Breastfeeding after a Caesarean

[RedZuleika]

I had an emergency Caesarean last year and had no delay with my milk coming in, although I had heard that it could take an extra day or two, after a Caesarean birth. I was in labour prior to surgery, however, at 42+ weeks and had been producing colostrum in the latter part of my pregnancy.

Am just curious - has anyone had (breast)feeding problems related to a lack of supply after a Caesarean? Particularly if surgery was carried out comparatively early (i.e. days / weeks before your due date) and you were not in labour at the time.

Just a thought but have you posted this on the breastfeeding thread too? I hard a hard time breastfeeding after my section but not really sure why.

My experience was similar to yours emergency c/s after labour at full term and, like you, I had no delay with milk coming in and no problems bf. I'm interested in the results of this as I may end up with a planned c/s next (hypothetical) time but hope bf goes as well then as it did this and don't want to mess that up.

I had dd1 by C section at 37+5 (no labour) and no problem with supply at all.

If you have an elective section you may have a delay in your milk coming in but that is not a problem... milk will come in and whilst it isn't there baby will feed on colostrum.

I had very,very little milk,no engorgement, nothing, after my crash section,but to be honest I think it had more to do with very severe anaemia and my being on planet zog for three days.I don't think my body realised that I'd had the baby til a week later!

Had two elective sections, both at 38 weeks, no sign of labour. Milk came in around day 3/4 ok. Was very bothered with DD (she was first) that section would screw around with breastfeeding - I viewed the birth as transient but breastfeeding really mattered to me. It was hard work for the first 6 weeks but that was mostly becuase there was so much milk! I could have fed 6 babies! A friend even got me a leaflet for expressing for babies in special care. Better with DS - less leakage and I was more chilled and just assumed it would be fine. Have heard of problems with feeding after sections hence my anxiety first time around but it was never realised.

Have had 2 C Sections (1st emergency - 10 days late, in very early labour, 2nd planned - 10 days early, not in labour) and my milk came in 2 days later both times.

Elective c section due to breech presentation of first child . No problems bf here, either.MIL gave really good advice , and the worse thing was not sleeping for the 5 days i was confined to hospital because of the terrible snoring of the bottle feeding woman in the next bed.

I had an emergency Caesarean and had no problems breastfeeding - milk came in after 2 days, and produced masses, to the extent it was a problem leaking all the time on my clothes! But like you RedZuleika, my Caesarean came after a long labour at full term. Also, I think I'm one of those "dairy cow" women, as I was producing colostrum and had to wear breast pads from about 36 weeks.

Next time I will have an elective at 38-39 weeks, so it's reassuring to hear from other people that the timing shouldn't interfere with breastfeeding.

Redzuleia. I had an elective section 2 weeks ago at 38+5. I didn't get my milk in until Day 8, despite the fact that the little guy was spending up to 20 hours a day at the breast. I'm not anaemic and I was drinking lots and getting him to feed lots. When it did come in, it was only a tiny amount one side and a slightly less than normal anount the other side. I had the supplement with bottles and now I'm entirely bottle feeding him, as he lot 20% of his birthweight.

I had an emergency section with dd 3 years ago, nearly 3 weeks overdue and after 24 hours of labour. My mlk came in on day 3-4 and I had no problems with feeding or milk production.

Hope that helps

dd was born 5/6 weeks premature by c/s (without labour) and my milk came in within hours and she fed beautifully with no problems from day one.

ok, need to more precise. dd fed within a few hours but obv on colostrum. I think the milk came in on day 3 or 4 and I too had tons.

Little baby sucked like a vampire (ouch). She loved bf.

Had an emergency c-section at 42+2 and milk came in 2 days later. No problems and am still feeding 18m later

Thanks for comments. There really doesn't seem to be a trend, does there...?

Sorry to hear about your feeding problems, hockeymum - but I think I read elsewhere that you have positive feelings about the C-section overall?

pupuce: surely if there's a delay in your milk coming in, there's a pressure and / or a need to supplement with formula? I mean - is colostrum enough to sustain a newborn for, say, five days...?? (I had problems with the latch and my child was starting to get dehydrated by day four.)

TuttiFrutti: am a dairy cow too - in the early days, used to wake up swimming through the stuff.

Yes - I thought about putting it in breastfeeding as well, but thought that if other threads were anything to go by, there were a lot of C-sectioners lurking in this area.

Hi, RZ, I had an emergency Caesarean at 32 weeks, lost loads of blood, was very anaemic (haemoglobin was 6 or thereabouts) and still produced twice as much milk as ds3 needed. But I did bf ds1 and ds2 up until 1 year each so maybe it kicked in a bit more easily? Although ds2 was 6 when ds3 was born so some time had elapsed!

have never laboured - had 2 c-sections - 1 10 days early and 1 10 days late. First time milk never really came in but dd1 was in ICU/SCBU and I was trying to express (not very successfully) and deal with all the other stuff that came with that.

2nd time round - milk did not come in properly for a few weeks - was still able to fed dd2 but she was a very hungry demanding baby. Can relate to moyasmum with the snorer in the bed next to me. I had no colostrum in the latter part of the dd2 pregnancy.