Advice for a friend please - milk not come in yet

[GrapefruitMoon]

Hi

My friend has had twins by emergency c-section. Her milk has still not come in after 4 days and she's wondering if the c-section is the reason for the delay. Has anyone got experience of this? She's not even sure if she had colustrum as what was there was quite watery.

One baby latched on v. quickly and is still being offered the breast, the other was in the scbu for a few hours after the birth where she was given formula and has not really got the hang of latching on... Both are now being given bottles as well as breast (were big babies so have good appetites!). So is it just a case that her breasts are not being stimulated enough because of that?

I think my friend would be happy to give up BFing tbh but would hang on for a few more days if she thought it would work out in the end.

Any advice gratefully received!

My milk came in on the Monday following a nasty horrible labour and finally forceps delivery on a Weds... so that would be five days, I think? Had colostrum but that was it and DS chewed my nips raw because he was so hungry. Nurse at hospital told DH to give me some Guiness when we got home... can't abide it normally, never know whether to chew it or just drink it... but it worked because Monday morning I woke up with porn star boobs and milk that literally exploded out of them... nearly drowned the poor little mite when I put him on. BTW found that if milk supply a bit low because too busy to eat, even half a Guiness sets it right again. Still don't like it much though... Harp or other beer doesn't work, however.

It sounds like her breasts are just not getting stimulated enough - she really needs to be feeding them both every 3 hours or more. Bottle feeding won't help as they will be getting more and more used to feeding that way.

If she'd like to bf, she needs some good real life advice - she should ask to see the infant feeding advisor in the hospital

Sorry, forgot to mention that when I told this to a friend because I thought it was such a lark, she was scandalized and read me a lecture on drinking and breast-feeding and said that a homeopathic remedy called Phytolacca will help with both milk supply and sore nips. Can vouch for its effect on sore nips... not sure about effect on supply. Used 30C strength, 2 pilules every 15 min until pain went away and then three times a day until cracks healed. Suppose I could have tried rubbing Guiness into them but wasn't brave enough in face of friend's disapproval .

After my c-section (elective, so never actually went into labour) milk took ages (5 days)to come in. It arrived the morning after I used double electric pump - could just be a coincidence but I think it's what did the trick. Think most hospitals have pumps they can lend/hire out if she doesn't have one already.

Thanks for all the advice. Had already suggested the breast pump to her - will mention that again.

I had a pretty straight forward birth, but did tear and lost quite a lot of blood from that. My milk didn't really come in till day 5 and then it was a gradual thing rather than the torpedo effect. The MWs did suggest that a traumatic birth and/or blood loss can result in a delay in when your milk comes in. I just kept feeding DD on demand and it worked itself out - it may well be that at day 4 after a CS your friends milk just isn't in yet but will be in a day or so. The MWs didn't suggest I needed to give top ups - DD was 9lb 12 at birth but had plenty of wet and dirty nappies through the first few days so I think the MWs were watchful but not too concerned.