Relactation 101: How To Induce Lactation After You’ve Stopped

Relactation is the method of training your body to produce milk after not lactating for a period of time. It’s possible to relactate if you haven’t produced breast milk in weeks, months, years — or ever. And while some may think relactation is a modern concept, the practice has been around for hundreds of years. During natural disasters, emergencies or when mothers died during childbirth, it was often customary for others to step in and help by inducing lactation as a secondary source of food.

You may be curious about inducing lactation if you’ve stopped breastfeeding (chestfeeding) and want to give it another shot.

If you’ve been separated from your baby or if you or your baby have been ill, inducing lactation after a period of recovery may be of interest.

And if you’ve adopted a baby and want to re-produce milk, or if you’ve never produced milk and are hoping to breastfeed your adopted child, relactation can be both possible and beneficial for your baby’s health.

Plus, new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend breastfeeding children up to 2 years old and beyond, so it may not be too late for you to start breastfeeding again.

But, how?

Pediatrician and breastfeeding medicine specialist Heidi Szugye, DO, IBCLC, shares how to induce lactation and how you can make that process easier with a few simple tips.

How to induce lactation after you’ve stopped breastfeeding

To induce lactation, your breasts need to be stimulated and your body needs to know you’re removing milk so that it can produce more. You can do this in several ways and with the right amount of support and wrap-around services.

Work with a lactation consultant

Before you begin relactation, it’s important to set goals and expectations and recognize that it takes a lot of patience and support. Dr. Szugye advises seeing a lactation consultant or breastfeeding medicine specialist to understand why you stopped breastfeeding and help you with the process of inducing lactation.

“If you faced challenges with breastfeeding initially and that led you to stop breastfeeding, these challenges may resurface when you try to relactate,” notes Dr. Szugye. “For example, if you had an issue with the baby latching onto your breast or producing enough breast milk, those issues may happen again, so we want to make sure we can support you and work through those challenges and troubleshoot.”

Reduce your stress levels

For starters, use relaxation techniques to reduce your stress as much as possible. Get assistance with responsibilities around the house and give yourself time to relax before, during and after feedings. Stress can disrupt milk production, so you want to limit your stressors whenever possible by doing things like deep breathing exercises, guided imagery techniques or a body scan meditation.

Stimulate your milk supply

Massaging your breasts before and during feedings can be helpful in stimulating milk production.

Then, you want to try hand-expressing milk from your breasts. You can do this by making a C-hold with your thumb and index finger and compressing your breast from behind the nipple to simulate what a baby would do when suckling.

You’ll want to try and stimulate your breasts for 10 to 15 minutes on each side at least eight to 10 times every day. At least one of these sessions should be done at night or early morning when prolactin, the hormone that helps with milk production, is at its highest.

“Sometimes, it can take weeks just to get drops of milk,” says Dr. Szugye. “It may take weeks or months to build up a supply, so do whatever you can to stick to a daily routine, and try not to be discouraged if it doesn’t happen for you right away.”

If you’re able to stick with it, in most cases, you’ll start getting drops of milk after two to four weeks.

Improve your baby’s latching ability

Skin-to-skin contact and bringing your baby up to your nipple can also stimulate milk production on its own when you’re trying to induce lactation. It can also strengthen your baby’s association between hunger and breastfeeding, especially if you’re allowing them to latch during times when they need soothing. But if they have trouble latching onto your breast or they’re a bit older, this may be a difficult process.

To increase your baby’s ability to latch onto your breast and begin suckling, the following may help:

• Avoid pacifiers. “There are textural differences between a bottle, a pacifier and a breast. Putting them to the breast is going to feel different to them, so you want them to build a sense of familiarity,” explains Dr. Szugye.
• Maximize skin-to-skin contact. Try laying your baby on your chest, skin-to-skin, and allow their natural instincts to kick in. If they need to self-soothe, having the ability to latch will likely increase their latching ability when it becomes feeding time.
• Allow suckling at your breast when your baby is upset. Although this won’t provide any nutritional value right away, having your baby familiarize themselves with your breast and the act of suckling will also simultaneously stimulate your breast to begin producing milk over time.

“You need that suckling or stimulation of the breast to tell the body to continue to make more milk. The emptying of the breasts themselves tells your body to make more,” Dr. Szugye further explains. “All of these techniques, when combined, increase your chances of producing more breast milk and having a successful breast milk let-down.”

Recognize if your baby is getting enough milk

Balance is key when relactating or inducing lactation. You never want to force your baby to feed because this can backfire and turn them away from wanting to suckle. But you also won’t produce milk right away, so this process will take time and require your continued use of formula or donor milk until you begin milk production.

“You’re not going to be producing enough for the baby, from a nutritional standpoint, right away,” notes Dr. Szugye. “You can’t go cold turkey from feeding a baby formula to putting them to the breast.”

Until you start regularly producing breast milk at larger volumes, you’ll want to supplement breastfeeding using a bottle, tube and syringe, or a supplemental nursing system that has a tube connected to a bag of formula or donor milk. Wearing this tube like a necklace or attaching it to your breast so your baby gets used to the act of suckling for milk in the right location can also help your baby get more comfortable with the idea of latching. Plus, you’ll want to nurse your baby before giving them their supplemental feeding to maintain that breast-to-milk association.

“It’s important to work with a lactation consultant who can do transfer weights periodically to know how much your infant is taking as milk supply increases,” advises Dr. Szugye. “It’s always best, if unsure, to offer a bottle afterward until your infant appears satisfied to ensure they are getting enough. Learning your baby’s hunger and ‘full’ cues can be helpful as well.”

Use a pump when you begin producing larger quantities of milk

Once you start producing milk, you can use a pump to handle larger volumes or use a combined approach.

“It can become a little tedious to hand express when you start getting bigger volumes of breast milk, but you can combine hand expression with pumping or ‘hands-on pumping,’” says Dr. Szugye.

Switch nursing, where you pump for a few minutes on one breast before switching to the other and repeating back and forth can help improve your milk production. Cluster pumping during peak milk production — where you pump for 15 to 20 minutes, take a 10-minute break, and repeat for up to an hour — can also increase your milk supply.

Once you’re producing breast milk, you’ll want to know how to keep it fresh. In most cases, breast milk can be stored:

• Up to four days in a standard refrigerator.
• Up to three to four months inside a standard refrigerator freezer.
• Up to six to 12 months in a separate deep freezer.
• In an insulated cooler bag with frozen ice packs for up to 24 hours while traveling.

Overcoming common challenges with support

Inducing lactation isn’t always easy, but with enough support, it’s possible to have a successful experience that benefits you and your baby.

Work with a lactation consultant and pediatrician to keep an eye on your baby’s weight and growth during this period. In some cases, your healthcare provider may also recommend medications or supplements to help with milk production.

In general, you’ll want to focus on eating a well-balanced nutritional diet, getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and reducing stress as much as possible because all of these things can affect milk production. If you’re able to get additional help around the house during this time, that can also be beneficial.

“It’s almost like having a newborn all over again,” says Dr. Szugye.

If inducing lactation or relactating is of interest, these additional tools can be helpful:

• The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine: This resource offers evidence-based information on breastfeeding and relactation.
• The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE): The IBLCE has a directory where you can find certified lactation consultants in your area.
• Local support groups: There are several virtual and in-person community groups and support groups through area hospitals that can connect you with others going through the relactation and breastfeeding process.