss, we decided it was time to look into adoption.

I have a DVT (leg blood clot) and a potential lung blood clot that was discoverd last year and due to that my OB/GYN is COMPLETELY against me taking BCP's to induce breast milk.

My OB/GYN is very understanding though, and she advised I only try the Domp., so I've been on it now for 4 weeks (80mg/day). My breasts have grown almost an inch and when I sort of squeeze my nipples, they ooze some milk drops !! (sorry if that is grosse). She also advised I start pumping (we are looking into local adoption - we are in the middle east) and we place a form that shows we would want to have our baby (preferably a newborn) by end August,08 - mid September,08). This means I have like 3 months infront of me to use inorder to induce breast milk.

I started pumping 2 days ago (is that way too early?) and all I get is one drop every time I pump.

Do you think it's early to start pumping? and how many times should I pump/day?

And for you girls who are now pro's in pumping, when will I be able to fill a bottle or at least start to fill it up?

I know I am rushing things, but I want this to work out and that's why I am so nervous and don't want to mess things up.

Thanks if you are still reading this long boring post.

God bless.

Hi Hapi,

I can not take BCP's because I had a stroke while taking them 6 years ago. We are having a surrogate carry our baby and she is due June 6. I started pumping in Nov along with taking Dom, Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle. I started with just drops and now am up to 5 oz/day. I started pumping 3 times/day and gradually increased to 8 times/day. I pumped for 10-15 minutes at a time and increased to 20 minutes.

I think it's great that you OB is supporting you!! You can start pumping now especially if you have seen changes in your breasts. Just use a medium suction on your pump. It will feel a bit strange but shouldn't be painful. Also, if you put a little olive oil on the flanges it will keep your nipples from rubbing and getting sore.

I remember when I found this site I was so excited that I could try breastfeeding. It has been a long journey but I had a dream the other night. In my dream, my daughter was here and I tried to latch her on and she took to it like a pro. I awoke with a HUGE smile on my face. That's what these months of pumping have been for, for that kind of relationship.

Best of luck!! You can do it!!

Once you can pump enough to freeze, you should do that so you have milk on hand. Either to supplement or to have as an emergency stash in case you need to be away from your baby. I always kept a bunch in my freezer, just in case.

Currently I am trying to increase my supply for adoption. If I get half an ounce or more I freeze. Less than that I give to my son or the houseplants. The reason I do it this way rather than save up all day and freeze at night in one bag is I have high lipase. The lipase breaks down the fat too fast and within hours my milk tastes so bad it is undrinkable by adult and toddler standards. You can imagine my horror when I discovered this. It meant my 600+ ounces of milk in the freezer probably could not be used. (My SIL is an MD. She said a newborn might drink it as their tastes are different than ours.) Based on this experience, I suggest all moms who are freezing sample their milk once a month to make sure this isn't happening to them. Best way to do it is to put 1/2 an ounce or so of milk in the fridge. It should last for 8 to 10 days and taste fine. If it tastes bad before that (mine is bad in 24 hours,) you have high lipase. Fortunately, scalding makes milk so you can store it.

Here is a link:
http://forums.llli.org/showthread.php?t=297

Hello Michele, thanks for the reply and praying your baby girl is here and happily nursing. Isn't that our dream...all of us? :-)

I think I should try pumping more. I only pump twice a day and only for 10 minutes every time I do.

I am using the high suction on my pump and it is OK, it doesn't seem to hurt like I thought, BUT, I am using a manual breast pump. You see, we cannot rent pumps where I am, and so I went and bought me one. The electric one was way too expensive to buy, so I settled for the manual one. Do you think maybe that is why I am not getting enough milk? I might be using it wrong or something ! Should I be pumping fast or wait between pumps, like for a few seconds till the breast is back to its shape. Am I even making any sense?

Thanks about the olive oil advice, I'll definately use that to avoid being sore later.

Lots of luck for you and your baby girl. May you be a wonderful mother :-)

Hello Second. Sorry about this whole lipase issue you have. Hope the baby doesn't really know the difference in taste and so your stored milk won't be wasted. How long can milk be stored? I read somewhere it could only be frozen for 14 days only !! That won't help with me, our baby isn't going to be around for 3 more months or more maybe.

Thanks for the link. that's very helpful. But isn't there any kind of test to know whether one's milk would have lipase or not?

I was thinking of getting my milk tested once I have enough to store, only to know if it contains too much Domp. and would be risky to give baby or whether the milk has any bad componenet or anything.

Thanks again for your help.

Hapi,

I don't know much about manual pumps but there should be more ladies around during the week who may have more experiences with them.

Good luck on with your adoption.

Thanks for your reply Michele, and sorry for my late reply. I was out of town on a vacation :-)

My supply finally is increasing. I am now pumping one oz. per session...which is a huge thing for me. :-) I thought I'd never hit one oz. ever. Well, this only happened today, so I'm still cautiously optimistic.

Your baby is due today??? Oooooh, I wish you all the best and please update me how things went with you finally meeting your baby.

Congratulations in advance and hope you are having a wonderful time with your bundle of joy.

Hapi,

I started a new post about Danielle arrival. It truly has been a great week. We are so thrilled and breastfeeding is going well.

I replied on your new thread , but thought I'd leave you a CONGRATULATIONS in here too. have a wonderful time with your baby girl.