Just found out Breech - can i still breastfeed if CS?

[ShiresCountryBumpkin]

I'm sure this sounds like a really silly question, but I'm feeling a bit crushed at the news. Had my 36 week review this morning and out of the blue they have just realised that the large hard lump at the top of my bump is the baby's head! They have booked me in for an ECV (some sort of hands on manipulation to try & turn baby) next week & if that fails then it will need to be a section. I feel a bit gutted to miss out on the 'normal birth' bit but worse than that is the worry that I wont be able to breast feed, which I was really hoping to do. This is my first though & with no family or close girl friends to ask I could be completely wrong & the milk may still come in normally - any words of wisdom or advice would be very gratefully accepted :)

Shires haven't read the whole thread so sorry if I'm repeating. Just wondered if you'd read this on Kellymom?

Igggi, it's a reasonable concern. A c-section is major surgery and, as such, traumatic physically. This can cause delays in milk production and extra discomfort during BF for some time after.

Not related to bf, but google 'moxibustion' for turning a breech baby. Fairly (if not very) high success rates. Might be of help?

Cervix, I've had one, I know it causes discomfort bf!
The OP wrote as if she thought an ecs would rule out bf for her, which so many on this thread have demonstrated has just not been the case. I don't like seeing people worrying unnecessarily about these things.

My milk came in after three days (had EMCS with DD being breech) but the hospital kept us apart overnight and by the time I was given her, DD was too sleepy (4 weeks prem) to be bothered with feeding and refused to latch. I suspect she had been given a bottle while kept away from me (no medical reason, just that hospital's policy - which was in Spain, I hasten to add).

Even with that tricky beginning for BF, after a lot of effort and anguish, we finally got there and I BF DD until she was 19 months. Where there's a will, there's a way!

Four sections here, 2 emerg, 2 elective. All babies breastfed. For my first two dds, breastfeeding took 12 weeks to be painfree, dd3, two weeks. dd4 is almost 4 weeks and the latch still hurts on the lhs. Good luck!

Brace yourself for the ECV - had mine on Wednesday. Expect your bump to be quite tender for the next couple of days. If you have any wear a non underwired bra to the ECV because it will be quite sore afterwards. Take a nice pair of loose fitting trackies for afterwards as well. If you can have somebody to go with you to the ECV especially to ease the boredom whilst you wait and to drive you home afterwards.
If you're still in work take it easy, it'll be quite uncomfortable sitting down and leaning forwards.
We are down for CS 2nd March - i felt the same as you, you feel a bit cheated but ultimately its going to be whatever is safest for you and bambi.
Good luck for your ECV, hope the little monkey turns.

I'm glad to hear so many positive stories of breastfeeding after cs. The two are linked in my mind too, not because I thought it was physically impossible, but because my dm and ds both struggled with bf after cs. Though my sister is now successfully mix feeding.

I have a follow up question about painrelief during/after CS and how much they interfere with establishing BF (or not). My sister experienced feeling that the room was spinning and that she wasn't herself, and so was scared of holding her newborn in case she dropped him. There was also a thread on here about women who couldn't remember time after birth with their newborn that was really sad.

I know exhaustion and pain could also make me too tired to hold baby too so I know it's not just about drugs. But I've decided that I'd like to avoid certain drugs if I have a vaginal birth though, in case they would make me feel like that - pethidine and diamorphine. I'm not really sure what pain relief options there are after CS or how avoidable they are (afterall it's major surgery!) or what condition I'd be in to assert my preferences.

I really don't like the idea of having drugs skewing my perception at a time that I want to be alert and close to a newborn. Obviously if I'm exhausted I can't do much about it.

I don't even drink when I'm not pregnant because I don't like getting drunk.

hi i had i one emcs and one elcs and breast fed successfully with both, in terms of the pain relief they will only give you things you can breast feed with, my advise though is to try and avoid the opiate based stuff, i had cocodamol (sp) first time and found that i was a bit sonked out, mind you that could also have been the 36 hour labour , second time they must have given me something in the drip but i remember dd being born and felt very confident holding her, i had also hemoraged (sp) and still felt fine, and then had paracetamol afterwards.

I don't remember the CS pain relief making me feel remotely out of it and within 48 hours, I was down to normal paracetamol/ibuprofen (I don't recall either being seen as a problem for BF at the time....)

I had a spinal for my EMCS and was conscious throughout. I think establishing BF with my DD was made more difficult because we didn't have any immediate skin-to-skin and I was given no opportunity to hold her or try for a feed until more than 10 hours after the birth. If there's no medical emergency, in UK hospitals they usually give you your baby straight away (as mentioned upthread, I was in Spain where they do things differently. The hospital aftercare was brilliant though!!)