Dear Relactation...you stink!

Day 1: So Yesterday was the first day into this long journey of relactation. It's quite painful, I won't lie. I have to "toughen" my nipples up again and it actually is more painful than the first time we tried breastfeeding 5 weeks ago. My pump has left a ring around my nipple and it was on the low setting. Maybe that's why I was having issues the first go around. I have small nipples, so I bought the small flange from Medela, but it ***** so hard that once I'm done pumping (I can't stand to pump more than a few minutes) my nipples are two times bigger (or more) than they were when I started. This freakin' su.cks!

Day 2: ARE MY NIPPLES BLEEDING YET??!! I woke up at 6 this morning to feed Lexi. I'm not liking this not waking her up thing during the night, but that's another story. So after her bottle I put on my nipple shield and let her have at it. We "nursed" 10 minutes on each side and it wasn't as painful as the pump. Hopefully I can get her to latch on this way every two hours? Lol...I wanted to give up this morning when I realized how battered and painful my nipples are. BUT...after enduring a nasty cup of Mother's Milk Tea last night I just can't. I popped two Fenugreek and went to town.


Good news is that I get more colostrum each time. Last night at midnight I didn't pump, I just manually massaged and stimulated my nipples...not as painful, but afterwards they were quite tender. Let's hope this works.

UPDATE: After enduring the horrible bleeding nipples from day 3, they finally healed after soaking them in warm salt water. It felt amazing. Anyways, we're on day 13 now and my midwife gave me Domperidone and Reglan to take as well. My milk finally came in a few days ago, no more colostrum. My supply is extremely low, but I'm assuming this is normal and that I just need to gradually build my supply up. It's actually finally making it into the bottle from the pump, so it excites me! Although my supply needs to be a lot greater, I'm glad that I'm making some progress finally.