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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Relactation

I am exclusively breastfeeding my little one, and I hope to continue until he is at least a year old. I am blessed to have the adequate(read:overabundant) milk supply, and a baby eager to nurse! This is not the case with all new mamas... I am in touch with several mamas that had babies around the same time as me...many have chosen to formula feed, many felt like they had to. Likewise, I have recently come in contact with a couple other new mamas that formula feed. What I have heard from a majority of these ladies is that they couldn't produce enough milk, or that they got off track somewhere along the line and just couldn't meet the baby's nutritional needs. Incidentally, almost every mama I've talked to that wanted to keep nursing but couldn't, their babies are experiencing problems with formula toleration...I wonder if there is something to that? I'm very sad for the new moms that want to breastfeed, but can't! I would never judge a mom for choosing formula over breastmilk..we had to supplement for several weeks to encourage weight gain because Garrett had issues with jaundice and low blood sugar, and just wouldn't stay awake long enough to get enough calories in his little body...but, once he regained his birth weight, we stopped the formula feedings and it's been a-ok ever since! Had we not been successful in his weight gain, I would have switched to formula...his health is most important! Jaundice and blood sugar issues can be very dangerous if not controlled, and I would never suggest denying a child proper nutrition. But all this reminded me that I have heard of women lactating again after weaning, and of women who adopted babies, and breastfed them! Wow, what a feat! I wanted to offer a few sites that could shed some light on this amazing process..it is not easy, it seems, but if a mama really wanted to commit to relactation, IT IS POSSIBLE!!! The highlights of what I've read are similar to increasing your milk supply if it is low: nurse often, even if it's just to suckle; pump, even if you only get a few drops of milk; avoid caffeine and alcohol, increase your water intake; look to herbs:fenugreek, blessed thistle, Mother's Milk Tea, or medications: Reglan, to induce or increase supply; reduce stress, don't worry about it...it takes time! Some sites suggested that this process is easiest for moms of babies under 3 months of age, or that weaned less than 3 months ago. They suggest it may take a similar number of weeks to relactate as to how many you have been formula feeding. Please read the cited works below to find out if trying to relactate would be right for you! I am by no means an expert(on this or any other matter!), but I just thought how great it would be for a mama to get even a little more breastfeeding time with her new bundle! It may not work for your situation, it may not be enough for your baby's full nutritional needs...but, what if it works? even a little...What if you could nurse again? even if you had to still supplement part-time...wouldn't it be worth a try? sources and blog posts by people with expertise and/or experience in the matter: http://www.alisaikeda.com/Clients_Clips/Relactation/body_relactation.html http://www.naturalchildbirth.org/natural/resources/breastfeeding/breastfeeding01.htm http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/bf/relact.asp http://cerra.blogspot.com/2009/07/re-lactation.html

1 comment:

Cerra said...

Thanks for the link - re-lactating has been amazing for us, in fact the babe nurses to sleep 99% of the time now (naps, too) and already refuses the pacifier!