Breast Feeding and C-section

[Olaalo]

Would really appreciate to hear from those who have experienced breastfeeding after having a c- section. Also anyone use a breast pump, if so was it electric or manual? Thanks

I had a planned section on Monday and no issues.
He was put on breast within minutes of leaving theatre and stayed on for about 2 hours and then went on and off for rest of day.
Milk came in on day 2 and he's only lost 130g when weighed Thursday.
I'm not pumping though.
Just use a lot of vaseline on nipples to give some protection from the constant suckling and just let them go on breast as much as they want.

Emcs here. Bf for 3 years. It took a solid 8 weeks to get it established so formula top up was needed but we may have only used 1.5 tins on total.

And I am sure I ate a farmers harvest in fenugreek. I came home 2kg lighter than my prepregnancy weight so had no fat to draw on so needed the help.

I've had 3 sections - I unplanned/ emergency (not crash - I was awake, with a spinal, but after a long failed labour when DD's heartbeat was weakening. I also hemorrhaged and needed two blood transfusions). I breastfed all 3 babies successfully for roughly a year each time, no formula before 6 months and none at all for 2/3 (one wouldn't drink expressed from a bottle but would drink formula from a bottle inexplicably, and was the only one I needed to leave for longer than 3 hours at under a year old).

I have never had a vaginal delivery but I don't think a caesarean has any impact whatsoever on breastfeeding except that it is harder to move about generally, and your bump goes down more slowly due to swelling in the very first days, so physically holding the baby to feed is somewhat awkward. I assume it would be somewhat awkward to hold them to bottle feed too though, as the position is similar - bottle feeding would only be easier if you didn't do it yourself but the baby's father did it! It would be far more inconvenient and uncomfortable to get up and sort out bottles every time the baby wanted to feed, I'd guess).

I used a manual pump and had oversupply so expressed easily with that, so I can't help with electronic pump advice.

My milk came in at typical times unaffected by the fact it was a caesarean birth - with dc3 it came in really early (day 3) and with dc1 and 2 day 5. All babies lost a bit of weight immediately after birth as is completely normal, and then gained well and "thrived" medically.

It was a rough start, but I BFed for 13m.

We were both exhausted by a long labour before the EMCS. His blood sugars were low from getting distressed. I ended up in HDU due to complications. By the time he was given to me from NICU hours after he was born, he was too dopey to be interested in feeding and ended up on a 3 hour cycle of being woken to be fed by any means possible, directly feeding, hand expressing into a cup (I barely got out 0.5ml of colostrum the first night) and formula.

He must have been a good week old before I became engorged with milk, it was after Christmas and he was born several days before.

In the first days at home, he struggled to latch so I'd hand express a little, cup feed him, and then it was possible for him to latch.

The first weeks can be tough anyway, but a tough birth can make it harder to establish as the mother's body focuses on healing and baby can be tired or miss the optimum window for the first feed. There is not enough support to get through this phase, and mothers get rushed into giving up and moving to formula too soon before their body is ready to produce milk.

If I hadn't been on HDU with a good ratio of staffing for 36 hours and been straight onto main ward with a ratio of 1:14 with no support, he'd have ended up formula fed... then poorly from CMPA then on specialist formula.

Cushions helped a lot for the pressure on the wound.

Seven months on from unplanned C-section after long labour and I'm still breastfeeding. She feeds every couple of hours still and only sleeps on me so not had much chance to express. When I do there's an abundance; I use a Medela manual and a Hakaa.

Milk arrived with a bang on day 3. Only problems were a late-diagnosed posterior tongue tie and a mutual inability to get the latch right for a few days, resulting in boob love bites.

Emergency CS. Fed exclusively lying down for a few weeks and it's still our favourite way to feed nearly 2 years later. Be aware that a caesarean can give the baby extra water weight and breastfeeding has a slightly slower initial weight gain then higher than formula feeding, so as long as the baby is gaining don't be over-worried if it takes 10-14 days to regain birth weight so the midwives call a couple of extra times, only worry if they say there's a big problem. Even after just two weeks I could feed him in my arms, I would just hold him more horizontal to prevent him kicking the bruised area. I suggest you are very careful not to overdo it with lifting, walking etc in the initial weeks after CS; you can have the midwives come to your house instead of going to a children's centre, so do so - your health is more important than convenience and efficiency for others. I don't know if excess walking caused some of my stomach issues or not, but it isn't worth the risk.

If you plan to exclusively breastfeed, be aware the baby will cry, shout and feed ALL night around day 3/4 to help get your milk in. Use loads of lansinoh from day 1 and after every feed until your nipples are used to it, you can stop using it after a couple of months and only use it for quick healing if you get an accidental bite later. You'll get the same with each grown spurt at a few weeks, months, etc; I don't think anybody is really prepared for how full-on cluster feeding is, but once you've gone through the first one you'll be better prepared. Also you'll have a hormone crash and cry lots around day 5, be prepared and have your DH prepped to take particular care of you.

