Is it to late for me to breastfeed?

[Jael]

My baby is 10 days old, and I couldn't breastfeed from the start, as I was in too much pain from my CS. Over the past two days I've tried putting my baby to the breast, to try and get him used to it, as I've got leakage from my breasts, I think it's colostrum still, and he's been having a little suck, but not really getting much out. So I thought I'd try expressing today, to see If I actualy still had any milk supply there. And after expressing for about three minutes, I got about a teaspoon. It was yellowy, so I think that means it's still colostrum. I'm so unsure. I don't know whether to just give up, or keep expressing to try and get my milk to come in. And in the meantime, should I still keep puting baby to the breast to get him usded to sucking the nipple? Thanks in advance for any advice. I've never done this before, and I'm kinda lost at the moment.

Jael

Hi Jael, I'm not sure what it is you have got from expressing, but it's all good stuff. I wouldn't have thought it was colostrom as you are on day 10 and usually your milk would have come in by now.

Hopefully a pro will be along to give you some advice.

However,in the meantime to stimulate your supply you need to put the baby to the breast frequently - probably something like every hour during the day. The more demand that is put on your breasts, the more milk your breasts will produce.

La Leche League offer free breastfeeding advice and support.

Their helpline number is 0845 120 2918

No, it's not too late but will require a bit of time, effort, persistence and support to fully establish BFing if that is what you want.
Definitely get RL face-to-face support by a BFcounsellor, either NHS (a lot of hospitals now provide v good support), or LLL or NCT.

I second all of the above, frequent feeding at least every 2 hrs day AND night, lots of skin to skin contact (baby undressed, you naked from the waist up ), spend lots of time together in bed and keep offering the breast, not just for the milk (because you will have to continue FF for the time being and gradually decrease them) but to encourage natural instincts to take over.
Also, chill, this may take some time and you have to pace yourself.
Just keep posting until tiktok or friends appear .

Oh, and congratulations on your new baby!

Here's some stuff from the net

www.kellymom.com is a great place to start. I think she may even post on mnet?
Adopted mumscan even BF - have a look at Kelly Mom's advice on relactation there's some really practical advice ther which should be useful.

This site has advice for late starting, including the following ...
"A clear silicone nipple shield will help tremendously if a baby is used to a bottle nipple... You wear this shield over your nipple while breastfeeding because it will feel more like the bottle nipple to your baby."

I think you can get these from larger Boots.

Here's another link

Gotta go, screaming baby!!

And expressing this early is pretty hopeless in terms of how much milk you are going to get, that's quite normal.
You can pump to try and stimulate supply, but baby is MUCH better doing that, and much more cute and cuddly than breast pump , MOOOO, anybody?
Also how much you express has NOTHING to do with how much milk there actually is for baby.
I'll post my favorite advice links:
kellymom
Dr Jack Newman

HTH

Jael, you need real life and pref. face to face help. It's great you would like to start bf now and no, it is not too late.

You can follow the suggestions here and call the numbers and you can also ask for a midwife to visit - you are still within the time scale for midwifery help - or you can go and see one if they will not/cannot come to you.

Keep your baby close at all times, or as much as poss, and respond to any little feeding cues - any decent bfc will talk you through what these are.

Hope it goes well

also always offer the breast before the bottle, only top up the feed with the bottle, over time if things go well and your supply increases you should find baby is feeding for longer at the breast and taking less from the bottle

Oops! Adoptive not adopted!

I don't think the nipple shields are recommended unless your baby is unwilling to suckle the breast, as they reduce stimulation to the breast. You need as much (appropriate) stimulation as possible to send the message to your breasts to start producing milk.

Thankyou for all your replies. The only reason I thought I'd try my breast pump earlier, was that I keep putting him on, and he sucks for like 5 seconds and then stops. Sometimes he just stays there a little while. But he was getting really frustrated, and I said to DP maybe I havn't got any milk left, so I tried the pump and got like a yellowy liquid, about a teaspoon full. I've tried putting him on again a few times today, but he's sucking and geting annoyed, I don't actually think he's getting anything out. My MW is due to come round tomorrow, but I'm abit worried about telling her that I'm trying to BF him now, as I don 't want her to critisise me and tell me I should have done it from the start if I'd have wanted to BF, as I really couldn't have done it from the start with all my problems. X

Do not allow anybody to "critisise" you for trying to do the best thing for your baby!
A LOT OF HCP DO NOT KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT BFing - I am allowed to say that; I am a GP in another life , and what I do know about BFing I have learnt the hard way from BF advisers, BF support groups, MN (obviously!) and the on-line resource linked to above.
If you find your MW unhelpful then do not give up if you do not want to, but seek RL help from LLL or similar.

he may simply be frustrated as he's only getting teaspoons of colostrum (if it's yellow it definitely is colostrum) and he's used to getting big mouthfuls of formula.

if he's not staying on long enough to stimulate supply try pumping to get things going, if you miss out on this window of opportunity to get your milk to come in it may never.

pumping isn't as effective as a baby who's sucking loads but it's more effective than a baby who isn't interested. plus whatever you do manage to get you can bottle feed to him.

i found expressing, then feeding to get baby to fully drain my boobs (which is what stuimulates supply) worked best to bring my milk in quickly and in huge amounts.

does he like sucking for comfort? if so put him back on your breast when he's full as well and let him use you as a dummy.

and don't be afraid of any HCP... you're doing something extremely challanging and difficult for your baby and you do not need an ill informed mw undermining that, anyway.... you never know, she may suprise you and be very supportive! but if she's not there are some very good organisations out there who will do their utmost to help you.

PinkTulips - breastmilk can be yellow, and breastmilk that's reducing in quantity can be yellow, too. I doubt very much that this is colostrum at 10 days. I agree - OP needs to get going to retain the milk supply.

sorry tiktok, i stand corrected by your infinite wisdom yet again

that might explain why my milk went yellow while feeding ds1 during my preg with ds2, i though it was colostrum coming in but it disappeared again after that and ds1 said he wasn't getting any milk so possibly it was my milk drying up?

I haven't checked my info on this, but I think it's because breastmilk on its way out has less water in it, and this is what gives it the yellow colour.