Anyone had surgery while exclusively breastfeeding a newborn?

[DasherDancer]

I am after advice and experiences about ebf a newborn when you've had to undergo surgery a few weeks after their birth.

Remembering back to my dd's early days I didn't have her away from me at all during this period and just fed whenever she needed it so I'm worried that a few hours away will be a problem. I never bothered expressing until she was 4+ months so I don't even know about doing that earlier. Also I just remember leaking a lot everywhere and being engorged at times even though she fed every couple of hours, never really went longer than 2 hours back then. So I am feeling quite overwhelmed with the idea of being away from baby and then recovering from surgery etc.

I really don't want to introduce formula at all until after 6 months unless absolutely essential.

I had some retained placenta removed at 5 weeks pp (under a general) and I took the baby with me. I expressed a bottle of about 3 oz to give just in case, fed him right up until I had to go in to theatre and as soon as I was back from recovery. My husband gave him the expressed feed (he took it from a bottle but also had packed a sterilised cup just in case) and then I kept him in with me for the rest of the day / overnight.

Depends what sort of surgery / how long etc. Also not sure what the NHS policy would be.. I was in a private hospital (they were a bit sniffy tbh and made me sign a disclaimer but the consultant had said it would be fine to take the baby).

I had to stop bf with DS as I was in agony with kidney stones and the medication/treatment wasn't suitable for bf. it wasn't so bad because he got used to a bottle early on and I managed to get him back on the boob after five days off, so it was a blip rather than having to give up altogether.

I'm hoping it will only be one night. I hadn't thought about the possibity of having baby on the ward with me. Maybe I should consider private if that becomes an option.

I have no idea how I would go about expressing enough milk for the overnight feeds and any others needed during the day in the couple of weeks leading up to it. I seemed to have no time the first time around so I am quite doubtful to be honest :(