the let-down
I am one of the fortunate women who, 80% of the time, has a natural let-down without needing manual stimulation. I can hear my baby’s hunger cues—sometimes I need only look at my baby—and the milk starts flowing (hello, reusable nursing pads!). This makes the prep work needed for my inverted nipples that much easier, and allows our baby girl to latch faster.
On the occasions when milk isn’t flowing yet and our baby is ready to nurse, I have found lactation massagers to be a great asset. The combination of a warm compress and rhythmic vibration helps get a let-down started. They are a bit noisy when used alongside a breast pump, and sometimes they are an irresistible distraction for my baby, but for the 20% of the time that I need them, they are great.
when it rains…
I knew that it would take my body time to get into a rhythm and establish a good milkflow, but I had another obstacle working against me. My autoimmune disorder, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, was keeping me off-balance. Pre-pregnancy and throughout pregnancy, I had hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid). Post-partum, my body went in the opposite direction and I had hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid). This really impacted my milk supply, and I was worried that I wasn’t going to produce enough milk for my daughter.
After testing and altering my dosage with my Endocrinologist, I sought out supplements that were thought to support milk production. I first tried supplements with fenugreek, but discovered that my supply was unchanged after two weeks of use (I later read a few studies cautioning against the use of fenugreek if you have thyroid disorders—I wish I had known this from the start!).
A friend then told me about a brand of supplements that are fenugreek-free, and after two weeks of taking them, wow! My supply made a comeback, and then some. So much so that we needed to invest in a chest freezer for our basement to house my milk stash! I felt much better about my ability to breastfeed our baby and keep her fed when I returned to work. And that—if I did need to stop breastfeeding altogether—we would have a large supply in storage to use up before we would introduce formula.
For now, we have found our rhythm, we are still using a nipple shield when nursing, and breastfeeding—despite having oranges instead of lemons—makes sense for our journey.