How soon after your c-section did you get baby on the breast?

[ManyMonkeys]

Ive heard of some people getting them latched on and away while still in theatre??

Yes, if you're not under general anaesthetic!

Why not?

I couldn't as my dd was whisked to NICU, but would have otherwise.

In recovery, so within 30 minutes...except when I had my GA.

Next day

I'm hoping for that if I don't go into labour in the next 5 days and end up with an ELCS.

I was told they'd take the baby away for a bit but then bring it back and I asked if I could hold it/have skin to skin (and obviously try to feed) and they said that would be fine.

WIth my first it was am EMCS and I didn't get to hold her (or even really see her) for ages because I lost a lot of blood and it took a while for the op to be finished.

Then afterwards I got really, really cold and had very bad shivers (a type of shock) and I just wasn't able to hold her.

I didn't feed her until nearly 3 hours after she was born

And then for various reasons I ended up in the recovery room on my own and decided that I'd better take her off in case she had "too much" because I remembered reading about how small their little tummies were and I was afraid I'd damage her somehow. I was a little out of my head TBH. I still feel guilty about that now.

In recovery for me too. Midwife was great as I obviously couldn't sit up.

You can insist on skin-to-skin contact straight away provided there are no problems with either of you. Make sure you make your preferences known to your midwife ASAP.

As soon as they were finished with stitching me up and I was back in the delivery room, whhere the daughter was cuddled by her daddy until my arrival. Must have been roughly 35 minutes or so.

latched on in theatre and she did it herself
very surprising really

And just to add, if you don't get to feed straight away it doesn't necessarily spell doom for breastfeeding, my DS was born naturally but I had a very long labour and we both fell asleep for 8 hours before I woke up in a panic thinking "But I haven't fed him or anything!!!" - needed a little help from a midwife, but once he was latched on he has been feeding well ever since.

And if you can't do skin to skin for whatever reason, the Dad can do it and it stimulates the same hormones so is very beneficial.

Oh yes, definitely doesn't spell doom for breastfeeding. I fed DD for 14+ months in the end.

And she never burst!

Aww i think its such a lovely idea to get them 'on' asap! I'll be having my 4th c-section very soon and would love to get them on as soon after as possible, just wandered about the babys suckling encouraging uterine contractions while its still being sown?? I cant remember with dc1 as it was almost 10 years ago and i was totally off the planet, dc2 i fed within an hour or so, and dc3 was about half an hour later - pretty much as they were wheeling me out of theatre!

couple of hours for us as babies aren't allowed in recovery in our hospital or in any of the maternity hospitals in Dublin AFAIK.

BTW I did go on to feed DD until 19months but it didn't help make the start easy.

Not for a couple of days with DS1 and then at about a week for DS3. I did have general anaesthetics though. But both times a midwife expressed my milk (bit of an odd experience but at the time I was so groggy I wasn't at all bothered by a stranger squeezing my nipples! ) so that they could have the colostrum straight away.

Feeling sad now that they didn't even ask me.

14 hours after emergency c-section. she wasn't asking for a feed but midwives on the ward decided to wake me at 2am so i could squeeze some colustrum into a syringe and try and feed it to her. was fairly out of it so can't remember whether she drank it. presume it was to get a bowel movement? do they have to have one of those to be discharged?

went on to have a very successful 21 months of breastfeeding

they dont allow them in recovery?! id hate for them to take my baby away from me just after they were born - unless of course there was good reason!!

"babies aren't allowed in recovery in our hospital or in any of the maternity hospitals in Dublin AFAIK."

yes, my sister had this - alone in recovery room whilst her DH and their brand new baby were somewhere else

She was a bit out of it, but he found it really upsetting. He couldn't believe when he heard my DH was in theatre and recovery with me.

they offered me skin to skin with DS2 but I couldn't be arsed. Had him on me 15 mins later in recovery.

DS1 was awful (in hindsight). No babies allowed in recovery, my bed on the ward was delayed so it was 5 hours before he got latched on. Fed like a monster though

Oh thats sad - wonder why thats their policy?

3 hours but that was because he was flat on delivery and needed an x-ray too.

With all 3 approx 30 mins after birth as soon as we were in recovery. With DCs 2 & 3 I had skin to skin cuddling almost immediately while they sewed me up, but with DC1 (an emergency) I didn't know to ask for this so DH held her until we got to the recovery room.

can't remember exactly but it was pretty soon afterwards. After recovery and once back in the room. He was pretty calm though.
Dh was in with me for everything, pre op stuff (putting in the needle -held held me) saw ds 3 delivered and took him ahead to recovery but the three of us were all together. It was my best birth yet (after 2 crap deliveries)