Inducing Lactation to breast feed?

[Poppins*]

Hi I'm new!:-D

My husband and I are expecting a baby through Surrogacy after many many goes of ivf and loosing 7 babies? :unhappy: Well actually 8 as we sadly lost one at 12 weeks with this pregnancy too as it was twins.

We are however very excited about our bubba's arrival which is due in 4 and a half weeks! Due date 13th April and its a surprise we don't know the sex!

To get to the point I have been taking hormones to induce lactation so that I can breast feed and have been expressing with a double elec pump for about 4 weeks....Is anyone else doing this? Its very tiring and time consuming every 3 hours during the day from 8am until 11pm soon I might have to pump in the night too???
I'm only getting 1oz a day it was half an oz but its slowly going up. It may or may not work totally? and until bubba arrives it may not come in fully either.

To hear anyones else experiences would be fab.
Poppins x

[Annie]

Congratulations! You must be very excited to be becoming parents :)

I don't have personal experience with what you are talking about -- but know a woman who breast fed her adopted baby with great success! I do believe that once the baby comes your milk will come in more -- breast pumps are great, but there really isn't anything like a baby to get things going. Be patient with it all, and you and your baby should do fine. Breastfeeding is something that needs to be learned by both mom and baby.
Good luck! Please let us know how things go for you :)

[Faith]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things. I remember taking fenugreek capsules to increase milk suppy -- you can get those at health food stores.

Other than that, try not to be stressed out by whether or not you bf. My youngest was never breastfed and she is probably the strongest and healthiest of the three. So, give all "good" things a shot but in the end, when you look back, you'll realize that if it didn't go perfectly, that's okay. The 24/7 aspect of motherhood is enough adjustment for you. You don't need to add more pressure.

Good luck. Your baby is lucky to have such caring parents.

[rachaelhart]

Normally, the natural production of breast milk (lactation) is triggered by a complex interaction between the hormones estrogen, progesterone and prolactin during the final months of pregnancy. At delivery, levels of estrogen and progesterone fall dramatically — but levels of prolactin remain high. The result is lactation.