Anonymous asked: What medicine do you use to breastfeed someone else’s baby?! I tried to combo breastfeed and formula feed my own baby, and my milk supply dried up, and now he gets only formula. I’m wondering if there’s the same medical intervention would help me start breastfeeding him again.

theunitofcaring:

I took hormonal birth control (Zovia 1/35; I think the progesterone/estrogen balance is important but it doesn’t have to be this specific birth control) to imitate pregnancy progesterone levels, and domperidone (20mg, four times a day) for six months, then went off the hormonal birth control and started pumping every four hours for two weeks. By the end of those two weeks I was producing about 4oz a pumping session, and gradually grew that to about 7. 

I did this in consultation with a lactation consultant and I recommend that if you can afford it/access it, but hormonal birth control has well-understood relatively limited risks and domperidone is a safe medication you can order online at inhousepharmacy so I can imagine doing it yourself being the right choice for some people who don’t have meaningful access to a lactation consultant. 

Sam did this too and got some milk but lower milk supply than me, so results definitely vary, and of course the most important thing for thriving kids is parents who are not stressed and miserable, not whether they’re fed breastmilk or formula. I hope it works for you if you end up deciding to try it but I am sure your baby will be totally fine either way.


Tags:

#I have less than no desire to do this myself #but I’m very glad to hear it’s an option for people who want that #lactation #fertility cw #medical cw #proud citizen of The Future #the more you know

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