Nil by mouth prior to surgery. Will this affect my supply?

[LackaDAISYcal]

I'm having a GA tomorrow and have been told nil by mouth from midnight tonight. DS2 is 18 weeks and is having three or four feeds in the night at the minute. I usually have a glass of water by my bed as I do feel quite thirsty when I'm up feeding him. Also, I'm not sure what time I'll actually have the procedure so it could well be 12 hours of nil by mouth for me before the surgery and I'm a wee bit concerned about what sort of effect this might have on my supply.

I have some milk expressed but really want to save this for overnight as I'm staying in for one night without the baby.

Any advice/experience would be appreciated.

and I'm going to be computerless very shortly, so thanks in advance and sorry if I don't respond immediately

Just check with them - I've quite often had water before a GA (in fact, before one I had some weak tea, but only got away with this because it didn't have milk in) - if you can have some fluids this will mean it won't be as drastic - also check with them how soon it will be OK to feed again.

Hope all goes well Daisy!

Daisy - are you going to express in the night? I would think would be more important than the water?

good luck.

I would express what you can.

I was wondering the same thing Lacks, I only feed Z once in the night but am always mega thirsty and take a drink of weak squash to bed with me. I know when ds2 underwent major surgery, I was told he could have clear fluids until 2 hours before his op was scheduled. I am not sure I could even have a drink of water as I have to be there for 7.30am and he usually wakes to feed between 5 & 6am right now. I will definately be asking where abouts on the list I am and if I can drink water when i go for my pre-op on Friday.

Going without food should not affect your supply, as far as I know - though you might be feeling extra hungry/thirsty than you would if you weren't bf. I would think you are able to have water to minimise this but it would be an idea to check.

Having a whole day without bf, though, could affect your supply in the short term. You can minimise this by taking a breast pump with you into hospital and expressing every 3 hours or so. (If you can't store it you will have to discard it though, annoyingly!) This will also prevent you from becoming too engorged, risking mastitis. In any case, bf should be established properly by now so it shouldn't have a long term effect. Just remember your breasts will never truly be empty, your son will always be getting something out. If it isn't coming fast enough

The best thing would be if you could take your son into hospital with you - I believe most hospitals allow this if you are breastfeeding, so worth checking if you haven't asked already. Good Luck!

I meant a whole night

WRT the expressing thing, I had a night out when DS was about 18 weeks old and missed one feed (so it had been about 6-7 hours since I last fed him to when I woke) - and woke up in the night with giant sore engorged boobs, so it is really important if only for your comfort!

thanks for all the responses

The op is removing my gallbladder and it's completely nil by mouth so that my bowel is completely empty and there isn't any chance that my gallstones will be on the move.

I was planning on taking my pump with me for overnight (reminds self to pack the blooming thing), and the current plan is to take DS to hospital with us, feed him at the last possible minute and then feed him as soon as I'm able to afterwards which is as soon as I'm awake really. Then he'll stay with me until DH takes him home at the older DC's bedtime so I'll be feeding him for the rest of the day.

I'm sure the hospital would let me keep him in with me if I wanted (private hospital so I'll have my own room), but tbh, as I'll be pretty sore and probably woozy and sleepy, I'm not sure I fancy getting up to him in the night and I'll struggle to lift him anyway. I'm actually looking forward to the break (oh how sad does that sound? when a night in hospital and an operation is considered a break ). DH will be bringing him back in to the hospital straight after the school run on Friday morning as well. It's still about 15 hours without him though

I have just over 40fl ozs expressed and I'm hoping that that's enough to cover the bedtime and breakfast feeds and the other three times he is up in the night. I really want to avoid formula if I can.

heartmum are you having the same op?

I'm feeling decidedly nervous about it now

Will be thinking of you tomorrow, hope it all goes well.

Big unMNy hug for you {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}}}

oooh, I love unMNy hugs . thanks lovely

Daisy - just in case it helps, a friend of mine had her gallbladder removed when she was 15wks - the wouldn't operate before because of the baby, but they wouldn't any later because she was so ill with it (she could basically eat potatoes and that was it). Baby was born fine...

Best of luck tomorrow!

Hi LackaDAISYcal. Really interested to hear how you got on with breastfeeding and surgery. I might have to have surgery too and am v.concerned about how it will affect bf. Hope you are feeling better without gallbladder