Re-lactating after breast surgery... possible?

[jolenelim]

Hi everyone,

I'm actually asking this for my friend. She got really severe mastitis 2 weeks ago, and it got so bad that the ob-gyn had to cut out the infected tissue and drain out the pus, and she wasn't allowed to breastfeed from the affected breast until the wound healed. However, instead of healing, the infection came back, and now she's had to take the anti-lactating pill and stop breastfeeding from both breasts altogether. Her doctor also had to prescribe very strong antibiotics that were not safe for her baby.

She's devastated!! Her baby is only 6 weeks old. This is her first child, and she fought so hard to breastfeed her (in spite of baby being hospitalised for jaundice, etc). She hopes to try again after she fully recovers. I have heard of women who have successfully done that... Can anyone help with any advice??

TIA!!

Jolene

[Samuel's mum]

Relactating is definitely definitely going to be possible. With her history of lactation she is a good candidate. You can read more about it here:
http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/html/Relactation.shtml

Relactation is definitely doable. It means pumping/ nursing/ galactalogues/ encouraging baby to latch with lots of skin-to-skin time. She may also find it useful to use a SNS (supplementary nutritional system) during the transition back to the breast. I know one of our members (schristen) prefers the 'lact-aid' version.
With her history I would suggest she tries to think through the causes of her mastitis and if that isn't obvious then be vigilant during the relactation process e.g. pay careful attention to her latch and act at the first sign of any blocked duct or breast tenderness. She may need the guidance of an LC to support her through relactation and keep a close eye on things.

Usually in an abscess situation a mother is able to continue feeding on the unaffected breast. In some cases feeding can even continue on the affected side (with an open wound that has been drained - apologies if TMI). There are obviously reasons why her doctor felt this wasn't appropriate in her case and as she didn't just have an aspiration but actual surgery it must have been bad.
The doctor has presumably taken a swab so the nature of the infection can be identified and the antibiotics focused.

She should also ask some questions about the long-term effects of any drugs designed to stop lactating as that will obviously affect her relactation process. And if the use of antibiotics is expected to be in the long-term ideally she should switch to a safer type as soon as she can to enable her to begin pumping and relactating.

[maggie2]

Jolene - just wanted to send a {{{hug}}} to your friend.  I can only imagine how difficult that whole ordeal must have been for her - especially when she fought so hard to BF in the first place

I tried to re-lactate with my first baby, but it didn't work out for a couple of reasons.  I think the biggest one was that I continued to use bottles.   I did have one of those nursing supplementers, but didn't use it as much as I think I should have - I believe that would have made a big difference.  The baby gets a supplement, yet is still stimulating the breast at every feeding.  If I were to do it over again, I would have tried to use it for every feeding and really cut down on the bottle feeding...

[RachelC]

Please send {{{{hugs}}}} to your friend.  We are here to support her. 

[jolenelim]

Thank you so much for the help and the hugs!! I will definitely pass it on.

After the minor surgery, the doctor did allow her to continue breastfeeding on the good breast, and to manually express milk from the affected breast. However, because the infection came back, he was very worried that more breast tissue would be infected.

I feel really heartbroken for her. I'm still breastfeeding my DD14mo, so I can't imagine the trauma she must be going through now.