Going home from hospital still no milk - will it ever come?

[AliasGrape]

Had my baby girl Thursday evening, was EMCS in the end. Still in hospital but thinking I’ll be discharged this evening. My milk hasn’t come in, tried hand expressing colostrum- I can’t do it at all and when midwives have tried it’s only produced a few beads. I’m trying pumping on hospital machine at moment and still putting baby to breast/ for skin to skin etc, but have had to accept some formula to keep baby going in meantime (paediatrician insisted on cup feeding at first due to infection in me and risk in baby so he didn’t want her getting dehydrated- now not allowed to go home cup feeding so have agreed to bottles whilst I keep working really hard to establish a supply). I’ve ordered a pump for home use and I’m going to keep trying the hand expressing. I’ll keep offering her the breast -she’s sometimes interested in sniffing and licking but she doesn’t really latch and increasingly just gets upset. She does have a bit of jaundice but below threshold for treatment.

What do I do now? Is it hopeless? I feel she’s already missed so much. Has anyone had this happen and still manage to establish supply? Is there anywhere I can get help? I’d love to get some 1-1 support at home but can that still happen in Covid times?

I experienced this with both my DC. syringed in formula (not textbook advice) and put DC on the boob loads and loads. Dc1 and I had issues latching on, got a midwife’s help with that. Milk came in eventually then exclusively breastfed.

Would investigate what NHS services are available - remotely or in person. If you have money you could also try a private lactation adviser.

Oh, and congratulations!

I think I took about 4 days with mine, were there any complications? Blood loss?

Having an infection won’t have helped with milk supply. You’re doing everything right, skin to skin, putting baby to breast, pumping regularly. Eat well and drink plenty. Try to rest when possible. Are you anaemic? That won’t help either.
At the end of the day, you need to feed your baby whichever way possible. Please don’t feel down about it. Hopefully your milk supply will increase and you can give a mixture or even completely breast feed. La Leche league or a lactation consultant can help. Mostly video calls atm in my area. Good luck

I would offer the breast hourly and ensure you stay hydrated. You may well need a bit of formula to get you through but really you need help with latch as it’s the sucking which will bring your milk in, probably tomorrow or tuesday keep pumping too. And yes get lactation support.

Did you do NCT? If so give your breastfeeding person an email/text. I did with mine and she came to see me and was so helpful! This was last year so pre Covid but I’m sure something must still exist. Maybe the NCT helpline?

Had a similar experience and gave some formula in the very early days. Then managed to ebf for 6 weeks before switching (for other reasons).

Hope things work out for you.

Get in touch with La Leche league, they are great for things like this.

In the meantime bf as much as you can. I mean like get into bed with snacks and drinks, and just keep topless and feed baby as much as you can. The suckling is what stimulates your milk to come in, so you need to do it lots. Every half an hour or so. It’s tiring but it will help.

Make sure you’re drinking loads of water, and eat whenever you’re hungry.

Remember you baby only needs 30mls or so of colostrum per feed in the beginning, it’s so rich and nutrient dense. It’s basically 6 teaspoons. So even if you feel you’re making a tiny amount chances are it’ll be enough.

KellyMom website has tons of great info about bf in the beginning.

Congratulations on your new baby. It isn't hopeless at all.
Give her as much unrestricted access to the boob as you can possibly manage. So not just offering the breast regularly, but sitting around with your top off holding her lots and lots. She will be a bit tired if she has jaundice so you might need to undress her or tickle her or blow on her a little to keep her awake to feed.
I do think that professional advice would be helpful- ask the midwives what is available in your area and try the NCT too.

It took me 3-4 days. Drink lots of water. You’ll get there. X

Have a read of this and give La Leche League a call. www.laleche.org.uk/getting-breastfeeding-on-track-after-a-difficult-start-the-3-keeps/

It isn't hopeless at all.
When ds was born we were both very unwell. My milk just would not come in properly so the nurses in scbu tube fed him formula.

As soon as we came home from hospital I spent as much time as possible with skin to skin contact and constant access to my boobs (summer heatwave helped!). I also expressed as often as possible. The hospital put me on a 3 hourly pumping routine but I just couldn't mentally handle it.

After about 3 weeks of mixed feeding I then moved him to exclusively breastfeeding and we never looked back!

Yes it was exhausting. Yes it was bloody hard work but for me it was absolutely worth it.

Kellymom is a great site for advice, as is the analytical armadillo. Definitely look up your local la leche league....ours are currently doing zoom meetings.

