Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Natural Methods to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Starting surrogacy - just weaned bio 3 year old

So, I'm not quite sure where to start. I recently ended a very successful nursing relationship with my bio. 3 year old. I am an intended mother to a gestational surrogate, and just started my birth control pills in preparation for our IVF cycle. I still have a tiny tiny bit of milk left that I can hand express, and my daughter will still get at when she gets a chance. Should I look forward to doing the whole medical protocol (not my ideal situation since I am Type 1 Diabetic and don't do well on hormones) or should I attempt some type of relactation? If so, how and when do I start? Should I start now, or after all the meds from the IVF are out of my system? I'm so confused! Thanks for any help!!

KailasMama Welcome I suggest emailing Lenore. The only hormones involved are the birth control pill and it sounds like you will already be taking that.
Lenore's email is at the bottom of the page.

Sorry you have to click on the contact us button.

Thanks! I did email her, but I thought I would ask and see if anyone else had ideas. I wasn't sure how often she replied. I believe I'll only be on the pill for 2 months, and then after my eggs are retrieved, I'll be done with medication.

If anyone else has info on which way I should go, I'd love to hear it. I'm a little nervous about letting whatever is left dry up if I should be trying to keep the process going.

I am nursing my bio son and my adopted baby. When my son was 21 months I started pumping to maintain my supply. I pumped for 11 months before we got our baby. I am taking domperidone and more milk special blend. I was at full supply for awhile then she got frustrated while nursing and stopped gaining weight (at 3 months.) I now supplement with about 6 ounces of my stored milk each day. Within a few days all my stored milk will be gone and I will supplement with donor milk.

I feel very fortunate I was able to get so close to full supply. For me, it was a lot of work pumping.

I don't know the answer to your question. I'm not sure how long the protocol is since I haven't done it. Perhaps you could start pumping after your retrieval. If you're not increasing your milk supply doing that, maybe you'd have time to start the protocol.

Thank you! I got a response from Lenore and from Dr. Newman. They both said that my milk will likely completely dry up from the medications used for the egg retrieval, so I will probably be on the protocol. I think am okay with that - I just have a hard time finding a bc pill that doesn't make me moody. I am really hoping that I get a full supply.

Did you realize that your little one wasn't getting enough milk through her fussiness, or were you weighing her regularly? I had oversupply issues with my daughter, so the last thing I worried about was her not getting enough. If she ever cluster-fed, I never doubted that my body would respond. Is it a totally different ballgame doing it on the meds?

I had a scale and was weighing before and after feeds. My daughter didn't take a lot, but it was enough for her (I haven't had to supplement since she was 2 weeks old and she is 13 months now). It is a totally different ballgame than nursing a bio child. I have a bio son and I never worried about supply. With my adopted daughter, I worried all the time.
Jennifer