was your baby v unsettled/have any problems after being born by c-section?

[sandwichyear]

I will be having an elective c-section in 3 weeks because of a traumatic birth last time. I'm pretty happy with my decision, but I have heard that sometimes babies born by c-section are very unsettled/ don't get enough good gut bacteria/ have problems sleeping/ sucking/ eating etc. I just don't know how much these are theoretical risks or whether they are very real things that happen to all c-section babies. If your baby was born by c-section, was he or she an unusually unsettled baby? Did any of these things apply?

Thanks v much.

Dd2 was born by section at 41 weeks (late, big and breech). She was a very easy and settled baby. She slept well from the beginning (better than dd1), no feeding issues etc.

Can't tell you whether the way she was born has had an influence on her terrible twos, threes or fours though

Take it easy, don't worry and enjoy your baby.

Yes! Check my post on thread-'any elective c section regrets'

No regrets, was great birth but baby has had some minor issues. She may have had these anyway or even worse with a vb but it's good to be aware of these things as I wasn't & if you have issues, you know best way to address.

My first DS, born by elcs has asthma, usually only problem in winter but he's been in hospital a few times & they always ask about the birth & note it was cs & ask how long he was breastfed.. At 3.5 years old I've always meant to ask what relevance
That is at this stage but never have.

Don't worry about the small things like mentioned, just be aware to be on the lookout for them. I'm delighted that's the only issues I've had with my baby so far ;)

Good luck!

Dd1 emergency section... Very good baby, happy settled & in a regular feeding pattern from the get go. No issues at all.

Ds1 elective & also very good. No feeding or sleep issues too.

No not at all - also had an ELCS second time round after a traumatic first birth and feel the opposite in that poor DD was upset by her horrendous birth. DS is 12 weeks and a dream baby - so happy and a great sleeper etc.
I think the difference in me also contributed to this, felt so amazing afterwards.
Best of luck OP xx

Nope completely the opposite!
Mine was EMCS at 10 days overdue, but they pulled DS out sucking his thumb! BF straight away & continued til 6 months old.

We got a maternity nurse to help for a week afterwards (DH had to work) & she was . DS was & is best sleeper by miles. She'd looked after 70+ newborns & says she'd never met one like him, he already knew difference between night & day, & I often had to wake him to feed him.

He is now still a great sleeper, as well as a totally jolly happy, perfect little 9month old!

Not sure where you heard all that, call me cynical but it sounds like NHS bs to me. Why can't they just admit, CS is actually fine but its expensive for them?!

DS was born csection 11 days late and I had problems with settling etc took him to a cranial osteopath did the trick, she massaged his guts to get things moving better. It was attributed to the csection but can't remember exactly why. I also found BF hard after section as it was EMCS and they had starved me for over 24 hrs

Had EMCS. Only issue was that it took 5 days for milk to come in when BFing. I think that was due to the reasons behind the section though, not the section itself - I had failure to progress, anaemia and infection so was a bit battered by the end of it. I was also very knackered after the birth and so didn't drink enough fluid.

Things picked up on day 5 after I started drinking more and getting more rest - feeding lying down and co-sleeping helped. Since then things have been great and DD is 98th centile at 7 months and still BF (having lost 14% weight at day 4!).

Absolutely no problems with baby being unsettled, not feeding well, getting illnesses and no problems with recovery after the section. As yours is an elective section I shouldn't think you'll have any problems. Best of luck!

Both of mine were born by cs and both really calm babies (well, sleep was good up until about 5 months ) and had no problem with bf, despite crappy hospital with dd1 and its no rooming in policy.

My Ds was born 5 weeks ago by elcs, and is a very settled baby. He is mix fed and has been since 5 days. Doesn't care how he gets fed, as in which type of bottle, formula or breast milk, and is currently breast feeding as I'm typing.
I was worried as he had a big bruise on his head from forceps that slowly went away, but sleeps for 5 hr stretches.

