still lactating???

yeah, this is going to sound dumb from me after all this talk about not being able to breastfeed properly....well, the other day, I noticed some moisture on my left breast, which was always the biggest producer and when I squeezed it, milk came pouring out. I couldn't believe it.
I tried the right side, my (dramatically) smaller one, which I had all the infections in, and the one which never really produced, and there was none, which didn't surprise me.
How long will this last for? Will it ever dry comepletely up, or wil I always have it?

 

I have a friend who only breastfed for a week due to complications with her heart and kidneys from the epidural drugs given to her in the hospital. She still leaks milk from time to time, three years later.

have you considered relactating? It's not too late....

 

ditto. hook her up to your left boob and see what happens

 

totally! you got milk? she's got boob juice!

 

I thought about that, but what are the chances of her actually getting anything? I mean, she used to be a ferice sucker, but now that she has bottles, she's gotten "lazy"
I'm also a little paranoid about going through all the emotional stuff again, if nothing works, know what I mean?
Also, if is DOES work, and I let her suckle on the one that's not producing, should it stimulate more milk?
I'm also wondering if I'll get as badily engorged as I did after I had her and come down with infections.....
How would I get her to learn to latch on again?
Oy, so many questions.....
I'm kinda nervous.....

 

Gosh, I think I'd at least try! If you can squeeze it out, she can get it out faster & easier than that. I'd just hold her up to it & see what happens. If nothing happens, you're no worse off than before. But if it works, she'd have the benefit of those antibodies... and from your posts I think you'd feel much better for having given it that second try, y'know?
love,
mom

 

you're right, homechoolmama
I can't get over how nervous it's making me feel.....
I'll try later today after she wakes up from her nap

 

Good luck

 

If she suckles, don't worry how much she's getting. Just chill and watch some tv. Try not to get stressed and wound up, she'll feel that. Relacting, IMO, needs to be done gently, not all at once, keep with her bottles too, maybe think of it as weaning off her bottles and onto the brest. No need to rush anything. Alo, even if she only gets an ounce a day after 16 nursing sessions that's better then none AND you two get to be super close

 

Totally....If you're RElactating, I don't think you'll get super engorged. You'll probably build up supply slowly.

Maybe invest in an SNS (or when maggie gets back, see if she still has the one she was going to give to me...), so that she can suckle AND get the formula she needs, while her suckle builds up your supply.

Remember that her latch will be lazy, but just keep with it, and don't stress over it, or stress her....

Hon, you know that if you don't give it a try, you'll stress and fret and be upset with yourself for NOT trying. I know I'd be giving it a second try if I thought I were still lactating.

Good luck. Keep us posted. *hugs*

 

You'll never know if you don't give it a shot

 

never got too much of a chance today, sadily. She has been acting really weird for the last 2 days....I think that she's getting some more teeth through. She won't eat her solid foods, but still finishes her formula. She cries and cries, can't get to sleep well, when she is alseep, she wakes up all the time, which is REALLY rare, and has been drooling like a faucet. So yeah, I'm thinking it's the teeth. I tried gripe water, and nothin, so I gave her some tylenol to help her settle down. She had a big crying fit tonight, but that seemed to help, along with a bottle. When she was in that kinda mood, I didn't want to confuse her with shoving my boob in her mouth on top of it all.
I really can't wait for maggie to get back to get some answers to my questions, lol
ONE BIG QUESTION: I have been coming down with something, which feels like mono again....should I wait till that goes away to give this a try?

 

when I relactated, I supplemented with finger feeding to train Jenny to nurse properly. That worked really well, and I could latch her on without pain for the first time ever. I still had to pump every three hours during the day, allowing myself to go four hours at night, in order to increase my supply to meet her demand, but she had a bad reaction to formula, and I was in a big hurry to get her off it totally. There's all you need to know about relactating at kellymom.com http://www.kellymom.com/bf/adopt/index.html


We did go back to bottles for her supplements, because finger feeding was just too hard, but I knew if it messed up her latch and suck that I could always fix it again. And you don't ever "shove your boob in baby's mouth". I had one pushy LC who tried to do that, and it only stressed me and baby out. Make yourself comfy, prop baby up with as many pillows as you need, and see what happens.

 

did you really think i was litterally going to do that? Of course not, I was meaning it in the sence that I didn't want to introduce her to this new thing when she was feeling the way she did.
when i used to try to nurse her for the first 2 months, I would be surrounded in pillows and stuff. I still ended up crunched over, leaning foward and in pain, so i have to work on staying put...I'd get comfortable, then would have to lean foward to get her to latch, even though I knew I was supposed to bring her to me. And I constantly had to hold her in such a position that it hurt my hand to always hold her head, and I always had to be holding up my boob, or she wouldn't stay on, which made everything frustrating and uncomfortable after 5 minutes. I don't have one clue how women keep their babies on after letting them lay freely on a pillow or beside them on a bed.....it baffles me.
I'll check out the link though, thanks

 

Sit on the floor and help her stand to nurse. Let her play a bit with your nips (sounds weird I know ) It might just get her mind off her teeth

As for the mono. The absolute best thing to insure that she does NOT get it is to feed her breast milk. Is she drinking from a cup? If you pump some and feed it to her in a cup she'll get your antibodies and not get mono and it'll help her with teething

 

Or sit down and let her sit in front of you and play.

 

cool ideas, colorfulhippie! my breast pump is at home, so I'll have to wait for that til i get home next week, but yeah, I'll let her play around. I actually let her do that at home...I usually sleep with no shirt, so she starts to play with them, and even cuddles up to them. The intrest is definately there.

 

That's a good sign alone IMO, that she plays with your breasts, cuddles them. That and a bit of mouth-nip contact might just do the trick.

I'll be thinking of you two

 

I was only trying to help.

no, I didn't think that. But I did have one clueless LC who actually physically grabbed my breast with her hand and shoved it in my baby's face.:& Not suprisingly, my baby refused to latch on with her in the room and would only scream in frustration.

I know exactly what you are talking about how hard getting baby in the right position is. It takes lots of practice to figure out how to nurse. I always thought it would come naturally, but it just didn't. I thought, "the dog can do it, why can't I?" Do you have anyone who can come visit and help you figure out how to position yourself and your baby so that both of you are comfortable? Ina May once said that a woman is making love to her baby when she nurses. Not in a sexual way, but still making love is the best description for the process. You have to be comfortable and you have to be relaxed, or baby picks up on that and is not comfortable or relaxed either.

AND... when I was relactating, I had the disadvantage of having a tongue-tied baby who was physically unable to stimulate a decent supply with nursing, so I *had* to pump. If your baby has a good latch and a strong suck, it shouldn't be so hard for you at all, once you can get her latched on. You might not ever have to pump! Most babies are much more efficient at getting the milk and stimulating a good supply than pumps are.

 

I didn't mean to make you feel bad, I know you were trying to help
I once did that in one of my times of frustration and tears and was thinking, "just take it!" But yeah, I remember the look she gave me, and my stomach still feels knotten to this day for it.
I think that one of the biggest issues for me, besides her not being satisfied (and not knowing why) and having all the infections, was the fact that I was never comfortable. Sadily, I'll have no one to help me out, as I'm having to keep this secret from my family. I'll just have to rely on you mamas for support and advice.