Engorgement

[EllieDawn]

Hi I was just wondering when everyone else first experienced their breast milk coming down as I gave birth 5 days ago and there is still no sign of mine. I really wanted to breastfeed and tried for 4 days while in hospital to produce milk, 2 days with hand expressing and 2 days with electric breast pump but the only thing produced was a couple of drops of colostrum. I was getting myself so stressed out and the baby was starving and wouldn't settle so I was advised by the midwives to give up and put her on bottle feeds but I was wondering if there is still a chance my milk could come in and if anyone has experience of establishing breastfeeding when baby is this old?

elliedawn
If you don't get quick responses maybe you need to rename this thread to something that highlights the problems ie help no milk! I don't know enough to help you but there are some amazing women with excellent advice on here who will help you. Are your midwives visiting? Do you have a helpline number? This must be so stressful for you - I hope you get the help you need soon.

Ellie, I am no expert but I would bet that it is possible to get your supply going now, based on the fact that my milk didn't come in until about day 4 with both of my children.

What I did with them was to take to my bed, lots of skin to skin contact, keep them at the breast and let them suck as much as they wanted (even if this takes hours).

I second ricketyrock's suggestion that you re-post with a different heading, as there are people on this board who will be able to give you some firmer advice.

I hope someone more knowledgeable comes along soon. This must be very stressful for you, esp with all the pumping, expressing etc. Tbh I have never been able to express in the first few weeks and have gone on to bf for fairly long periods, so don't let that put you off!

Thanks for the advice ricketyrock and SlightlyTubbyHali, I'm not really desperate for answers at this stage, the baby is feeding fine from the bottle and although I'm disappointed not to have managed to establish breastfeeding I'm not beating myself up about it, the midwives at the hospital said I had given it a good shot and not to worry, it was more out of curiosity to see if anyone else has experienced the same situation.

Definitely repost calling it something else, your midwives have given you duff info, there's every chance you can breastfeed if that's what you want to do BUT you need proper advice not the crap you've had so far. It's NORMAL only to have a few drops of colostrum. You shouldn't need to be worrying about pumping and stuff at this early stage. In simple terms the thing to do is stop the formula and get the baby feeding often. Google NCT breastfeeding for a helpline number and call it NOW, not tomorrow.

My milk didn't come in til day 4 - you need to have the baby feeding at the breast lots to get your milk to come in, every 2 or 3 hours at least.

Don't worry about only having a few drops of colostrum, that's quite normal. The baby only takes a few ml of colostrum at first.

and to add to everyone else, I strongly suspect that you won't be getting with a pump what your baby would be able to get from you. I'm not an expert but I know that I get a much stronger feeling from baby than when trying to pump.

Ellie, if you're happy with the way things are that's fine, but if you are a bit disappointed and might regret not breastfeeding, why not give La Leche League or someone similar a call for some advice? From what Moonunit and I have posted you can see that milk not coming in for a bit is not unusual - and so if you wanted to breastfeed perhaps it is worth giving it another shot?

Is there even a small possibility there may be some of the placenta left? When it was thought I might have this, the first question I was asked was 'Have you had difficulty feeding'. might be worth asking for an ultrasound to rule it out.

Haggisfish, I have already had an ultrasound when I was still in the hospital to rule out the possibility of retained placenta as they thought that might have been the cause but it came back clear. Its now day 7 and still no milk so it looks like she will be a bottle baby but as long as she is getting enough milk and putting on weight its fine. Thanks to everyone who advised me on this, I have learned since I started this thread that my maternal grandmother suffered the same problem and was unable to breastfeed any of her 5 children, so maybe its a genetic thing, or my body's reaction to the trauma of the birth as I lost a lot of blood and was in the observation unit on a drip for 2 days.

Crikey Ellie, it sounds like you've been through the mill. Glad your baby is gaining weight and is happy: that's what counts.