041 Inducing Lactation using Depo-Provera with Chrissy Fleishman, intended mother

Breastfeeding Outside the Box

We are thrilled to re-visit an early podcast interview with Chrissy Fleishman who induced lactation for her baby born via surrogacy. There are a couple of reasons why we are re-releasing it now. One, we thought Chrissy gave a great interview. She is well-informed and enthusiastic, and her experience has followed a fairly typical pattern - if there is such a thing in inducing lactation! Second, we want to address a particular experience Chrissy shares. Chrissy had Depo-Provera injections as a young adult in order to help with menstrual difficulties. She experienced lactation as a side effect. Recently, there has been some information floating around online suggesting the use of Depo-Provera for inducing lactation. This source cites a 1994 study done in Papua, New Guinea which 11 out of 12 mothers who had induced lactation with the help of a single Depo-Provera injection were able to fully lactate within a few weeks of starting the protocol. (Nemba, 1994) We agreed that this study seemed promising, not only because of the high rate of full lactation but also because the protocol described in the study takes much, much less time than other approaches typically used. Although Alyssa had looked into this study when writing Breastfeeding Without Birthing, she decided it made sense to take another closer look and to contact some other professionals for their advice. This podcast episode is about what she discovered (and in some cases re-discovered).