Is it now too late to stimulate milk production?

[greeneone12]

I had my son on Tuesday just after 3pm. I BF him in hospital when he was hungry until we were discharged Wednesday lunchtime. He did have a brief feed Wednesday afternoon.

He had a couple of feeds at home on Thursday and a short one today but no night feeding at all.

All his other feeds have been formula which I am giving on demand.

Is it too late for me to BF? My milk hasn't come in yet.

Thanks!

Not at all! Are you able to babymoon a bit, skin to skin in bed, someone bringing you tea, food, etc?

I was in this situation and was fully breastfeeding by 5 weeks (we had tongue tie and other problems though)... but I rented a hospital grade double pump to get my supply up amongst other things and then replaced the formula with expressed milk over the course of a week. It was hard though as I was expressing 8 times a day. I would try and get some advice on a plan, can you speak to a lactation person through your HV or perhaps try the breastfeeding helplines?

Not too late at all. Put him to the breast as much as possible, before you give formula. Maybe try and express as well if you can. It may take a little while to get going but it's totally possible. Good luck.

Not really as I have a very active toddler, little in the way of family support and my partner isn't supportive at all. I would only be able to manage a couple of feeds a day and little if anything in the way of night feeds. I just wonder how many feeds I would need to do a day to keep any kind of supply.

I think it's a lost cause :(

No definitely not. I think 3 days is average for milk to come in but it can be a few days more. As pp said if you can stay in bed with lots of skin to skin that should really help. Expressing a bit in between feeds can also help to stimulate the milk supply, but mainly keep baby close and feed on demand, if you want to ebf it is best to try to avoid giving formula bottles for now as it's a crucial time to build up your supply. Your midwife should be able to give some advice if you need help or you can call the la leche league helpline, they are usually pretty good. I also found my local breastfeeding drop in helped to build up confidence. Good luck!

Could you pump and feed what you get topped up with formula. I'm just thinking you can pump when convenient so it might be easier to fit a few sessions in each day.

Sorry x-post. I'm not sure a couple of feeds a day would be enough to establish your supply to be honest, might be wrong. From what I was told when DS was born you need lots of feeding in those first 2 weeks, particularly at night and after that it's easier to introduce a bit of formula. I had to supplement (hospital's instructions) the first week and it worked out fine but it was only for a few days and I expressed every time. If breastfeeding isn't the best option for your family try not to beat yourself up about it, there is nothing wrong with opting for formula! You can always try it and see how it goes.

If you do really want to breastfeed though, is there no way you could do night feeds even just for the first few weeks? Maybe co-sleeping? In terms of the toddler, some people find they can just put baby in a sling to feed which allows them to stay active with free hands, then the baby can happily feed while you get on with what you need to do. I know it doesn't work for everyone though. You can also stick toddler in front of a film / sit on the sofa reading stories while feeding baby. I'm sorry your partner is not supportive, does he not have some paternity leave and help with the toddler? Do you have any support, I hope you're able to rest up a bit and recover from the birth?

Is your partner not supportive of breastfeeding, or generally unsupportive? Is he doing the night feeds?

If you're doing night feeds, I would stick your baby on the breast for a while first, before giving any formula.

Otherwise, I agree that a couple of feeds a day is unlikely to generate much supply. Although I would do it anyway as any breastmilk is a bonus.

Problem with a sling is I think you have to be quite experienced at feeding for it to be easy.

Ok, so you've got a toddler and little support. I would say co sleep as someone above said, if it's at all safe to do so. Skin to skin whenever your toddler is napping. Housework right down to bare bones, just do the very minimum to keep you all going and safe.

If you can, try to pre empt hunger and put him to the breast first

Good luck