Do they starve whilst waiting for milk to come in?

[malachismum]

Hello, my baby is due in a month or so and I want to breast feed. My question is this: If my milk doesnt come in for a few days what on earth do you feed the baby? Surely I cant just expect him/her to go hungry for what could be 3 or 4 days!! Colostrum isnt enough is it? My friend suggested formular in a cup but that sounds a bit fiddly to me?
Any advice?

Colostrum is the perfect stuff for them to have. It's very high in protein, and perfect for them (duh, as it's made specially for them).

If you must give formula in the early days (best avoided) cup-feeding is one of the better options, as it reduces the risk of nipple confusion.

Colostrum is fine. It is what every newborn baby is meant to have - your body knows what it is doing, and what your baby needs.

Also the more they suck, the quicker the milk comes in

Colostrum is enough and all the baby needs. Nature is very clever at this sort of thing. Your baby wont come out completely starved. Formula in a cup for a new born? Does your friend have children? Don't worry and let nature takes its course it will all fall into place when the time comes

colostrum is more than enough

it is perfect

it is all that is needed

you're being silly

good luck

Colostrum is more than enough. Top-ups with formula are absolutely not necessary in normal circumstances.

It's true there doesn't seem to be a lot of it, volume-wise, but it is perfect nutritionally and will be quite sufficient. Your milk won't come in until day 3/4 and in the meantime the baby will be absolutely fine with colostrum. Trust your body - and your baby!

I tried very hard to bf my ds and had mil and my own mother telling me the baby is hungry all the time and to give it a bottle. And as he was my first Im afraid I caved in and he ended up on bottles, I was totally devestated and still couldnt talk about it 10 months on! Im more confident this time and will stand my ground!

After a lot of worry about this sort of thing with my first child, I read afterwards that babies only need a teaspoon or two for the first few days - remember that Mexican earthquake a few years ago where they found some babies buried in a hospital after 5 days and they were all fine....

MM,don't worry about it.
Trust your body-it knows what it's doing.
We are here for you when you need us.
Also lots of help and support from breast feeding drop in centres,La Leche,Assoc. of Breasfeeding Mothers and so on.

How about asking your M/W about this stuff now??
Best of luck,and don't beat yourself up abput the first time.It is all so terrifying with a new baby.

And colostrum has lots of goodies in it to fight any bugs and nasties.
It is wonder food.

Maybe phone one of the breastfeeding helplines to chat about breastfeeding?

I can't ever remember my milk 'coming in'
I just put them on the boob and left 'em there.

OMG, Moondog, I remember mine. Three days after giving birth, my norks swelled up - from melons to watermelons - rock hard and leaky. It would have been quite funny had I not been simultaneously hit by baby blues, so was pouring tears as well as milk.

Ah,bless you!!

malachismum you might find this leaflet useful to give to your "helpful" mum & MIL!:

Funny, with DS1 (who wasn't feeding that well) the milk took ages to come in, and my boobs went scary. With DS2 (who fed very very well), the milk came in in a day or two, and my boobs never went scary, because he kept draining them.

a new born only has a stomach the size of a walnut. Colostrum is concentrated nutrition that will give the baby everything it needs in very tiny amounts. If you keep putting them to the breast you may well find that your milk comes in a lot sooner anyway;. Last time, mine came in after only 12 hours.

I remember my milk coming in -my boobs looked and felt like very bad implants (ouch!).

A word of advice - politely ignore the MIL and other "well-meaning" individuals and, as people have suggested, try and get advice from breastfeeding advisors etc.

Good luck!

MI - same here. I remember with DD knowing nothing about baby blues. I had no idea why I was sobbing over everything, just that I had norks like I'd never seen before, and DH had managed to bring the smallest top I owned so it killed trying to wear it.

At least this time I was prepared - very large t-shirt, and spent most of the day in the bath so I could sob and leak in comfort .

Was going to post kelly's info about the tiny stomach - they don't need grea gu;lps at any one time, and they are drinking colostrum - it isn't as if there is nothing until the milk comes in. As others have said, your milk will come sooner if your baby suckles colostrum regularly, and you will build up a bigger supply, the more you feed. Feeding formula will interrupt that.

Best of luck with it all, and congratulations.

Aahh thank you all. Im going to look at the sites you've suggested now. As I said I feel more confident this time and wont allow myself to be bullied.