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Childbirth

Milk coming in question!

8 replies

enchantedspleen · 10/03/2020 13:35

I'm 31+3 and am producing small amounts of colostrum. When people talk about your milk coming in after birth, does this mean it's already happened for me or is it different? I'm just curious!

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dementedpixie · 10/03/2020 14:25

It's normal to leak colostrum in pregnancy. Your milk won't come in until a few days after birth and at first your baby will drink the colostrum

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Namechangeymcnamechange11 · 10/03/2020 14:27

You produce colostrum until approx 3 days after the birth which baby drinks. Around day 3, you produce milk when it 'comes in'.

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severalboxes · 10/03/2020 14:27

Post birth you have a bit of colostrum then the grand symphony of hormones starts up your proper milk production.

Common to have boobs like big hard bowling balls and feel a bit like you're coming down with something.

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LemonScentedStickyBat · 10/03/2020 14:35

Right now your pregnancy hormones are suppressing most milk production. After the placenta is delivered the hormone levels change and your main milk production starts. The colostrum (it’s just a concentrated version of your breast milk, not really a different substance) is there from about 20 weeks of pregnancy and is all the baby needs for the first 1-3 days after birth.

After birth it may be an overnight change to “milk coming in” or it might be very gradual over the first couple of days. You might leak loads of milk or just a little or not at all. There is a wide range of normal!

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enchantedspleen · 10/03/2020 14:41

Wow, thank you everyone! Does it hurt when your milk comes in? Or just feel a bit gross?

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InDubiousBattle · 10/03/2020 14:44

Yes it hurts. Or at least it did for me and all of the women I know! It's not gross though. It's often accompanied by a big surge in hormones which made me cry a lot. It settles down fairly soon though. Are you planning on bf?

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plixy · 10/03/2020 14:50

Yeah it hurt. I had a section which can delay it so mine didn't come in until day 4. I woke up and it was like someone had pumped my boobs up overnight. They were rock hard, huge and painful. They were actually so hard baby couldn't latch on properly so I had to express some first.
You might find they keep over filling for a few days until your body works out how much you actually need