Planned c section, BF, colostrum and milk

[Ploppymoodypants]

Hello, had a planned c section Friday morning. Had no intention of BF, but baby had other ideas and clamped on her self during skin to skin in recovery and fed for almost an hour. Given this I thought I would try and BF, and currently taking it feed by feed.

However baby seems sooo hungry and works for hard and I can’t see she is getting any food. My nipples are v sore now, but weren’t until last night, but the latch is really good (confirmed by midwives) and she comps and comps away and occasionally has a swallow, so she can’t be getting much.

After constant feeding last night, we gave in and offered her some formula and she guzzled 40ml! We then stopped her and burped her as worried she had so much. But she would have kept going and clearly she was hungry as she then slept for 4 hours!

I now really want to BF but what do I do. Do I just let her feed and feed off me and hardly have anything? No sign of milk coming in yet.

Thank you in advance

Congratulations on your new baby! Your milk will take until day 5 or 6 to come in, and in the meantime baby needs to suck to stimulate your body to make it come in. Colostrum is incredibly rich in all the nutrients baby needs and although it seems tiny amount, it is all they need. So long as you are getting wet and dirty nappies keep doing as you are doing and you will do great. Enjoy baby snuggles!

Milk doesn’t come in straight away! This is normal but no one tells women about it so, understandably, there’s panic. Just keep letting her suckle as much as possible, and get some Lanisoh cream for your nipples. Good luck x

If your nipples are sore, Lansinoh cream is really good. If they are really sore and you really want to breastfeed, for a day try using a pump to express each time baby wants to feed and feed what you expressed previously to give your nipples a rest. You could also ask the midwife to check your latch is ok.

I had a c section and what everyone failed to tell me was that your milk takes an extra day or two to come in when you have one!
We had problems with DS in the hospital not getting enough despite latching on and was failing to produce wet nappies. He also lost 13% of his birthweight in the first few days (again they don't warn you that this happens as c section babies are full of mucous as they haven't been squeezed out the birth canal) . We gave him a formula feed or two to bump him up and it worked a treat. Before the formula he was so sleepy so not waking to feed but the formula gave him the little boost he needed.
Don't feel guilty for using formula if you need to and if he has a good latch then persevere with the bf'ing if that's what you want. Keeping putting them on the boob as it stimulates your milk to come in, colostrum comes out in tiny amounts but is so nutrient dense that they only need a little!
Hang in there it will get easier and congratulations

It all sounds entirely normal. No one really tells you how hard those early days of BF are because it is relentless, exhausting and very emotional. Take your lead from your DD and be prepared to not get much sleep. Constant feeding is what the do in those early weeks to establish your supply. Sounds like you’re doing a grand job.
For me both times, when I felt like a complete failure and useless wreck, it meant my milk was on its way.

This scared me to death with dd and I went onto formula on day 3 just so I knew she was eating something. I don't know how people can hold their nerve. I am having a section this time and although I would like to bf I suspect it will be same again.

Thank you everyone. She has been asleep since 5am so just contemplating waking her up for a feed. Will try the boob and see what happens. But thinking about it, we have v few wet nappies. Just lots of poos. Have put call into midwife so hopefully she will come and see us today.

My milk didn’t come in until day five with my first, she was slow to gain but all in all was fine. A midwife did help me to hand express colostrum to syringe feed, to wake her up to get her to feed better, maybe see if there is anyone who can help you with that. Also see if there’s a local breastfeeding drop in session. Hope it all works out for you :)

I had a c section. One thing. No one told me is that they have lots of mucous in them that unlike in a vaginal birth where it’s pushed out, they cough and poo out. They may not be very hungry to start with a full of mucous and you get lots of poo but little pee. After a few days your milk will come in (you will likely feel your boobs engorge) andrhen baby will start taking more milk. Don’t worry if she feeds a lot but seems to get little, that’s just her encouraging your boobs to. Make milk. It’s really un Mervin has you have to trust your boobs to do their thing. I’m sitting feeding my enormous 6 month old who I thought I would never ave enough milk to feed!