It's definitely not hopeless, very early days yet! My milk came in on day 4/5 both times, after a blood transfusion with one and EMCS with the other. I got nothing from a hospital pump. The fussing and licking is stimulating your milk to come in, so it's important you let your baby do this. Her crying stimulates the milk to let down. Better to offer the breast than to keep pumping. She hasn't missed anything, try not to worry. Newborns have tiny tummies. La Leche League are doing online support. Good luck!

Also echo the advice about lots and lots of water. I drank a pint with every feed. And eat whatever you want to when you want to! I went through phases of eating flapjacks in the middle of the night (oats are good for boosting supply).

I had this with my first c-section,baby came home on formula, there seemed to be nothing in my breasts at all. Woke up day 4 or 5 and boom they were like boulders latched baby on and went from there, no problems at all.

2nd section similar issue but they were more militant in the hospital about breastfeeding as I had said I was determined to do it. By the end of Day 3 my nipples were in shreds and DD had lost 6oz so I gave formula and again that’s what we came home on. Milk came in properly day 4/5 again and we successfully exclusively breastfed for 9 months.

Keep putting baby to the breast and if the colostrum is there baby will get it, if not it will still come through when your milk comes in properly

The Facebook group breastfeeding yummy mummies despite the rubbish name, is actually very helpful!
They have trained admin who offer advice.
Congratulations on the birth of your little one.

Don’t panic, not everyone feels a massive surge when the milk comes in. I felt like mine never did and my breasts have never leaked etc. But my baby is 12 weeks old and still breastfed solely so it obviously did! Sometimes it doesn’t arrive till day 4/5. Carry on doing lots of skin to skin and putting baby to the breast. I don’t think it’s necessary to be pumping all the time, baby is much more effective at extracting milk. My son was on phototherapy for 3 days and was formula fed whilst in hospital to flush it out so we didn’t establish feeding until day 4 or 5. You and baby just need to spend the time together skin to skin and you’ll get there.

Congratulations. Keep putting the baby to the breast as many times as possible and lots of skin to skin. My milk started coming on the 3rd day after doing all this religiously. In the mean time try pumping as well. You also need lots of calories during the initial few days so eat lots of nutritious food ( salmon, nuts etc) and loads of water(at-least 3 litres a day).Being very anxious could negatively affect the supply, so try to relax as well.

Don't worry! It's great they've given her some formula - dehydration can make them very seriously ill (this happened to mine as my milk was delayed and they didn't support supplementing). It won't affect you breastfeeding. Keep putting your baby to the breast. Top up regularly with formula. Get as much rest as you can as this will help milk production. If you top up with formula after each BF you'll stimulate milk supply and make sure your baby is fed.
Your milk is delayed but it might be there soon. It can be variable - friend had an ELCS and did the top ups - got to exclusive BFing at six weeks. My milk was very severely delayed and didn't come in in quantity until eight weeks but I still BF to 3.5 years (used 50% formula for first year)

Mine came in on day 5 after C- section. It came in with a vengeance - I went to bed with no signs and woke up 20 mins later absolutely drenched in milk. Had to change the bed! I had topped up with formula foe the first few days but had no need to after that.

Also don't worry about the bottles - nipple confusion is massively over-hyped and cup feeding is difficult and risk of baby aspirating the milk. Many people switch between breast and bottle with no problem whatsoever

It is not unusual in straightforward births and recoveries for milk not to come in until day 5, if there have been complications it can be later. The fact that you are unable to pump does not mean you cannot produce milk to feed your baby so please try not to worry. Congratulations on the birth of your baby.

I agree with don’t worry about how much you can pump as it’s no reflection of the actual amount. I was lucky if I could get an 0z off even after breastfeeding was established and DD was gaining loads of weight so there was obviously plenty. I also remember the trauma of being hooked up to the hospital double pump for over 2 hours and only producing a single ml of milk. As I say I ended up giving formula but once my milk actually came in we had no problems at all.

I had emcs after 15hr labour. Mine never came in. Tried for 6 days to breast feed but had to give formula in the end.

I also had another emcs and to my absolute surprise my milk came in about day 4/5.

There's still time, hope it works out for you.

I was induced at 12 days overdue but then had a very fast straightforward labour. My milk didn’t come in until day 4/5 and I never had swollen heavy breasts, never leaked etc. Only really realised when I saw it dribbling out of DS’s mouth! I breastfed him for 13 months. Lots of good advice on this thread - keep up the good work OP!