Post Surgery Supply

kate045

Hi ladies! Has anyone had to deal with surgery while trying to keep up pumping? A little background. I have had a lump in my left breast for about the last 5 years or so. It was small and looked like a fibroadenoma, so the docs decided to just keep an eye on it and do a biopsy if it changed. Fast forward to after the birth of our son on January 3. I tried to begin breastfeeding/pumping at the time and the hormonal changes caused the lump to about triple in size during the first 4 weeks of our son's life. The docs got concerned and recommended that we remove the lump and biopsy it to make sure it wasn't something to worry about. Due to the surgery, they asked that I drastically decreased pumping on the right side and ceased any activity with the left side in an effort to try to make sure my milk didn't interfere with the healing after the surgery. Now the surgery is completed (results were benign), and I have been cleared to resume pumping and I am trying to increase my supply again. My question is has had a similar experience and has been successful at getting their supply to return. And, how long it took for that to happen. My son is now 7 weeks...Thanks in advance for any advice!

sendmeis68

I haven't had to do this, but this site helps me with a lot of issues I've had. If you scroll halfway down this page, it starts getting into ways to increase supply. You could also try to find a la Leche league meeting near you- they'd be very helpful.
https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/low-supply/
Hope this helps

peanutmuse

MarBee1214 said:

Wow...way to stick it out tho seriously!  I hope it works out for you!  Kellymom is a great resource.

I agree with MarBee, kudos to you. And second (third?) the Kellymom recommendation.

I have a fibroadenoma too, and when it was discovered it was about the size of grape tomato. Obviously we didn't know it was a fibroadenoma at the time, I had to have a biopsy to rule out cancer too. I had a core needle biopsy, though, which was painful enough. I can't imagine breastfeeding through that, let alone a full lumpectomy. You are a trooper!

(Mine has actually decreased in size over the past few years. I was worried about your exact scenario, but so far it seems to be staying the same size.)

Hmvbaby14

I give you a ton of kudos for sticking to it and pushing through. BFing is hard enough when everything goes right. There are a lot of resources on kellymom.com and @AmyG* 's sticky at the top of our page for breastfeeding help. I'm sure you don't have time to read through all of them, but she has a lot of recommendations to help up supply.