Making Milk

I have had several people ask how this works.









My friend LJ was a huge resource as was www.asklenore.com. The website covers several topics including adoptive breastfeeding using the Newman-Goldfarb Protocol for Inducing Lactation which I will refer to as simply "the protocol."

With the protocol, the mother takes hormones in the form of birth control pills for 9 months. (There is an accelerated protocol for those who don't have that much time before their baby arrives.) Along with the pill, another medication (domperidone) that has a side-effect of increasing the body's prolactin (a milk-making hormone) is taken.

When the mother desires to make milk, the pill is stopped, the domperidone is continues, and the pumping begins every 2-3 hours around the clock. Fenugreek and blessed thistle capsules are added at mealtimes.

Amazingly, there are droplets of milk to start. As the days pass, the droplets turn into drips, and weeks later, there are puddles. The pumping can be spaced out. After 7 weeks of pumping, I am pumping 5-6 times a day and getting around 5 ounces per day! It may not seem like much, but over this long wait, it has begun to take over the kitchen freezer and will provide many bottles for Benaiah!

I am so glad that I will be able to give this gift to our son. Whether or not he takes interest in nursing, he will enjoy the superior nutrition of his mother's milk. We are going to see if he is interested in nursing after we get home and settled a bit. Stay tuned...