I had no labour, a GA crash section and morphine. Milk came in on day 5, by day 10 of non-stop feeding she'd lost 14% of her bodyweight and I was told to mix feed.

I spent hours on the blinking expressing machines in the hospital; the most we ever got was 8 drops.

Having said al that, we got back to exclusive breastfeeding at about 6 weeks and are still bfing at almost 3 years.

I think PCOS probably inhibited my milk supply too. When I started metformin a few months back, I couldn't get over the sudden enormous increase in milk.

Forgot to say - didn't labour at all with DD, so possibly another reason why milk took longer?

I had a crash section + GA + morphine with DD - milk took a little longer to come in than with DS (emerg section) - about 4 days vs 2-3 with DS. Still managed to bf her with no problems though (apart from cracked nips! not related)

I had a GA because I was 31 weeks and she was coming fast. I didn't have milk for a long time but that was to be expected with everything in all. My SIL had a baby by GA a few weeks ago and she was breastfeeding well (until she realised it meant she couldn't pass him off onto someone else).

How did you know you had very little milk?

If you have plenty of skin to skin time and put to breast as often as baby will let you, you shouldn't have a problem. Remember colostrum only comes in teaspoonfulls at a time and babies need to be on the breast almost constantly at the start.

No I had a crash C-section on monday and lots of morphine and milk came in two days later, and baby feeding like a touper.

Thanks. I will try and get hold of LLL. I left messages and emailed my local rep but I haven't heard back. Must be more persistent!

I had a similar experience to Harriet....labour first, then a cs under GA. (No morphine) I bf dd2 succesfully for 8 months, milk coming in as expected at approx 3 days.

i would try and speak to someone like La Leche League or NCT breastfeeding counsellors as tehy are likely to know much more about this and perhaps give you tips etc

good luck!

I managed it with GA. It was a bit hard at first but I don't think it was UNUSUALLY hard. My milk came in about three days -ish after the baby was born. I think that's about normal. My mother was convinced I was starving her and she did lose a bit of weight, but I really think our story is similiar to other people's.

I wonder if it made a difference that I was actually in proper labour for hours before though. I don't know if it's different if its GA under elective because I think anecdotally I've heard that the hormones around labour stimulate the milk production?! could be totally wrong though.

I just saw the post regarding C-S and BF and I am wondering if GA does affect the milk supply. I had DD 15 months ago and on Day 7 I still had very little milk. Bowing to family and MW pressure I ended up topping uf with FF and I mixed fed for 11 months.

I am now 28 weeks pregnant and will have another C-S with GA and I really really want to BF exclusively this time. I am wondering if the Morphine or the GA had a negative impact. DD was a great sucker and she started feeding 1 hour after the birth.