Breast feeding was hard to start with and I agree with above posters, that it doesn't help that you haven't eaten or drank for hours and don't really feel like it, but if you can drink as much water as you can and try and get food.

I had my twins by c section.

They were the opposite of unsettled! They were a bit sleepy for the first few days, but were very healthy and fed well.

They're nearly three now :)

1 emcs, 1 planned. Both very happy and content babies from the off. Fab sleepers.

Ds was emcs. He got stuck (left OP presentation I think). He was very colic-y from 2wks till 3mo. I often wondered about cranial osteopathy as his head had been stuck for some time. However he grew out of the colic and turned into a very calm, easy going baby. He still is and about to start school. :)

Dd was elcs (because of previous emcs). She was heading for the same stuck position as ds so I'm glad I had a elcs. She was a bit colic-y but very high maintenance. She is still very 0-60 still at 2.6yo.

I used to blame the emcs for all of ds' issues but I now realise this was part of my failing to deal with the emcs etc.

Personally I don't think a cs can affect the dc any more negatively than a vb as both are pretty traumatic and both have a lot of possible complications.

Good luck and try to relax about your choice. You'll never know whether the cs or a child's pre existing issues / personality will be responsible for the hard stuff, you just have to deal with what you've been given. Whether its a 12h a night sleeper or a colic-y screamer or something else. :)

no. dd born 42 weeks by emcs. settled from the start. fed like a pro even tho i had no idea how to bf. slept well from the start!!

fist baby born by normal labour, second by ELC, second baby MUCH calmer!!!!! Happier, whether due to birth who knows!

Latched on immediately been BF ever since! No issues at all.

Both my CS babies were mucousy because it doesn't get squeezed out in the birth canal. They vomited it up over the course of the next couple of days.

They had a good first feed, but then both struggled to latch on for a few days after. Much persistence on my part, and on the part of the midwives with DC1 as I didn't know what I was doing then) and a bit of hand expressing and syringe feeding to make sure they were still being fed when they totally wouldn't latch, and both fed perfectly since, once we got over the first few days.

Dd was born at 42 weeks via emcs. She didn't want to feed for the first 48 hours or so but this may well be because she had a suspected infection and spent some time in the scbu. From what I've learned since, I suspect she did indeed have an infection so that may well account for the reluctant feeding.

When she did get going there were no problems at all with her feeding (ended up on bottle as I couldn't bf because of a somewhat botched cs), and she has mostly slept like a dream. Overall she's a very settled and contented little thing, which surprises me given her entrance into the world and first 48 hours here.

I think the baby is going to be how the baby is going to be, no matter how it arrives!

My ELCS baby was much calmer, more settled and slept better from an early age than my first who was battered and bruised from an assisted vaginal delivery. I don't know how much that was due to mode of delivery though as compared to two different children with their own personalities and of me and DH being more experienced and relaxed second time around. Hope all goes well for you.

thanks so much everyone. This makes me feel much better. My first DC was pretty unsettled in the early days and that was a VB (albeit a pretty traumatic one) so I think that you are right that it is more down to the individual child than the mode of delivery. Thanks again for making me feel much better about it all! :-)

No - actually DD was very settled and had a great breastfeed and a nice 2 hour sleep afterwards. But she was brought out very gently though and she did get a bit pale and heart rate dropped in the first minute of her being out. But otherwise, she was fine.

Hi. I had a c section last year. Having another one in 4 weeks time. Fantastic experience. My first 4 years ago was natural but twisted my joints.
The babies were the same. My son was even born tge same weight. Lovely baby. Fed well slept well. Very happy. Very healthy metabulism. So no need to worry. There was no difference. He is one now. 98 centile on height. Slept through the night since 9 weeks. Good luck

My dd1 came via EMC , came out very calm and we have a pic of her 25 mins old smirking :) think she knew she escape being squeezed out !