Troubleshooting Induced Lactation

I have been rejected many times before. Boys, jobs, what I thought was a great dance move at a party, and usually I can shrug it off. But when your child rejects you from breastfeeding him/her it will give you a serious complex. Inducing lactation is hard work. One thing is for sure, you have to be committed. Let’s be real here. If you are inducing we already know you are bad ass lady who has already been on a long journey to become a mom. Ever have 1.5 inch long Pio shots darted at your butt every day for weeks on end? I rest my case. So going through the process of inducing is small sacrifice compared to the gift you will be able to give.

This was baby bootcamp in its rawest form. Being novel rookie parents we may have been sleep deprived, stinky and delirious but let me tell you, I drank up every second of those first months like a fine vintage wine. There are still times I sulk that I have to go to sleep because that meant I will have to wait till she wakes up to hold her again. Dishes tend to stay in the sink a little longer and those clothes lay in a pile, unfolded more often. I don’t care about those things like I use to. Fold clothes or hold her and watch her sleep like a stalker? I choose mommy stalker over Martha Stewart.

I guess I just thought inducing lactation would get easier. This is where I was wrong. It all started with Jellybean nursing every 2 hours around the clock when she was born. She would nurse or fall asleep at the wheel while eating for 30-45 minutes then I would wake up Chris and in a half daze, he would burp her, change her and then put her to bed. Meanwhile, I pump the rest of the milk out and save Every.Single.Drop. This milk factory assembly line would take about a 1hr 15, to 1.5 hrs leaving us with about 30 minutes of sweet sweet sleep time before the cycle started all over again.

Now, Jellybean started to become disinterested with nursing around 6 weeks and by 14 weeks she would not latch at all. Perhaps, I was a bit insecure, but I took it personally. I worked so hard to induce and now she won’t latch! Do I have B.O? I will not rule that out that theory quite yet considering during those first few months you bathe under duress in a small window of time or you just weigh out sleep over hygiene. I tried everything. No seriously I tried it all. From LLL visits, seeing an IBCLC, to trying a ton of different methods. Here is the list of what did not work and a few things the kind of worked:

SNS (Supplemental Nursing System)

Using this was like a bad topless circus show watching Chris and I try to finagle the tubes and get Jellybean to latch all while not spilling the precious milk everywhere. We tried multiple varieties and every time it ended up with milk leaking all over the place and a hungry baby.

Skin on Skin

Great for bonding and she would snuggle up to me and love it. However, the moment I would whip out the milk bags she would start to beat against my chest and scream. You try shoving your boob in a crying mouth. I assure you it is traumatizing for all parties involved.

Lip/Tongue Ties

We had that checked out and apart from a very minor lip tie everything looked good. This is more for those who have latch issues. Regardless, we still flipped over this rock too.

Expensive Breast Feeding Friendly Bottles

We used the Medela and ComoTomo. Which would end up flooding her with milk and she would choke while bottle feeding. The bottles simply have too fast of flow to mimic the breast. So that option got ruled out. We ended up using Dr. Browns and went with a Preemie/slowflow nipple to help slow the flow and allow her to “work” at pulling the milk like they would at the breast.

Pace Feeding

Tried it and Chris and I would end up in a heated debate whether she was getting too much air. It works for some but for us, that method just ended up in her spitting up more. Which was counter intuitive of the overall goal. Here is a video on pace feeding.

Donor Milk

I supply Jellybean with about half of what she needs. Luckily, I have a dear friend who is a pediatrician and 3 time breastfeeding champion with overactive milk production that from time to time gives me her surplus. Although, I am jealous of her abundance, I am certainly appreciative! This has greatly helped take the pressure off of me.

Nipple Shields

OK this actually kind of worked. It is a bit wonky getting on but she will latch on to it and nurse for a brief time period. After a while the light bulb kicks on and she is like “WHOA wait a minute, this isn’t my fast food. Bring on the bottle this is way too much work.” The problem with nipple shields and me is that I have a late let down. Meaning it takes a good 5-8 minutes to get the milky floodgates to open.

***Disclosure*** If you are inducing. PLEASE try all the above and more! This is a list of what did not work for us, but it may work for you!

After I sulked over the fact she no longer wanted to nurse, I mentally slapped myself for being ridiculous and focused on what the main purpose of inducing lactation was for me. Giving her breast milk. So I just pump exclusively now. “Larry Sir Pumpsalot” my Ameda hospital grade pump, certainly gets more boob action than Chris these days and I actually think Chris is OK with that. Often I feel like I am a dairy cow, but I am proud to say I am soon approaching my 6 month stretch goal of giving Jellybean breast milk. Now the real question is… do I shoot for 8 months or will my pump spontaneously combust due to overuse?

So if you decide on inducing and start to hit some brick walls. Remember to keep in mind your ultimate goal and know how dedicated you are to even attempt to induce. Trust me, it is a challenge but do not get discouraged. Whether you are successful or not does not matter in the end. What does, is the gift of parenthood.