waiting for milk to come in

[lancarra]

I am expecting my 4th in 6 wks I have breastfed all the others but I have always had to top up in 1st 3 days when waiting for milk to arrive! there does not seem to be much colostrum and they have all been hungry I have always fed on demand but there is nothing there, any tips for getting going sooner without having to use formula.

not giving any formula will ensure your milk comes quicker because if the baby sucks the mesages are sent to your body to get going with the milk

How do you know when your milk comes in? I never noticed any changes, which might explain why I failed.

Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand - as TrinityRhino says, if you don't give formula your milk will come quicker. I was advised to give formula with DD and deeply regret it as I never got my supply well established. My milk came in but there was never enough and eventually the formula top ups took over from the breastfeeding.

nogoes - I found that when my milk did come in my boobs were extremely painful and felt quite hard. If you're planning to do it again you can try hand expressing to see what comes out if you don't feel any change.

It's a balancing act IMO. Yes, not giving formula does mean your milk will come in quicker, but you will have a few sleepless nights immediately after the birth with the baby screaming for food. Only you can judge whether it's worth it.

Personally, I have given each of my 2 babies a small bottle of formula on the second night, just to ensure I got some much-needed sleep. It didn't seem to affect my milk supply, at least not so that I noticed it. My milk still came in on day 3 and I never needed to use formula again.

lancarra, if you keep your baby skin to skin, close to you, then there will be much less liklihood of him/her needing to be given formula. Babies cry and fuss to be close to you - crying and fussing and not wanting to be put down in a crib is not a sign they are hungry for more than you can give them.