Is my cupboard bare?

[ifherbumwereabungalow]

Hi, posted in pregnancy to start with and can't copy and paste so will make this as brief as possible. Had lots of nipple pain when pregnant with DS1, then a very traumatic emergency c-section. After the birth, I didn't have any milk at all to give to baby, despite huge effort on my part and an enormous amount of groping and manhandling by the midwives. They all decided that the trauma of the birth probably led to my supply never really kicking in.
I am now 36+3 pregnant with second DS, and due an elective c-section on 20th June. This time round I have had major pain issues with my nipples, but my breasts haven't really changed size to any great extent and are certainly not swollen at all.
So, my concern is that I am just not capable of producing milk, trauma or not, and whether this is something I can do anything about, or whether I just have to live with it. I felt like a terrible failure last time, but am slightly more prepared this time round, but a part of me is still upset that I might not be able to feed. Has anyone else had any similar experiences, or could anyone offer me any advice?

Hi there! First of all, you shouldn't feel guilty about not bf your ds1. You tried - that's all that counts! Secondly, don't worry about ds2. Anxiety doesn't help and remember that every birth and every baby is different. My experience was different in some respects. I had a natural birth and no pain in nipples during pregnancy. But My breasts didn't change AT ALL until my milk came in 6 days after birth. I also had very little colostrum. I was very very happy when I managed to express 2ml. My son did not want to take the breast and screamed at the top of his lungs. The manhandling by the "bf consultants" was useless. What they taught me was not the right technique for expressing, as I later found out. The constant questions from my sister about the size of my breasts and resolute statements from mother about how I won't have any milk but it's not the end of the world didn't help either. It took me 1 month to start producing enough milk to satisfy his needs and another 2 months to stop expressing and only bf. DS is 14 months now, still bf and both of us are loving it. So even if your breasts don't increase until later, even if you can't express and don't have much colostrum, don't panic! Perseverance pays off. Your cupboard will fill up when the need arises. I wish you all the best!

OP, what an experience :(

There is never any benefit from manhandling or groping of breasts - never.

The volume of milk - actually, colostrum - produced in the very early days is tiny. If the baby cannot get it, gentle and skilled hand expressing is the way to get it out, and the baby can be given it otherwise.

A call to any of the breastfeeding helplines will give you the chance to discuss what went on last time, and to learn more - the size of your breasts in pg is not an indicator of anything, BTW. You also need to have the nipple pain investigated - raise it with a midwife. I have no idea what this might be but have never heard of it having any impact on or link with milk production.

Not producing milk at all postnatally is vanishingly rare - I'm assuming you did have some milk, but it appeared not enough.

Do get some good help :)

Thank you so much for your kind words, hopefully things are going to be different this time round, new hospital for starters!