Hi there!

I have my first consultation appointment on the 13th, so I don't have a surgery date yet. But I have been approved through both of my insurances, so hopefully it's only just a matter of time. Anyways, I'm still breastfeeding my son. He'll be 10 months this Saturday. Should I expect any change with the sleeve? Lose my supply? Have to work extra hard to get it back up? Anyone who has had any experience with this, please let me know! Thanks so much!!

I didn't need the narcotics after surgery, I went straight to the non narcotic analgesics and only because they gave them to me. I wouldn't have bothered.

My concern for you and baby was the extra amount of fluids beyond the 72 oz. you need to get in and the extra Protein beyond 70 grams. I barely managed, but of course you have someone else to think of :-)

That's a good point. I'm barely at 40 oz of Fluid and have maybe once managed 50gm Protein and I'm 2.5 weeks out, and those 40gm are a LOT compared to what I could do for about 2 weeks. In the last few days my capacity has really increased, but it's still tiny. I physically can't eat/drink much more, unless I quit sleeping and just sipped all night long. I can tell a slight change in capacity each day, but I'm sure it will be another week, at least, before I can hit minimum protein & fluid (and I'm still doing shakes, so they count toward each other - I'm not even talking solid food capacity).

I couldn't breastfeed my daughter. I never produced enough milk. On her 4th day DD had dropped too much weight so we had to put her on formula. We thought she'd been getting milk, but really had no way of knowing she wasn't until we saw the weight change. Talk about a guilt trip for mom. I tried to pump for about 3 mos after, thinking at first it would come in, and once I gave up on that thinking that at least the measly amount I could give her was better than nothing. The most I could pump, ever, both breasts combined was about 3 oz and that only happened once or twice. My aunt has been an OB nurse for her entire career (she's almost 60) and she gave me all kinds of things to try, even something I had to order from Canada, an rx med, etc. and nothing made any difference.

I was told by my OB that the only documented occurrences of a mother not producing enough milk was if she wasa street drug addict. That's a great thing to tell someone trying to solve a problem. Since then, I've heard repeated stories of lap-band moms (which I was) being unable to breastfeed because their calorie/fluid intakes just aren't sufficient. My band was slipped at the time, so my intakes were really low, and when I could get something down it wasn't a healthy something (frozen, thicker liquids did best - those aren't usually healthy). I have no idea if it really was related to the band or not, but I still regret not being able to breast feed her. Hopefully you won't have any problems because of what your meager intake is going to be (anesthesia/meds aside).

Didn't one of the moderators here have a baby not that long ago, after sleeve? Maybe you could talk to her, though her intake would be different than yours as a newbie post-op.

I'm a huge advocate of breastfeeding. You'd be surprised what the human body can do and how much it helps a child's immune system to breastfeed as long as possible. I nursed both of my boys until they were over 2 years old. My youngest had asthma, ear infections and a host of other health problems. When I discussed those with his pediatrician because I was worried that breastfeeding was causing problems, the pediatrician said "Imagine how much worse those problems would be without your immunities!"

Youngest son was dx with diabetes at 14 and his endocrinologist said that my breastfeeding son for "so long" probably staved off the initial diagnosis by 10 years... so I believe in breastfeeding if at all possible.

I agree that the OP should do her best to pump extra milk and freeze pre-op, then use that frozen milk post-op if necessary. I'm glad your surgeon is an advocate of lactating moms, too!

Besides, breastfeeding DOES help mom lose weight and provides some pain relief all on its own. I don't see a down side to it!

Good luck and please let us know how it goes!!

Yay!! I breastfed all of my kids for at least the first several weeks. One of mine didn't do well on the breast milk. But the 2 I breastfed for the longer periods are my 2 kids that get sick the least so good for u!!!

It is the best. I can never figure out why some of the non-working moms I've seen use formula. I suppose their could have been a problem, but I think it was more what they were brought up around.

My mother bottle fed my brother and I just because that was what was done in middle class America in the late 50s, early 60s. I breast fed because I was more read and less inhibited than my mother was/is. I'm also VERY lazy and could not stand the thought of warming a bottle. Hungry kid? Well into bed with you then!

