Lactation Induction...anyone doing it or have done it?

Karlamo

My wife is 30 weeks pregnant and about 5 months ago I started the Newman Goldfarb protocol. In about 4 weeks I'll start pumping and hopefuly get lots of milk flowing.
Has anyone gone through this before and if so how successful were you? Also how did you and your partner split the Breast feeding schedule?

Any insight would be great. I can't seem to find anything out there on feeding schedules etc.

healz413

Hi! We haven't done it because we haven't been pregnant yet. But I really want to do it when my partner @Manada gets pregnant. I can't offer any advice since I haven't done it and M has done the research on our end of things. But I look forward to hearing about how it works for you.

Manada

In Ontario midwives can prescribe it.  Our family doc as well is super open to it and would write the script as well for us -- but we have the advantage of queer positive providers.

I've been doing the research so far, and H will be doing the Newman long protocol probably (BCPs + domperidone) - unless something comes up.   We'll also probably use a supplemental nursing system for her to tube feed as well with pumped breastmilk from me (if we are lucky enough to get pg).  

I have had friends who have done it, and it worked well for them because they had twins, so the non-birth mother would supplement one baby while the other nursed, and they'd switch it up.  I believe the one who wasn't pregnant never produced enough to solely feed, but it was something at least in the early days.

H. and I have talked about it a lot, mostly because I'm not sure I would want to induce lactation if I weren't going to be pregnant, and because I have read up on it --- I think we would plan to look at breastfeeding as both bonding time and feeding time, and try to share it out.  

Depending on how well it works for us individually, that will also dictate a schedule -- but we figure that the birth parent will be the primary feeder in the early days - with the induced lactation parent supplementing often as well, and as we get into more of a routine it can become more of a pump & use stashed milk to supplement balance.       The plus side is that I can totally see this possibly ending up in more sleep for the birth parent, while more one-on-one bonding for the non-birth parent

Manada

(haha -- I have also mentally delegated H to the middle of the night feeds apparently....   I guess she knows that now!)

firstcomeslove2013

We are also planning on this. I would love to get more of a conversation going about this!

Karlamo

@bromois, the domperidone isn't FDA approved so I could only get it online from England. I know someone who used the pharmacy so I felt comfortable with them. For the bc pills, the protocol has specific ones that have high progesterone in then. I just went to my dr and got a script.

@Manda, I was the same way at first not sure if I wanted to bf w/o being prego, but we did reciprocal ivf so basicly I'm bf my bio baby! Also I wanted an equal stake in the feeding process and this made sense for us.

Feel free to ask my anything, since it's hard to find stories about it, I feel like I should share what I'm going thru. As of now I totally think it's working because they've GROWN and they're sore just like my wife's!

Bonus bc and breast pumps are covered 100% by insurance.

redrockmama

We are considering inducing lactation. At first my wife thought it sounded like a lot of work for little outcome really. She seems to want to do it now though. Since we will both be working full time it seems like it might help with sleep and of course with bonding. We talked to our midwife about it a little bit, but need to find out more, especially when to start and how often we would both have to pump to keep our supply up. 

lamaitresse

I didn't even know this was a possibility! I've learnt so much since meeting everyone here... I'm going to mention it to Smurf but I'm not sure she'll go for it.

Karlamo

@redrockmama. The outcome depends on the woman. I know of 2 women who have done it and are producing as much if not more breast milk as their pregnant partners. The longer you're on the protocol the better the outcome. Both of the women I know of have multiples.
But I'm guessing my wife and will do every other feeding and when she goes back to work full time. I'll be at home with the baby bf.

AmandaG47

I'm so glad you asked this and opened up the conversation! My wife is currently 28 weeks pregnant with our twin girls and I'm in the middle of the long protocol as well! I will start pumping in the end of December. When I started out, I had very little expectation (and hope really) that it would work because I thought I had a certain breast disorder but about a month ago I leaked a little clear fluid. I was curious so I squeezed a bit and actually expressed a few drops of milk! So, I'm now very excited to start pumping and see how it goes.

I always planned to induce (even before the twins surprise) and looked into how to schedule between two moms. It doesn't look like we will need to be as careful considering there will always be two mouths to feed so we plan to be pretty relaxed about it. If anyone is interested, I can also let everyone know how it goes and what I learn along the way

songbird31

It's good to see that domperidone has worked successfully for others. I've taken it for 6 weeks and its done very little if anything for my supply but I'm sure that's a rarity. My body just does not want to make enough milk to meet my baby's demands. I'm also not taking it with bcp. But I've read awesome things about it like the story on this post. Also fenugreek is an option as well as a supplement. Make sure to pump on a round the clock schedule to sustain and grow the supply.