Is there anything I can do to make my milk come in earlier than 5 days in?

[HalfStar]

I'm thinking ahead to the imminent arrival of dc3's.

With my previous two babies my milk didn't really come in until Day 5. They were both vaginal births. With dc1 I had an epidural (no pitocin) but with dc2 nothing at all.

They both latched on straight away and were with me all the time.
I did feckloads of skin to skin.
They were on the boob constantly and I woke them if they wanted to sleep past a feed.
I also expressed a bit when it looked like the nappies weren't frequent enough.

But still milk didn't come in properly for 5 days and they both needed a a few ounces of formula to get them through safely until it did.

Is this just the way I'm made? I'm fine about giving some formula if this happens again, I'm just wondering if I'm missing something obvious. I did have plenty of milk for them once it was in and fed for over a year.

[directsunlight]

Have you tried any galactogogues? Something as simple as eating porridge daily can help. kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/herbs/herbal_galactagogue/

Having said that, it's my understanding that the milk "coming in" is entirely hormone driven, as the mothers body adjusts to no longer being pregnant. This is why oversupply is so common in the early weeks, because supply isn't being driven by the baby just yet. I don't know much more about it, but it really sounds like you know what you're doing. Keep hydrated, nourished and as rested as possible. Congratulations on your pregnancy

[QueenAravisOfArchenland]

I don't think so, other than maybe make sure you're generally well-nourished heading up to the birth i.e. not anaemic...?

Other than that maybe you could also harvest and freeze some colostrum prior to birth if you wanted, to help tide you over. But as far as I know the only real factors affecting when it comes in are a) when the placenta comes away b) if you have a CS or lose a lot of blood during birth. Maybe it's just a hormonal quirk of your body in some way that it takes slightly longer for mature milk production to get going after the placenta's gone.

[EssentialHummus]

Anecdotally I found fenugreek to be helpful, but I agree with others - make sure you're hydrated, lots of oats, lots of cuddles.

[HalfStar]

Oh thank you for the replies.

I think I did eat lots of oats and porridge yes. And drank fennel tea, but maybe I'll try the fenugreek from day 1 this time.

Hm, maybe I should really keep on top of iron too in the lead-up, that's a good idea.

My mw did say for some women it just takes the 5 or so days!

Thanks again.

[TwilightRiver]

I expressed ( to bring on labour- didnt work lol) but i believe my milk came in quicker because of it (day 2). Also helpful to store the colostrum if needed. I dont think its recommended till after 37 weeks though.

[Troika]

Dd2 and I were sent back to hospital on day 3 because she’d lost 15% of birthweight. They had me feeding then expressing every 3 hours to try to get milk to come in quicker. It was still Day 5 and actually I never had the waking up with boobs like rocks thing I had with the other two (maybe because by the time I’d done the feed express top up cycle I was only getting about 40 minutes sleep before it was time to start again)

My first was day 5 too. My second day 2.

[HalfStar]

That sounds stressful Troika, the first few days are so stressful, I need to mentally prepare...

I wouldn't be at all surprised if sleep makes a bit of a difference actually. I know you can't expect much, but it's true that I was insanely sleep deprived after my labours.

[mindutopia]

Mine didn't come in for 5 days with my first. I had a perfectly natural home birth, all normal and straightforward. I did lose a little bit more blood than would have been ideal (but not like a full on PPH), but did become anaemic after. So second staying on top of your iron. I plan to take iron supplements from day one this time regardless of how I feel. I'm also stocking up on lots of natural galactogogues (I have porridge every day for breakfast anyway now and will carry on), plus I made some lactation cookie dough and froze it in the freezer so my dh can make me some cookies once baby is here. As extra insurance, I've also started to harvest some colostrum (I'm 37 weeks now) to freeze. I'm hoping it helps my supply that I've already been hand expressing before baby is born, but even if it doesn't, I at least feel a bit better knowing I have some saved up just in case. Though if I need to, I'm happy to do a few formula top ups if that's what we need to do as well. I'm also just hoping being a bit more relaxed about it this time helps. It was all very overwhelming the first time around.

[RuckingMarvellous]

Hand express from 36 weeks