I also kind of hate bottles after seeing 5 year old walking around with them. Yes, seriously.

Yeah I've been incredibly blessed to have not had any issues with supply or latch or anything. So I'm hoping that is a good sign for us trying to make it through this! And yeah, I think I'll have double the motivation to get the fluids down !

I was sleeved six weeks ago and am still breastfeeding my 15 month old. No pumping and dumping was required. I'm ashamed to admit my Fluid intake is far from stellar but my baby is still getting enough milk to keep him happy, not to mention hydrated when he was recently sick with gastro.

Originally my supply went way down and I thought it was all over, but my baby was determined to feed so I let him back on and even without extra feeds/pumping my supply bounced back within the week. Surprised the life out of me given how dismal my supply was in hospital!!

Ahh that is wonderful news!! I figured my baby will find a way to get my supply back up, he still nurses quite a bit. I know that last fall I got a very bad virus and couldn't keep ANY liquid down for 3 days. Ended up in hospital. And within 15 minutes of the IV fluids going in, my supply jumped back up to normal and he was able to nurse. So I know what our bodies can and will do is amazing, and I have complete faith that while the sleeve may make it harder at first, we will bounce back to normal! Thank you for responding! It's encouraging!

No worries .

I should also add that my sister was sleeved within a few weeks of me and is still breastfeeding and there is at least a handful of women who are still breastfeeding post sleeve on an Australian support site. I guess you can never be sure until you have done it but it has definitely proven successful for a bunch of us.

All the best!!

Hi Ashleigh! I don't know if you've been sleeved yet, but would love to know how BFing is going post sleeve. I just had my consult and my dr is very much supportive of my desire to continue to breastfeed my five month old. As far as the anesthesia, the American Academy of Pediatrics supports breastfeeding immediately after general anesthesia. Any pain med taken later is ok for baby while breastfeeding. The only thing that can't totally be proven to be safe for breastfeeding is if you get something like versed to calm you before surgery. I had an ovarian cyst removed about a month ago. I was advised to pump and dump one time only due to the versed. I was told if I didn't BF until at least two ours after I received the versed, it'd "probably" be fine. I decided to be safe that I would pump and dump that first time. I then resumed breastfeeding and my baby was fine.

Please let me know how BF post sleeve has been. My surgery is estimated within the next month and my baby nor I are ready to stop breastfeeding! Thanks and good luck!

It's so awesome that your surgeon is supportive of you continuing to breastfeed. When I had my first consult, my son was 8 months and I was nursing almost exclusively. He told me that he wouldn't do the surgery until I weaned. I'd planned to wait for summer to do the surgery because of school, so I figured at least I'd get to a year. Well, at 10 months my son decided that all he wanted to do with my nipples was chew on them (he had 6 teeth!) and after almost a week of every feeding consisting of using me as a chew toy rather than actually drinking, I cut him off. I wish it hadn't stopped so early/abruptly, but I suppose it was a blessing in disguise since I don't have to worry about weaning for surgery now.

Anyway, blah blah blah. LOL Good for you for sticking with it! I would echo the previous posters who recommended building as big a freezer stash as you can now - that way if your supply does go way down, you'll have milk for him for a while longer.

Hey ladies! Well I get sleeved tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it goes! My son just turned 1 on the 14th, so he's slowly nursing less and less. But I wanted him to wean himself, and me not cut it abruptly. He's down to 4-5 nursing sessions a day, and they are MAYBE 7 minutes long. So I'm thinking he's getting close to weaning anyways. But I will definitely let you know how the next few weeks go!

Don't assume you have to wean him, and it doesn't sound like you really want to. Talk to your doctor, and a lactation consultant, or la leche league leader. If you want to keep nursing him, you can certainly find a way through it. It may mean pumping and freezing beforehand, while you are in the hospital. Good luck!

I don't think I have to wean him. I just think he has began the process himself, so I'm not to worried anymore. I'll pump at the hospital and nurse him as soon as I'm home and we'll see how it goes.

Thanks ladies! I'm sure it'll be a "see how it goes". Good luck tomorrow, Ashleigh!