Good luck, it's a wonderful time meeting your baby and getting those snuggles.

Expressing was hard until about 4 months, even then I could only express a lot in the mornings. Everyone's different, so different machines work for different people, some have over-supply etc. Wait until your milk comes in, then talk to people about it.

I'm still nursing 13 months after an emergency c-section.

2 planned c sections. Breastfed my daughter 19 months and my son 20 months. My milk took a while to come in, maybe because of pain levels

I had an elective c section and had no issues breastfeeding until around 6 months.
I started running again and my milk just dissapeared.

I had a c section and I’m still breast feeding 9 months on. I was a bit worried about how I would manage with the section and the fact my first child took 5 weeks to latch on and was prepared to switch to formula if needed. Anyway she latched straight on and hasn’t stopped since I didn’t find the section wound a problem either. I don’t express Now because I can’t be bothered with the faff and there’s not much left when she’s finished these days. I had a tommy tippee Electric breast pump with my first Which was rubbish . I then bought a nuby which was better but wouldn’t work when I tried it for my second. I didn’t want to spend loads on a breast pump this time so found a Bella baby one on amazon for £40 it’s a double and you can charge it up so you don’t have to plug in. The reviews were fab so I took a chance it’s actually been really great the few times iv used it was so impressed for the price just a shame iv not really used it. Also would recommend a Hakka silicone one great for when your engorged or catching any milk while you feed on the other side and you don’t have to faff about putting an electric one together.

Hi all, I have a doctors appointment this week to discuss having an elective C section. It’s my first baby and I’m not high risk so I’m fully suspecting the NHS to make it as difficult as possible to grant it for me. Any tips on the types of points I should bring up pls? Thanks!

Breast fed successfully after c section but like others have said, first few days were rough as my milk didn’t come in until about day 5 I think. She lost 13% body weight and they said if she lost 15% I’d have to go into hospital with her. As it was, that day the milk came in in spectacular fashion and I spent the next 24 hours feeding her every two hours or more, and when they came to weigh her next day she had gained a good amount of weight - they were very pleased and I had no further issues after that.

Ps also had a medela swing pump which was useful for partner to help do the feeds at times and worked well

I had a planned c section and was able to breastfeed fine. No problems with incision pain or moving to pick baby up.

I planned to express milk so other half could feed baby. I started doing this after 4 weeks of breastfeeding. At week 4 I started using a Hakka on the opposite boob to the one baby was feeding from, and stashed this in the fridge until there was enough to fill a bottle to replace a breast feed. When I'd collected enough milk, other half began to feed baby from the bottle while I used an electric pump (mine is the MAM one- I'd recommend). This is the routine we are using now- baby has a combination of breast milk from the breast or from the bottle. We had no problems with nipple confusion and feel that introducing a bottle at 4 weeks was a really useful thing to do to give me chance to sleep and to enable others to get involved in feeding if I needed to go out, and to prepare baby for my return to work (took 4 months mat leave).

Pumping is hard- I feel lucky that my other half is nearly always around so is able to take the baby while I pump. If he weren't there I'm not sure my pumping routine would have worked. Also, if you are planning on regular pumping I'd recommend a pumping bra so you can free your hands!

@Mfernando

Hi all, I have a doctors appointment this week to discuss having an elective C section. It’s my first baby and I’m not high risk so I’m fully suspecting the NHS to make it as difficult as possible to grant it for me. Any tips on the types of points I should bring up pls? Thanks!

My preference was to give birth via c section- no risks or medical reasons for it, just my own personal preference. When I asked about having a c section every health prof I spoke to was very supportive of my choice and none of them tried to dissuade or bully me out if it. They did explain the various risks so I could make an informed choice but was not pressured to opt for vaginal birth.

This was also during covid where many operations were getting cancelled so I was expecting my c section request to be declined 'cos of covid' but it wasn't.

2 c-sections (1 emergency 1 planned) and 2 DC BF till 12 months plus.

Both had tongue tie so it was excruciating for the first week. DC2 had it cut but DC1 I persevered because I didn't know any better. So I pumped with DC1. Electric Medela one. I found if I fed in the morning I could get a full feed expressed in a decent amount of time. If I expressed in the evening I would get barely anything in over an hour. So think about when you express and invest in an electric one and save your hand energy!

I’ve bf after two emcs, never had an issue? Still feeding dd now who is 3 😫

Two sections, one emergency, one elective. BF both from the start with no problems. Did occasional pump so dad could feed and managed fine. Every case is different, try not to worry.