Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Week 1 of pumping & not sure what to expect

Hello,

I am an intended mother via a gestational carrier (my cousin) and am expecting twin boys in February. I started the Regular protocol around 10-11 weeks gestation and just last Tuesday (12/29) stopped the hormones and began pumping with the Medela Symphony. I pump every 2-3 hours for 15 minutes (plan to start pumping for 20 min) and take domperidone 30mg 3x/day. On my first pump I had droplets of milk on my nipples, which continued throughout day 1, and on day 2 I had droplets that dripped into the bottles (probably about 2mL). I've seen a similar pattern for the last few days--I get droplets that drip into the bottle, but don't amount to much more than a 1-2mL. I don't know what to expect and am already feeling discouraged. Can you tell me if this is typical and when I should start to see a more substantial amount of milk.

I have a long history of infertility and recurrent miscarriage. My offical infertility diagnosis is PCOS (although I don't really fit the typical profile and only really suffer from anovulation). I had a successful IVF cycle in '07 result in my son, Myles, who was born at 26wks gestation due to severe preeclampsia/HELLP. Sadly my son died at 26 days of age, but while he was in the NICU I pumped for him. On average I would pump about 14 oz per day. I know this is a low supply and I'm not sure if I should expect my supply to be low again or not.

I just started drinking Mother's Milk tea 3x/day and tomorrow will begin using More Milk Special Blend (http://www.motherlove.com/product_more_milk_special.php) at 1/4 tsp 4x/day.

I am motivated to produce at least some milk for my boys, but want to be realistic in my expectations. I can feel myself getting discouraged already in the first week ... I actually cried tonight thinking that I'm not going to be able to do this for my boys. I don't want to have done all of this work for nothing. Any advice and/or encouragement you can give would be much appreciated.

Warmly,
Niki

Hey Niki,

I know that results are different for everyone, and I believe are also tied to the amount of time you were on the protocol. May I ask if you are taking the fenugreek and blessed thistle per protocol? Also, my thoughts on the Domperidone are that it is better to take it 4 times per day instead of 3. Reason being, there is a more consistent level of prolactin as stimulated by the Domperidone. That's just my thinking, though, and not based on any research I've read.

Ok, so here's my story, and hopefully it will be of some encouragement to you. I was on the standard protocol for 10 months and started pumping (and taking Dom and herbs) 4 weeks ago. As far as medications, I follow the protocol to the "T". I pump 7-9 times per day, which ends up being about every 4 hours at night, and every 2-3 hours during the day.

The first 2 days I saw drops of milk in the flange which progressed to drops of milk in the bottle. On the 3rd day I started measuring output in milliliters. When I review my milk production on a daily basis the pattern seems to be approximately the same output for a few days, then an increase. When I review my weekly milk production it looks like 1-2 oz increase per week - which is very encouraging!! Sometimes I'll have an increase, and then the next day falls back to a 1 oz decrease or so. Then it will increase again. I haven't been able to nail that down to any particular causes.

So, overall, in just over 4 weeks of pumping, I have gone from 2 drops per pumping session to 9.5 oz daily!

Hang in there.
Jenny

Hi Niki,

Any updates? My rate of progress has been similar to yours -- measured in mL not oz. Just curious to compare notes. You can see my posts under "3 weeks of pumping..." and "4 weeks of pumping..."