Relactation Journey: Day 5

I'm assuming that my first day was 1 August, as that's the day I mentally prepared for the physical aspect of getting my milk started back up. ;)

That said, welcome to Day 5! So far, I managed to pump all of Saturday before I realized that my flanges are too big and are causing some nipple trauma. Good times, right? So I'm holding off on that until the smaller flanges I ordered come in. They're estimated to come in next week, though Amazon tends to work faster than that.



The good news is that I managed to get something! I seriously thought I was completely dried up, and while it didn't come out as much as it did after Tycho was born, I definitely managed to get a few drops of what looked to be colostrum. Kind of freaked me out and got me all excited at the same time.

Tycho also managed to latch and suck a few times, which was just as encouraging. He didn't get anything, though, so he ended up frustrated. A friend is sending me a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS), though, which should help!



Weird-looking, huh?

It's hung around the neck, and the thin tubes are placed on top of the nipple. As baby suckles, whatever is in the pouch (in his case, formula, at least for the time being) is fed to the baby, and the suckling on the nipple helps stimulate milk production. As suckling is better at stimulation than a breast pump, the SNS is supposed to be a better solution to getting supply up and going.

While I'm waiting for these to come in, I'm starting a regimen of More Milk Special Blend, possibly extra fenugreek, Domperidone (if I can get my hands on it), multivitamins, manual expression and massage, taking in adequate calories, and drinking more water. I'd lay off the caffeine, but Tycho's starting to sleep in his helmet, and... yeah, that's going well. :P

Hopefully, with all these combined (as well as the pump with better flanges, and possibly even a hospital-grade pump), I'll be able to start expressing enough to cover one of Tycho's feedings. My ultimate goal is to get him back to the breast at least for some of his feedings, but I'm being realistic, too. Every step made is, at least for me, incredible progress!

I've been blessed so far to have an incredible amount of support and advice from all over. From supplements to medical hardware, from troubleshooting breast issues to celebrating small victories with me, I've had no experiences but good so far. I am so grateful.