BF advice needed: after a C-section 2nd time around... help!

[Mum07]

My first baby (now 3) was an emergency C-section after 50 hours of labour, i lost a litre of blood in theatre and was pretty severely anaemic. I really tried breast-feeding, felt as though she was latched on OK although never got that checked out by anyone who'd know. However, she was a big hungry baby who screamed all night the second night. I didn't sleep properly from going into labour until 5 days later at home. My milk seemed late in coming and she fed every 2.5 hours for almost an hour. i gave up after a week as she was jaundiced and had lost >10% bodyweight and i had lost faith in my ability to do anything naturally.

I'm booked in for another C-section next week and i want to make it work this time. I should, hopefully, be much less tired and anaemic following the section but what else can i do to encourage my milk to come in as quickly as possible and avoid that second night of starving my child?! (Another big 'un is expected!)

[Mum07]

I've just found a thread from yesterday that's got loads of useful info in it but if anyone can add anything else I'd be grateful.

[Mikafan]

I don't think there is anything you can do to encourage the milk to come in any quicker other than to let you baby suck on the breast often

Good luck.

[ChasingButterflies]

I had an elective cs for ds - one huge advantage you should have this time around is that you won't be anywhere near as exhausted as you must have been after the emcs (poor you). Also, you'll get lots of good advice on here, so will be better prepared

i had lots of problems establishing bf at first - the good news is we got past that and we're still going strong exc bf at nearly 6 months - but i now know a few things that would have helped. first, do let them know at the hospital that you want skin to skin with the baby asap. my ds was presented to me all clothed and swaddled and i was far too zonked and embarrassed to ask for him to be undressed again . even if you can't do skin to skin in theatre (and some people do), you should be able to as soon as you're in the recovery room. afaik the sooner the better as far as latching on goes, and the more stimulation your lo gives your breasts in those early hours/days, the more signals your milk will get to come in. mine took 6 days but the advice i've had since has led me to think that was nothing to do with the cs, and all to do with the failure to get my ds latched on properly in the first few days. so DO ask midwives to check your latch and persist in asking for help if things don't feel right.
good luck (and congrats)

[fleximum]

I had 2 emergency sections and managed to breast feed successfully after both but after the second was way easier than first. I think the first time you don't know what to expect and I was certainly traumatised. I breast fed him because that was what I wanted to do and the first few weeks were incredibly hard. Without support I'm sure I would have done what you did. Skin to skin is a good planand just feeding as much as you possibly can in first few days to encourage the milk to come in. If you can accept that the first few weeks are going to be hard but that it does get easier, you might find the energy to keep going. My first was very big (11lb7oz) and screamed all night because he was hungry for the first 3 nights. The midwives really helped by taking him for a bit so i could get some sleep, encouraging me to keep going and in the end giving him some formula from a syringe to fill him up enought to let me sleep. He only had it once and it didn't stop the milk coming in.
Good luck and hang in there - you can do it

[ChasingButterflies]

Oh, and don't worry about asking midwives to hand the baby to you, even if it means ringing the bell in the middle of the night. They won't (well, shouldn't ) mind at all and it means you can concentrate on the snuggling and feeding, and not on hoiking about a giant child (I have one of those too!)