Hi there. I'm the mother of a 3.5 year old and breast fed for about two years. I am expecting a baby through surrogacy at the end of December. I am 49 years old but went on a version of the regular protocol under the supervision of my doctor. I took estradiol and progesterone tablets instead of birth control pills. 20mg of domperidone every 6 hours. I did this for about 6 months. I stopped the hormones and started pumping last monday. I also started the herbs per the protocol.

I'm using a medela symphony. I'm pumping every three hours and once at night. The first day of pumping, I produced about 1/2 tsp per breast, per session. In the days following, my production has decreased to only a few drops per breast per session. I seem to be able to manually express a few drops after pumping but it's quite painful and I'm afraid I'm damaging my ducts. I have a few questions:

-Why did my volume decrease instead of increase?
-When do most people start to see an increase?
-Should I increase domperidone or herbs?
-Is manual expression damaging my ducts if it is painful?
-I have wicked heartburn and have read that antacids impede absorption of domperidone. Could this have messed me up since I didn't discover this until about two weeks ago?
-What can I take for heartburn while on this protocol?
-How do I reach Lenore? I have sent multiple emails over the last few months with no reply.

I would appreciate any and all input. I would really like to breast feed my new daughter. I want to do all I can to make this work. Thanks in advance for any advice and words of wisdom.

Hello There,

I am going to take a shot at this one since not may people get on this website anymore. I too have struggled reaching Lenore. I am not an expert but I induced lactation for my newborn daughter who is now 7 weeks old. I did the regular protocol and am now up to 4 oz a day. (not much, but just enough to provide all the immunological benefits.) All you need for your baby to get full immunological benefits is 4 oz a day or 1/2 oz per feeding.

Now for your questions. Again im NOT a professional but i will try. There may have been a build up of "Pre milk" in your breasts. As inducing mothers we skip the colostrom phase but do make this premilk during the "pregnancy phase" of the protocol. I certainly made it. But once you pumped it out it is temporarily depleted and since your production isnt quite up there yet it seems as if the volume decreased when really it didnt. You just simply emptied all the premilk that built up. I started seeing sprays at about 1 week after pumping. (a big tip is to do some breast compressions while you pump, this will help a ton!) As for the domperidone, the max dose is 40 mg 4 times a day. You may try upping your dose and see what happens.(mine did go up when I started taking that dose) as for herbs... the only one that REALLY helped was goats rue. you can buy it on Amazon and I used the MotherLove brand. be sure to take it as directed on the bottle. As for your other questions. I would as a Lactation consultant, but I hope I have helped you some. Let me know how things go.

How are things going?

How are things going for you now? Did Lenore contact you? I sent you her message as well but I haven't heard back yet. Would love to know how things worked out for you.

MamaMichelle, thanks for answering these questions. I was wondering if you could help me with my questions I posted as well. Im not sure if you still visit the boards.