My infertility and induced lactation story - 07/22/14 12:58 AM
Hello All. I used the Newman Goldfarb protocol to induce lactation, and thought I would share a little bit about my journey.
We tried to have a baby for four years before moving on to gestational surrogacy. I had ten early pregnancy losses, around week six each time. It is still unexplained infertility. We then worked with a wonderful surrogacy agency in Southern California called Building Families and transferred our last frozen embryo into our surrogate. Our baby boy was born April 30, 2014.
I followed the five month protocol. I started getting a few drops of milk the first day I pumped. I pumped ten times a day. When our baby was born, I was getting four ounces a day via pumping. Now, I'm getting about eight to ten ounces a day pumped, plus whatever he gets from me while I use the SNS. I've been weighing him at a local hospital and it varies anywhere from less than half an ounce to more than an ounce from me on breast. Our surrogate is pumping and mailing us milk which has been wonderful. That's what we use in the SNS, combined with what I pump.
Please be prepared that using an SNS is challenging and frustrating at times. I highly prefer the Lact-Aid over the Medela reusable SNS.
To anyone out there reading this struggling with infertility, my heart goes out to you. To anyone following the protocol, I wish you the best. Induced lactation is a huge commitment, but a huge accomplishment. Because I could not carry my baby, I wanted to be able to breastfeed him. I am so grateful to have this opportunity.
We tried to have a baby for four years before moving on to gestational surrogacy. I had ten early pregnancy losses, around week six each time. It is still unexplained infertility. We then worked with a wonderful surrogacy agency in Southern California called Building Families and transferred our last frozen embryo into our surrogate. Our baby boy was born April 30, 2014.
I followed the five month protocol. I started getting a few drops of milk the first day I pumped. I pumped ten times a day. When our baby was born, I was getting four ounces a day via pumping. Now, I'm getting about eight to ten ounces a day pumped, plus whatever he gets from me while I use the SNS. I've been weighing him at a local hospital and it varies anywhere from less than half an ounce to more than an ounce from me on breast. Our surrogate is pumping and mailing us milk which has been wonderful. That's what we use in the SNS, combined with what I pump.
Please be prepared that using an SNS is challenging and frustrating at times. I highly prefer the Lact-Aid over the Medela reusable SNS.
To anyone out there reading this struggling with infertility, my heart goes out to you. To anyone following the protocol, I wish you the best. Induced lactation is a huge commitment, but a huge accomplishment. Because I could not carry my baby, I wanted to be able to breastfeed him. I am so grateful to have this opportunity.