Monday, June 7, 2010

Chicken is My *Fluffer*

**This was written about a month ago**

Well folks, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Drugs are good.
I've done drugs before I got pregnant and drugs to get me pregnant and drugs while I was pregnant and drugs after being pregnant. They were all, mostly, good.
And now....drugs off the internet. Yes, the 'get your milk on' drugs from New Zealand, are indeed getting Chicken's milk on.
In fact, it worked really fast.
We should've written it all down but we didn't. From what we remember it went like this:

Pumped for about 20 minutes 4-6 times a day for 2-3 weeks
Week three started taking Domperidone three 10 mg tabs, 3 x day, continue to pump as much as humanly possible, including in the middle of the night PLUS put the baby to the breast as much as possible when baby is full
Week four, all of the above=droplets of milk!!
Week five, all of the above and now seeing collected milk in the containers after pumping.

Basically, she had only been taking the drugs for a little over a week when the milk started.
Now, it was mere droplets, but everyday it gets better and better and just the last couple of days it has been enough to start collecting when she pumps where before it was just on the phalanges.
But the best part? As most of you are aware, what you pump is not a true indicator of what you are actually producing since the baby can extract more than the pump.
So, for two days now Chicken has taken a HUNGRY baby to the breast just to see what happens..........
And?
The baby stays on. And swallows.
She doesn't have enough for a full feeding, but she has enough to hold one off while I feed the other.
This is really our main goal. To be able to go out and about and for me to still be able to breast feed each one of them. Since they are tandem fed, they are usually hungry at the same time when we are out, making bottles of expressed milk necessary to have along for the ride. (Ever try to tandem feed in public? Not so much!)
Chicken could eliminate the need for a bottle and I could freeze my milk for the future (I have 4 bags in the freezer and 4 bottles in the fridge! Go me! That is a huge deal for me!).

Chicken is bound and determined to make this happen and she's very much a Type A personality, so it doesn't surprise me that she is sacrificing sleep to pump in the middle of the night. Once Chicken decides to do something, she rarely backs down.

She's been motivated seeing what a huge bond I have with the boys from breast feeding and she wants in on some more of that. Plus, she just wants to help out. It would be great if she can pump and freeze so that when they are teething if we have to resort to more bottles, we are able to without supplementing with formula.

Also, she confessed it would be really nice to be able to eat whatever she wants and not gain weight! LOL! She sees me eating milk and cookies every night and I think she's a wee bit jealous. Considering I managed to bake a cake the other day and we polished half of it off in less than 24 hours...um, yeah.
(Yes! I baked a cake during a nap time! Fastest cake I've ever baked. I put the pan in the over right as they woke up. Amazing! It's true that the 3 month mark really is a month of change and things DO get easier!)

I know the weight loss doesn't happen with everyone who is breast feeding but it has been amazing to have the pounds literally melt off every week while I continue to stuff my face. Breast feeding is not the time for dieting! I love it!!
I can actually wear one pair of my pre-pregnancy pants as of this week. I am so excited that I may not have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe after all (although Chicken dried all of my shirts in the dryer and everything shrunk so I may have to do some clothes shopping after all.....).

And that's where we are. Drugs are good. I like drugs. I might even take some myself and see if it will increase my milk production enough that I can pump and freeze some more. That sure would be exciting.

**I did start taking Dom a couple of weeks before we left for Argentina (Thanks KJ!). My milk production has def increased and so has Chicken's. It worked super fast and I would recommend it to anyone. NO side effects and nothing hormonal.
Chicken has continued to take it, pump and was able to help me by fluffing the babies in Argentina.

If you want to know where I order it from, I'm now getting it from Thailand, where it's the same RX but cheaper. You can contact me offline if you want to know more. Just leave me a message in the comments.

***Who gets the Fluffer reference??***

14 comments:

anofferingoflove said...

Wow! That's awesome! Chicken does indeed sound determined - getting up in the middle of the night to pump takes mad dedication! Thanks for sharing this experience, I've been wondering how it was going.

Ashamed to say I get the fluffer reference...

Laurie said...

Would love to know where you guys are getting this drug! I continue to have supply issues and have been taking fenugreek (5500mg/day). I'm willing to try!

... and many kudos to chicken! That's a lot of determination!

kat said...

i have a friend that is taking dom. i'm sure she would love to know where you get it. :) good job to chicken!

Anonymous said...

Love the "fluffer" reference. Too funny.

And I love this post. This is fantastic that this worked so quickly. I imagine it helps eliminate a lot of the stress that could arise around having two hungry babies at once. Hooray for Chicken!

Anonymous said...

I am so happy to hear that this is working so well for you all. I had decided long ago that I wanted to breastfeed the baby that Violet carries, so it is reassuring to see a success story. Please send me more info at mommiesinthemaking@yahoo.com

Yep, got the "fluffer" title

vee said...

Dom rocks! It got me through two of three months of pumping after BB stopped feeding at the breast and I was able to still provide his milk until I felt happy about switching him to goat's milk at 13 months. I would use it again to bf our next kid (which I won't be gestating).

And fluffer - yes. VG.

Two Moms, Two Monkeys said...

That is so awesome that chicken is able to produce milk, any amount is always helpful. My wife is very happy that I didn't read this sooner since we are on the tail end of our nursing/pumping saga! The boys are 14 months old now, and I plan to wean them from breastmilk to cow's milk in the next month or two (depending on how long it takes).

I now have to find some regular exercise routine to make up for all that calorie burning! Like you, I was packing in the calories and melting off the fat. One of my favorite parts about nursing/pumping!

nutella said...

That's fantastic! Thanks for sharing and so exciting that it's working.

K J and the kids said...

I'm the BIGGEST supporter of the don. The fact that it sounds like don perignon was all it took for me to be a believer :)
Glad you got it. Glad it's working. Glad the wife is doing her part :)

Unless the fluffer is the farter I have no idea what you are talking about !

Unknown said...

Hi, I'm your lurker reader and avid follower. Your dom recommendation has compelled me to actually write a comment. I don't make enough milk for my 2 month old twin girls and I'd like to. Please send me the info about dom, thanks!

And congrats to you and Chicken!

Aris

DS said...

So excited to see that someone has had good success with this without having to pump for 6 months prior. Please send me any info that you have on the meds!
dmc3n@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

My email is ariscris/@/gmail/.com. Please remove the slashes. Thanks.

Laurie said...

forgot to leave you my email address! oops!

Would love to know where you're getting it and how much you're taking. I'm pumping 3x a day and barely making half of Ryan's feeding for the next day :(

laurieannnorwood at yahoo.com

Nadine said...

Way to go! I did the long protocol (bcp plus dom for several months then pumping) to bring in the milk for our twins and it works, we have to supplement but it's great that I get to BF and I'm SO SO happy for Chicken! Way to go! Stick with it!