Re-establishing breastmilk after 3 months?

[LilMiss_91]

Hello ladies
I hope this is the right place to post this!
I breastfed my son for his first 6wks and continued expressing and bottlefeeding for a couple of weeks after that then moved to formula at around 8wks. He's just over 5 months now and I am still producing some milk (I easily get several drops hand expressing).
The reason I stopped expressing was because my nipples got extremely sore (cracked and bleeding). But now all that has healed and the skin has had time to recover, I would like to try and re-establish my milk and continue with a mix of formula and breastmilk.
Has anyone successfully re-established after a similarly long break from BF? If so, what did you do and did you get your old milk supply back? Any help would be great. Thanks in advance

 

[Laurenmomma]

It is possible but takes a lot of time and dedication

Firstly you need to have him at the boob as much as you can even if he's only suckling, try and pump when he's not on the boob too!

You can get fenugreek from herbal shop and some mothers milk tea to try and boost supply too

It can take a couple of weeks to notice a difference x

 

[cat_reversing]

as pp said, it can be done but will take time and effort. depends how important it is to you.
There are still benefits to be had from breastfeeding for both you and baby, nutritionally for baby and emotionally for both of you as you share the additional bond that bf creates.
If you only plan to bf for a short time I wouldn't bother but if you're thinking more long term eg up to a year then i'd try it.
Check this https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/relactation/

 

[LilMiss_91]

Thankyou for your responses

I would be planning to continue until LO is pretty much fully weaned, so a fair while.

I tried him at the boob yesterday a couple of times and again this morning and while he doesn't reject it, he will just about latch on but he quickly pulled back, bit down hard on my nipple and pulled! OUCH!! Cheeky lil beggar then grinned up at me like butter wouldn't melt! I kept trying but he did the same thing. I then tried a nipple shield (thought it might encourage him to suck instead of bite as he's obviously used to a bottle now). And it worked in as much as he would take a couple of sucks and then stop. I think he did get something though as I think I heard him swallowing.

Something tells me this is gonna be a long road. Hopefully if I can catch him at the right times he'll be willing to nurse for comfort at least... even if he doesn't get much!

 

[cat_reversing]

he has to get used to working for his food! it takes a few minutes for the milk to flow and it won't be enough to satisfy him until it comes back fully, but keep trying. you can try lightly stroking the breast for a couple of minutes to stimulate the breast to release the milk and maybe if he smells it he might be more interested.

 

[LilMiss_91]

He is a very impatient baby at the best of times! If he sees you with a bottle then he starts to scream while you tuck a muskin under his chin before feeding him lol. The midwives even said he was lazy when I gave birth as he didn't want to latch at all and had to be started off being syringe fed.

I'm not really looking to actually breastfeed again, I would be expressing as I was before. Do you know if it's possible to re establish BM without nursing at all and expressing instead?

 

[HopefulPony]

He is a very impatient baby at the best of times! If he sees you with a bottle then he starts to scream while you tuck a muskin under his chin before feeding him lol. The midwives even said he was lazy when I gave birth as he didn't want to latch at all and had to be started off being syringe fed.

I'm not really looking to actually breastfeed again, I would be expressing as I was before. Do you know if it's possible to re establish BM without nursing at all and expressing instead?

I'm sure it is as I've established a full supply with no nursing

 

[Laurenmomma]

Yeah it would be! Again u just need to pump pump pump!
I'm trying to get my supply back up after giving a few formula bottles while we had problems so I'm stuck with the pump on! x