Breastfeeding our Baby Being Born Via Surrogate

Up until a few years ago, I had no idea that it was possible to breastfeed a baby that you didn’t carry and definitely didn’t think you could make milk having never been pregnant. Goodness was I wrong! You most certainly can and that’s what I am attempting to do; breastfeed our son. If you don’t know the full story of how and why we decided on the surrogacy route, you can read it here.

I met with my OBGYN of 20 years, my naturopath, and my lactation consultant to formulate a plan. Wanna see what we came up with?

First, let me give my backstory on breastfeeding…I exclusively nursed all three of my kids and was lucky enough to produce more than enough milk for each. I nursed my daughter for just under a year and essentially ran out of milk because I was so very pregnant with my second kiddo. Once he arrived, I nursed him for 16 months. I decided to wean him when I was so very pregnant with my third child, haha. With my third, I nursed him for a full two years. Because of this, we (all of my doctors and myself) all think I have an extremely good chance at being able to induce lactation for our newest baby. It’s been eleven years since I nursed but I’m going to give it everything I got! Our boy is being born via surrogate and is due this spring. The countdown is on!

So as of right now, this is what my protocol looks like:

Step 1: My body needs to think it’s pregnant so I’m on a type of birth control pill to up my progesterone and estrogen. I’m also taking medication that increases my prolactin hormone. Prolactin stimulates the cells in the mother's breast to produce milk. This hormone is an important one because it stimulates lactation and assists beyond just stimulating the breast.

Step 2: About six weeks before our boy is born I will stop the birth control and start pumping! It’s time to stimulate! The protocol is to start taking an herbal supplement that helps with let-down, continue the prolactin medication, and to pump every 2-3 hours. I was told I can have one, five-hour window of sleep at night because that’s what newborns do .. that made me laugh because my babies never gave me five hours. I was lucky to get three hahaha.

Every 2-3 hours I am to pump for 5-7 minutes on both sides, rest for 5 minutes, and pump again for another 5-7 minutes. Within a few days to a month, my milk should come in and then I will store what I collect until we meet our boy and *hopefully* I am able to nurse him!

But for now, this is where I am! I will start pumping next month and am doing all of the research for pumps, storage, and traveling while pumping. While I nursed all three of my kids years ago, pumping is brand new to me and feels a little daunting. When I start pumping my lactation consultant says to use a hospital-grade pump and once I create a good and consistent rhythm I can switch to my preferred pump. Brands that I am researching and hearing great things about are Sepctra, Willow, and Elvie.

Stay tuned for all the pumping updates and how your favorite hormonal yogi is hanging in, next month!

Xx,

Chels