Any hope??

[friskyfish]

Hi ladies, firstly a big well done to you all x

I am writing this in desperation, my whole situation is getting me down.
My baby boy will be 10 week's tomorrow. I breastfed him for the first 6 week's.
Where I had him, was 200 miles away. My husband, son (who's 10) & I lived down south as my husband was in the navy & we lived in married quarters. He left the navy a month before we had our baby & have now moved back up north to be near to friends & family as down there we had no support.

The whole thing has been a nightmare, most stressful time of my life. I feel the past 10 week's have been spent packing up boxes, cleaning, unpacking boxes & more cleaning....all this whilst recovering from a C section, I've not rested as I should have.

Anyway, sorry, Im rambling......As I Said I breastfed for 6 week's, but I had to stop as it was affecting my health. I'm a type 1 diabetic & feeding caused my sugars to drop rapidly to the point I was having fits. Also being alone down south, I had no support, my 10 year old felt left out alot as my boobs were constantly out & I struggled to pay enough attention. The fact we moved also played a massive part. My mother in law went on and on to my husband that I should be bottle feeding, so in the end I gave in & stopped.

The whole thing is depressing me now, I loved breastfeeding my son & the closeness I felt to him. I feel a failure. Now we are back up north and more settled, I am desperate to try & see if I can try & get my milk supply back. Just enough for the night feed would be wonderful....more than that would make me so happy.

I'm so cross at myself for stopping, especially as I bfed my first son for 10 months. I feel such a sense of sadness when I bottle feed, it's really getting me down.

Is there any good for me? Is it too late ? I've tried electric breast pump to express, but nothing comes out...but quite a bit will come out hand expressing. My boobs have shrunk to nothing. I put baby on there for comfort & he just falls asleep.
I feel anger towards my mother & sister in laws for going on at my husband about it & I feel anger towards myself for stopping.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Does anyone know of anyone who has gone bk to bf after stopping? And is 10 week's to old to start again?

Thank you in advance Xx

 

[AK89]

Sorry to hear you're feeling down

I don't know much about it but I imagine who knows a lot more will be along soon to help! I do know I've heard that anyone who's breastfed before can lactate again...not too sure how accurate that is!

 

[irish_cob]

If you're serious about it and your baby will latch on still then it should be doable. Hand express, pump and latch your baby on as much as possible, do as much skin to skin as you can as well. Fenugreek is supposed to be good for improving supply but I don't have personal experience of it. Google re lactation because that's what you're doing, see if anyone has a suggested schedule. Good luck mama! X

 

[friskyfish]

Thank you so much....I am very serious, Google pretty much say the same as you..to express 8 times a day, I'm doing it around 4 times , so really need to do more. Even if it doesn't work, at least I can say I tried Xx

 

[BigAl]

There are a few relactation threads on here, I think thenewmrs did a long journey and ended up ebf, but it was hard work.

If your lo can still latch you should definitely be able to manage a feed a day. You should try to get lo to suckle/nurse as much as you can, try skin to skin, cold cloth, tickling etc to get him to stay awake.

 

[beagleowner]

Yes, relactation is possible, especially as you are still able to express milk. I'm sorry, I'm having a little trouble understanding your exact situation because you've been through so much....but are you sure BFing is appropriate for you health-wise? As you said it negatively impacted your blood sugar levels previously.

You are not a failure. We all wean at some point or another. You are amazing! It's clear that you love your children very much, and with all you've been through, a failure is the LAST word I would think of to describe you. You've survived so much!

 

[friskyfish]

Yes, relactation is possible, especially as you are still able to express milk. I'm sorry, I'm having a little trouble understanding your exact situation because you've been through so much....but are you sure BFing is appropriate for you health-wise? As you said it negatively impacted your blood sugar levels previously.

You are not a failure. We all wean at some point or another. You are amazing! It's clear that you love your children very much, and with all you've been through, a failure is the LAST word I would think of to describe you. You've survived so much!

Thank you so much for those kind words x

I really wasn't ready to give up bf....Now I'm bk up north & more settled, my health is alot better & I have more support. I wouldn't go back to doing it full time, I don't think I could even if I wanted to. But I'd really like to be able to do one or two feeds a day......the night time feed especially. These early days are so precious, I miss the closeness of our night feed.

Today I had a go on my electric breast pump...Sat there for 5 mins & nothing. But I persevered & 10 mins later it worked!! So happy X