Day 9 and no milk yet! How long did yours take?

[SJWLondon]

Hi

I had our DS 9 days ago by C-Section... He has a tongue tie so was unable to feed properly from the offset... It went undiagnosed for 3 days, poor little mite was starving, and of course this meant the stimulation to my breasts was delayed too. I am aware that the C-Section will cause some delay too.

At the moment I can express out 20-30ml altogether from both breasts in 20-30min which is obviously not enough...

Just wondering what the longest time you took for your milk to come in? And am I right in assuming that it HAS to come in (as in the warm engorgement, milk leaking...), right?

Thanks x

[Hedgehogging]

Congrats on your DS!

Not an expert by any means but I do know that the amount you can pump is often quite a poor reflection of your actual supply so I wouldn't use that as a guide.

Mine came in around day 5 (post-CS also but no latch issues) I think, but it wasn't the classic boulder-boob scenario I had expected. Fuller, yes, but I didn't get much leakage really so I don't think it necessarily has to be niagara falls

How is your DS? Wetting and dirtying nappies? Regaining weight?? I'd use that as a better guide than the expressed milk tbh.

I'd say main thing is having him on the boob as much as possible in the next few days to stimulate your supply.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon!

[Littlefish]

I never leaked or became engorged. I think hedgehog is right that the expressing is not an indication of how much milk you are producing.

Are you being well supported by your community midwife? Is your ds gaining weight? How are you feeding him currently? If you are mix feeding, then that will be affecting your supply.

Can you head off to bed for a couple of days, lots of skin to skin and just feed, feed, feed to boost your supply.

[SJWLondon]

Thanks for the advice! We have wet and dirty nappies but currently supplementing his feeds with formula... Weight was terrible to begin with as I couldn't tell that he wasn't getting enough, but that's resolved now.

I literally done skin to skin in bed all day... Fingers crossed something happens in the next day or so ;)

[PenguinsIsSleepDeprived]

If you can get that volume surely your milk has come in? Colostrum is tiny amounts. But supplementing might affect supply (especially if it is large volumes) so can you find rl support to check that?

[cheesecakemom]

Congrats on baby boy. Keep him on your breasts as much as possible. I know you are worried about hunger but like someone said, supplementing will affect your supply!

I found my milk came in fast when I kept baby on the breast because it's the suckling that causes the milk hormone to be release and you need that. It will be frustrating but when the milk comes in you'll know.

I also had a c section, I didn't have skin to skin because they took a while stitching my incision so my husband was carrying her. It wasn't until we reached the ward that I got to carry her and I put her straight on the breast. I didn't know if anything came out but they don't need a lot in the first couple of days. I found myself constantly holding her to my breasts like a crazy person since much wasn't coming out but it worked eventually!

Good Luck - hope it works out and please let us know how you get on.