When does milk come in..

[theevildead2]

I was trying to find answer to that online before asking here and was on a kids health website. They say this

If your milk still hasn't come in within 72 hours after the birth of your baby, you may want to talk to your doctor about temporarily supplementing with formula (just until your milk supply is up) so that your baby gets enough nutrients and doesn't lose weight unnecessarily.


I don't get it? Do you actually not feed the baby for up to 72 hours? Or am i missing something? Sorry if this is a really stupid question.


Just curious as due in 6 weeks and wondering when to expect some leaking etc (get the odd drop when fooling around with dh though really sorry for the TMI!)

[HelenLG]

When you first give birth you have colostrum, which is like thick yellow milk, but there is hardly any of it.

Milk 'coming in' refers to the thinner more abundant milk which follows a few days later.

So yes, you do feed for the first few days but it's pretty constant because there is less colostrum

[theevildead2]

Thank you I did realise the colostrom would come in first, but just assumed you'd have a similar amount to milk. I have like a drop, one of my friends said she started leaking a couple months before she gave birth and I was kind of expecting more to be going on i guess.. But a drop or so is ok then?

[PassionKissUnderTheMistletoe]

I am in no way an expert on this subject but from my experience:

You may not get any leaking while pregnant or indeed when breastfeeding - I never did and never needed breastpads at all.

Your milk will "come in" after a few days - that is when your breasts may feel "full" suddenly. Up until then you put your baby to your breast all the time, when ever baby asks and even when he/she doesn't! The baby is getting enough milk from you even though you can't feel it yet. It is baby sucking that stimulates your supply. Formula bottles will interfere will the process at this early stage.

Hope that helps

[theevildead2]

Thanks passion it does actually :)

[MoonUnitAlpha]

My milk didn't come in til day 4, but nobody suggested formula. DS didn't lose weight unnecessarily either - 7% of birthweight I think, and 10% is when they start worrying.

There's only tiny amounts of colostrum, but newborns' stomachs are the size of a marble and they only need a couple of mls each feed.

[Meglet]

Mine never leaked when I ws pg.

4 days after my c-sections I had milk running down my legs and felt like I had 2 bowling balls stuck to my chest.

IME there wasn't much colostrum, but isn't it quite potent stuff anyway? I had to express some for DS and managed to get a few drops out. DD was easy to bf and I just fed her every hour or so before the milk came in.