Milk not coming in!

[Kelroc]

I’m Day 11 post c section delivery. All went really well. Low blood loss, was elective as baby was breech. Had tough time in hospital with latching, leading to cracked and bleeding nipples.
Thought all was going okay but at 5 days dd had lost 16% of body weight. Now on formula top ups. Bf before bottle and pumping after, but I’m only getting tiny amounts and she’s taking more and more formula.
It’s been really scary-that her glucose was so low and going back into hospital.
Seen so many people with differing options, but the consensus is that my milk hasn’t come in properly. My boobs have not changed at all (they didn’t in pregnancy either) and I’m so worried that at 11days now it never will.
Has anyone had a similar experience or had full milk come in this late?
I’m going to gp on Tuesday to see if he’ll prescribe me peridome

Could you be anaemic?

My milk didn't come in after a traumatic birth, and my baby also had a neck injury from the forceps which meant he struggled to turn his head to latch. We ended up going down the formula route after post birth weight loss.

Just coming on to say, do the best that you can do. If you can't breastfeed, you may feel upset / disappointed and that's ok. But know that your baby would ultimately thrive on formula just as well, and you'll still develop a lovely bond

You must be trying so hard to be still making the effort at day 11.

It’s ok to move to formula if that’s what works for you and baby.

If you really want to keep trying do see the doctor. Is your pump electric? Hand pumping seems so much harder. And have you tried emulating cluster feeds with the pump? (So pumping for ten minutes every hour for three days). It’s a brutal schedule but was recommended in the neonatal unit I was on for women with supply issues.

Has anyone spoken to you about IGT (insufficient glandular tissue)? The fact you say your breasts didn’t change at all during pregnancy is a big red flag. It affects 1 in 200 women and means with the best will in the world you will never make enough milk even if you supplement with domperidone or other galactagogues.

I had this and I had to give 98% formula. I was so, so sad about it, but I can tell you that my DC is now 3, a healthy weight, a perfect sleeper and the least fussy eater I know.

Please find a proper lactation consultant who will explore the possibility of IGT with you.

Lots and lots of skin on skin have baby with you on your chest as much as you can. Hand express while they're with you even if you don't get any keep trying. Put baby to breast as often as you can, all of this will trigger the hormones which produce milk. No shame in formula feeding but if you really want to breastfeed get yourself to a support group or a lactation consultant and keep up with that skin on skin.

My milk didn’t come in until 5 days after c section and we were re admitted for weight loss. A bank nurse on the children’s ward said she was not going to wake me up in the night and would look after ds for me and give him formula. After a nights sleep (I hadn’t slept in nearly a fortnight by that point because I’d been in labour for a week) my milk came in.
Carried on topping up with formula for a few weeks and then just bf.

Thanks for the support. I’m really determined to keep going.
We’ve seen two consultants and Lactation specialist and we’re just being told we’re doing all we can.
Has anyone had experience of peridome?

I feel like I could have written your post OP. I am currently 17 days post emergency c section with the same issues.

My milk finally arrived on day 11. I was having skin to skin in bed with DS - crying and feeling awful about not being able to bf and looked down to see that I’d leaked onto his face

Unfortunately my supply is still not sufficient to stop the cycle of supplementation and expressing every 3 hours. I’m trying to reduce the formula gradually (I can’t express enough to top up at the moment). Hoping that things improve soon as the schedule is pretty gruelling.

Omg I feel for you! It’s just awful. Cried every day about the whole thing. Did you get a full on supply in? And did you do anything you think triggered it. Really encouraging to hear that someone else has this!

I really don’t know if it’s the full supply to be honest. I can only express between 10-20mls each time but sometimes I think DS gets more when he feeds. He’s a messy eater and has milk round his mouth. HV has agreed to weigh weekly so that we can closely monitor if my supply is sufficient as I gradually reduce the formula. I am hypothyroid so not sure if that’s an issue too.

I wish there was something I could suggest that would definitely help you. The only thing that I really did was lots more cuddles and skin to skin. I’d pretty much given up to be honest. I think I had been so stressed before that - almost obsessive with the feeding routine as I felt so guilty about the earlier weight loss. Perhaps that stress might have been impacting me too.

Has baby been checked for tongue tie? If he's not latching properly he won't be stimulating your supply. My boobs didn't change during pregnancy so I'm not sure that's a sign of not being able to breastfeed. Have you checked out La Leche League? In the mean time lots of skin to skin, and keep offering baby the boob! Well done for persevering, it's so difficult but don't get discouraged and don't feel guilty about having to supplement! I think it's something like 1-5% of woman can't genuinely produce enough milk to sustain their baby, so don't panic and try to relax!

OP, what a difficult start. It’s good you are getting help from knowledgable people.
It’s likely that your hcp carers missed out observing the signs that milk transfer was not going well, as a 16 per cent weight loss means things were not going well from the start. This happens unfortunately. I wonder for example if your baby’s poos were of the usual colour and amount. By day three to four, poos of a baby who is feeding well are yellow in colour and becoming more frequent and copious. Once the early signs have been noted, action can be taken to find out what the issue is.
The bf people you’re working with now can check for igt, tongue tie and anything else. Meantime, frequent effective expressing - 6-8 times in 24 hours inc over night - is important to protect and enhance your milk supply. This might be something to discuss, how you can manage this.

Hope things get better for you soon.

I had two c-sections and my milk didn't come in with either of them until I was home for about a week, so around the 10-14 day mark. I didn't BF either past 24 hours old, so I didn't pay a huge amount of attention to it. Although I specifically remember with DS2 having encouraged breasts and leaking in the night when he must have been about 2 weeks old. I did actually try to put him on the breast but he was having none of it!!