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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Breastfeeding after caesarean?

10 replies

frannyf · 20/08/2004 21:42

Can anyone help? My sister-in-law just had a baby by c-section and has not managed to breastfeed despite wanting to. She doesn't seem to be producing anything and her baby didn't get the hang of sucking either. The baby was losing weight so they gave her a bottle and she's now been bottle fed for nearly a week.

Is it too late for her to have a go at breastfeeding? Is there any way to get her milk going? A friend of mine had similar problems after a caesarean; it seems to me like the body is not getting the right messages to produce milk because it hasn't "given birth" in the same way. The midwives haven't been able to help in either case - does anyone know what she should try? I think she may have lost hope now but maybe it's worth a last go...

OP posts:
hercules · 20/08/2004 21:53

She needs to speak to a breastfeeding counsellor from somewhere like the nct who have a helpline. It is poosible with some work.

Millie1 · 20/08/2004 22:01

Agree with Hercules advice - is there a lactation consultant that her hospital could put her in contact with. If she's keen to do it, she should definitely give it a shot. Having successfully b/fed 2 DS's after c-sections, I'm disappointed on her behalf that she didn't get the help she needed in hospital.

Spod · 20/08/2004 22:02

i bf after a cs...although it took 4 days for milk to come in... dd didnt have anything else... she just kept sucking away till it came in... and then when it did she didnt feed for 12 hours as she was exhausted! I think it is possible to keep trying... but sounds like she needs some help getting baby to latch on.

squigglesmum · 20/08/2004 22:09

It took my milk six days to come in properly after my cs. Had to give ds top-ups of formula from a cup for a few weeks as he lost a fair bit of weight, but I had phased them out by the time he was three weeks old. I fed him first and then gave him a little formula after the feed just to finish him off - just half an ounce or so quite often. Would agree that a bf counsellor can be really helpful. hth!

fee77 · 21/08/2004 09:25

Definately get in touch with NCT. DD had not regained her birth weight after 2 weeks so my health visitor told me to bottle feed - i was so exhausted and depressed (felt like a failure) that i went along with it. It is only now when i look back i wish i had stuck to my guns. But on the other hand DD is a healthy happy baby!

Original poster
frannyf · 21/08/2004 21:05

Thanks for all advice and info. Sis-in-law did finally produce some milk today (after nearly a week as a couple of people said), but says she has decided to stick with bottle feeding. I feel a bit sad as she previously wanted to breast feed but we are not close enough for me to say anything about it. :-(

Why aren't there lactation consultants available on the NHS, waiting on every maternity ward to spring into action? It would save the NHS a fortune in the long run, surely, with all the haelth benefits for the babies. The advice I hear given by midwives and helth visitors does depress me sometimes...

OP posts:
Original poster
frannyf · 21/08/2004 21:08

And fee77, I am sure you did what you thought best at the time and as you say, your baby is fine and healthy!

OP posts:
Spod · 21/08/2004 21:37

frannyf... i agree... there should be more help available for women who try to bf... when I had my dd 10 mths ago, I asked 4 ward midwives to show me how to feed... all said 'yes, later dear'. none of them helped. After a couple of days, I managed to stumble over (holding my cs scar!) to eavesdrop on another lady being shown how to do it. I felt terrible that no one could be bothered to help me... and I had sore boobs from a poorly latched infant! so glad that I kept trying and that dd was so keen to make it work.

allatsea · 21/08/2004 21:56

it took 6 days for my milk to come in when I had a cs with dd. the local midwives were very supportive (certainly a major contributing factor to success) I had a team of 3 midwives spending most of an afternoon working on calming dd enough so that she could latch on, in the mean time they fed her sma gold jars using a syringe to keep her going. They were talking about taking her back in if my milk hadn't come through/dd wasn't latching on ok, but in things all worked out in the time between my midwife's morning and afternoon visits. From looking at the other threads it would seem that maybe it does take cs mums longer for milk to come in, and that support is essential. Friends of mine spent weeks (12, in one case) persevering until they got the hang of it

ChicPea · 21/08/2004 22:38

I had two elective C-Sctions ay 38 1/2 weeks preg and it took 4 days for milk to come in for first one and 3 days for second baby. I expressed at the hospital with an electric expresser and I really believe this helped get things going.

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