When Dr Ngendo Mburu gave birth to her firstborn daughter in 2022, her greatest desire was to breastfeed her baby for more than a year. However, at five months, her breast milk dried out.
"I went back to work four months after delivery, and I was in a very stressful and toxic environment. I was undergoing psychological stress that really caused my milk production to dip. I was not able to keep up with my pumping schedule. I was also struggling to get a good nanny, and at the time, my husband was working out of town, so it was all so overwhelming for me.”
When she became a mum a second time, Dr Ngendo was determined to breastfeed her son for as long as possible. But as life would have it, in February this year, when her baby was seven months old, her milk production started reducing.
Dr Ngendo Mburu is a medical officer who has successfully relactated.
“Come June, I was almost at zero. I lost a grandfather and an aunt early this year, so the stress contributed to my dwindling milk production. I realised I needed to actively relactate [a process of a mother restarts lactation after having stopped for some time, such as weeks or months].
My goal was to breastfeed my baby for one year. As a medical officer, I knew it was possible to relactate, but I did not think it could happen for me. You know, it is different when you are a doctor compared to when you are the patient," the mother of two says.
With the help and encouragement of her pediatrician, Dr Ngendo embarked on her relactation journey in June.
"Relactation is mostly about the mind. You need to be very positive. I had to pump often, at least every three hours. I also had to stay well-hydrated by taking at least three litres of milk over and above the other drinks that I was taking. I was required to take a balanced diet and some lactation supplements. I also got a prescription for lactation medication to boost my milk production,” she says.
Within five days, she started seeing significant improvement. "When I started, I was just producing 20 mililitres of milk a day. Then it gradually increased till I got to about 170 ml a day at the end of four days. By the end of one week, I was at 300 ml. I recently stopped pumping milk as my baby just turned one."
Dr Ngendo has taken to Instagram to educate women on the importance of breastfeeding, how to breastfeed, and everything about nourishing a newborn baby. She is also advocating for female reproductive health.
Relactation knows no age limitation. Esther Kimani, a lactation consultant, has helped many of her clients with relactation, including a 61-year-old grandmother.
“I have worked with a granny who opted to breastfeed her grandchild after its mother died during childbirth. The grandmother’s daughter contracted Covid-19 and developed pneumonia. She was able to deliver the baby, but her health deteriorated, and she died. The grandmother took the baby home but could not afford infant formula. By the time I met them, she was looking for someone who could donate baby formula. At night, when the baby cried, she would offer her breasts to comfort it. When I saw that the baby was willing to go to the grandmother’s breasts, I suggested that we try relactation. We worked with a doctor who prescribed the lactation medication, then she took herbs like fennel seeds and dill seeds. She would boil them and drink the water. I would tell her to give the baby a little formula then put her on her breasts. Within two weeks, she started hearing swallowing sounds from the baby, and by the end of one month, the baby was fully on breast milk and did not have to take infant formula. The grandmother went on to breastfeed the baby exclusively for six months," Ms Kimani says.
She explains that relactation is possible as the human body has muscle memory and knows what to do. It can even work in women who have used surrogates to carry their babies. A surrogate would give birth and hand over the baby to the real mother who can be given lactation medicines then she breastfeeds.
“Apart from the medication and herbs, we advise our clients to express milk as often as possible. You would have to pump either by hand expression or using a pump for about 30 or 40 minutes. Then, you put the baby on the breast. At first, there won’t be any milk, so you can feed the baby on infant formula then when it is not very hungry, you put them on the breast. If you put the baby on the empty breast when there is no milk, they get very frustrated."
Relactation requires a combination of a positive mind, regular expressing and putting the baby on the breast, and medication.
Ms Kimani says it is also possible to induce lactation for any woman who has never breastfed before.
“It is about tricking the brain that you are pregnant. How it works is that you are put on birth control medication for around four months, and then you withdraw it suddenly. While you are on birth control, you will need to express milk at least four times a day. We then give you some medication and herbs. In the fifth month, you will start expressing eight times a day so that by the time the baby is coming, you are expressing every three hours," she says.
Ms Kimani says that inducing lactation is mainly preferred by women who have surrogate pregnancies and would want to breastfeed the baby when it is born or by women looking to adopt an infant.
