My baby is 8 days old and my milk hasn't 'come in' - what can I do?

[PoppyField]

Hi,

My lovely dd was born eight days ago by CS, two weeks early. I managed colostrum for the first few days, but we started giving her small amounts of formula on night 3, and now feeding almost totally with formula which she takes well. I try to get her on the breast and latching on for a while before giving her the bottle, and have started expressing 3-4 times a day to try to stimulate milk production.

I've been expecting my breasts to go hard and engorged - but nothing. What can I expect - if the milk has not seriously come in by now, will it not turn up at all?

When I express I probably get maybe 5 or 10 mls total, after 20 mins.

Any advice please? I desperately want to be a good breastfeeder!

Hi, just asking my dh when my milk came through after our first and he says a good week. I too had a CS and was really monged on morphine for the pain but when my milk did come through it was full on.

Is this your first child?

Are you sure your milk hasn't come in? I never got hard and engorged and all that, but it had come in just fine (still bf DS and he'll be three in January). What are you getting out when you express (milk or colostrum)?

But if you are feeding her almost totally with formula you are not going to get anything vaguely approaching a decent milk supply going.

lemonaid, long time since I breastfed, my youngest 5, isn't it sometimes a mistake to feed them formula because you think that the colostrum isn't enough form them and they tend to cry so you give them formula?

Doing that will limit the milk you produce and the kid gets used to formula?

giving her formula almost exclusively at this early stage might have interfered with the milk supply getting established... lots of skin to skin, lying down with your baby, putting her to the breast as often as possible, and try to reduce the amount of formula you give, to give your supply a chance to establish.. it isn;t too late..but you must, must , must get her to the breast a lot...

Expressing doesn't produce as much milk as bf.

Poppyfield, try and get to see a breastfeeding counsellor asap - my local NHS turned out to have one but I only met her when it was too late for me, and found out about all the other people who I believe could have helped me.

Did a hv or anyone else advise you to give formula? It can mess up your milk coming in.

Hope you can get some support and advise to establish bf, but chase it up quickly.

Breastfeeding Network 0870 900 8787

NCT supporter line 0870 444 8708

La Leche League 0845 120 2918

Association of BF Mothers 020 7813 1481 and 08444 122 949

Skin to skin is good advice, also getting hold of bf counsellor will help.

I failed at latch & expressed for first 4-5wks but expressed every 3 hours, 15 mins each side as checked on internet how often to do it. I didn't feel engorged/milk come in but think this is exception not the rule.

I would suggest expressing more often, keep relaxed when you express, before you start expressing all round boob

1. gently rub/massage breast in circles

2. gently brush towards nipple with fleshy part of palm of hand

It should help with let down!

Is the latch ok? get it checked if not.

the more formula dd gets, the less milk you'll make which sounds like you know.... my b'feeds used to be an hour long and 2-3hours at night when she put her milk order in for the next day. Nowadays, 15-25mins tops for feeds, it will get better.

Keep coming here for help!!

poppy - I echo the suggestion to talk to a bfc.

Expressing 3-4 times a day is nowhere near enough to counteract the effect of giving formula on night 3....the early use of formula can interfere with the establishment of bf, and whoever was caring for you and your baby at that time should have explained this to you....you desperately want to bf, so you really need to know how to turn the situation around now, as time is not on your side

All the stuff about skin to skin here is good, but you need to start expressing at least 8 times in 24 hours to bring the milk back/in.

Good luck!

Thank you. I really didn't mean to get into this...just 'advice' from hospital midwives because she was a bit jaundiced, and then community midwives urging more...I feel like I've been Kafka'd, and suddenly am in a parellel universe. Am drafting in a lactation person.

I did manage to put her on the breast for over an hour, after my first post.

Yes she is my first, and my dh is even more anxious to feed her up...so potential serious conflict there.

lemonaid - after talking to the lactation lady i think you're right...i think just because i didn't get torpedoes for breasts i was convinced there was no milk coming through...but there is.

Thank you lulumama - have read a lot of your lovely supportive posts elsewhere and now I'm getting some for me!

You've pep talked me a bit...need to find some spine. Lactation lady coming tomorrow to give me some more. Hope it is not too late...

Wish me luck

the other thing to bear in mind is that milk may not come through properly if you have any retained products in your uterus (like a bit of membrane etc). If this is the case you may have a secondary PPH on day 10. It probably ISN'T the case, especially if you had a CS, one would hope that they got everything out, but it is a possibility. I had this twice out of my four pregnancies - the first time it was a complete shock! the second time (4th child) my milk hadn't come in at all so after a week I phoned my gp and said I was worried I might haemorrage on day 10 - he put me on antibiotics - sure enough on day 10 I had a pph but probably not as much as it would have been had I not been on antibs already.

So anyway that is just something else to think about - take it easy on day 10 and if you DO have a PPH don't panic, just wait til it stops, get yourself to your GP and get put on antibiotics.
HTH

good luck poppyfield ! keep on at it.. and thank you for your kind words

Poppyfield what are you using to express? You will find it a lot easier to get your 8+ expresses in a day if you use a double electric pump - you can hire these, or you can buy one for about £80 (or cheaper on ebay). But obviously only if you need to express, as putting your DD to the breast is much better. Best of luck

just to add that i didn't think my milk had come in for over a week as breasts didn't become hard/engorged/leak milk everywhere as I'd read about. i also never felt, and still don't feel a let down- but i did have milk. in the early days my little girl would feed loads - usually for over an hour at a time - building up the milk supply.

good luck.

Dear Poppyfield
Well done on perservering with BF and expressing thus far. My situation as first time mum was v similar to urs: CS, difficulty BF, gave formula and attempted expressing, and like u tried to put baby to breast but had an overwhelming sense of failing or not doin it right, and not expressing v much.

Great that u r seeing a lactation consultant. I too saw one (not cheap at £90/ hour an a half session) and she advised expressing every 3 hours in the day with a 5 hour gap at night. This system worked fine at establishing my milk supply (it did take a few days) and allowed DH to be involved! And eventually it worked despite my lack of confidence in myself to do it right and my flat nipples.

I would echo the importance of skin to skin contact. Try sitting in bed or the bath if u have support allowing as much s2s contact as possible - stroking, masaging, talking, singing.

How is ur diet? You may need lots of iron and protein to keep u going and recover from the CS. Someone recommended lots of water and chocolate to me... I think that was the best excuse to indulge ever. My Spanish sister in law swore by chicken stews with chickpeas and spinach.

Finally make sure u r getting as much rest as possible and - dare I say it try not to think too long about BF - go for some nice walks or watch a happy film - anything to take ur mind of it and believe in urself that u can do it.

I really hope it works for u. Keep asking questions and advice if not. Do call some of those numbers posted. There are so many people out there wanting and willing it to work for you and ur lil baba.