Hi,
My ds was born by emergency c-section during which I lost a lot of blood. Feeding initially went fairly well, but then I had problems with milk not coming in. DS was born on a Sunday, but I had very little milk until the following Saturday. Midwives and doctors told me this sometimes happened following a cs and it was even worse because I was anaemic. I persevered with breast feeding, but it quickly became a nightmare. DS was screaming constantly and we had no sleep at all. Eventually on the advice of midwives and following encouragement of my DH and my parents I gave him some formula top ups. However I kept on with the bf and things did improve. DS is now 2.5 weeks old and feeds on demand about every 2-3 hours. I think the latch is fine and I have no pain during feeding. He has loads of wet and dirty nappies and at 12 days he had regained his birth weight (he hasn't been weighed this week). He still gets one bottle a day (either formula or a mixture of formula and expressed breast milk) - usually 2-3oz. I could probably drop this now, but I've started to enjoy letting dh give ds a bottle before bedtime so I can get some rest.
However I do still have some concerns about supply:
- My breasts do feel full and slightly tender when ds is due a feed, but this is pretty mild and nothing like the engorgement I expected.
- I never leak milk. I have an unopened box of breast pads which I don't think I'll ever need!!
- When I express I only usually get 30-45ml. Although I suppose I don't express when I am full (because I am about to feed ds).
Anyway, sorry about the long post, I guess I just need some reassurance that this is all normal as I am terrified that I am slowly starving my precious ds.