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Breastfeeding - did leakage during pregnancy indicate supply?

36 replies

PlayGIBluff · 24/04/2022 12:28

Hi all, pregnant and currently 27 weeks. I have read in the symptoms for weeks now that breasts should be leaking some milk. I haven’t had this at all and was wondering from your experience does this indicate potential issue with supply?

I’m having a c-section so I know there can be delays in supply with that so with no leaking either I’m wondering if I should be prepared for no supply.

Thanks!

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MajorCarolDanvers · 24/04/2022 18:20

To add both we're c section births

annlee3817 · 24/04/2022 22:52

No leakage and I had over supply, so definitely no correlation with me

ijustcouldntthinkofausername · 24/04/2022 22:56

I had no leakage during pregnancy. I would recommend colostrum collecting though. I did this from 36 weeks and my milk supply (day 3 postpartum) was crazy. At one point I was pumping one breast and my husband the other 😂 felt like I was a cow being milked. I could pump 6oz per breast no problem.

But I strongly believe the practice of colostrum collecting helped me, so please consider this esp if having c section xx

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MadameDragon · 25/04/2022 09:10

As well as zero leakage, I couldn’t harvest colostrum because I had placenta previa and I had a preterm section and still had a great supply (ebf baby went from 24th to 96th percentile in two months (wouldn’t be expected for a full term baby but just to show the supply).

LBOCS2 · 25/04/2022 09:16

Nope. Never leaked during pregnancy, fed both of mine until they were 2yo. Had a good supply from the start, had a letdown on both sides when I was feeding so I definitely needed breast pads but nothing else!

Flittingaboutagain · 25/04/2022 09:22

No leakage at all. Prem baby. I pumped to encourage milk production because baby couldn't latch. First few days had to top up with formula and cup feed not bottle feed as better for breastfeeding. My supply came in day five before that it was just the odd drop let of golden milk.

Finally fully breastfed by 12 weeks once baby could latch. Nine months later and no plans to stop!

Your journey will be unpredictable but you can make it work. Fear of/belief you have insufficient supply is the biggest predictor of going onto formula - not low supply itself, which is extremely rare. Treat breastfeeding like your full time job and keep baby on you as much as possible. Good luck!

PlayGIBluff · 25/04/2022 11:41

Thanks all. Lots of good advice here too.

@ijustcouldntthinkofausername I heard that harvesting can sometimes being on labour so I don’t want to end up bringing it on early given the planned c section but it is good advice for most people I’d say.

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Timeforanamechang · 25/04/2022 20:06

Never leaked, had c sections, and no supply issues at all, milk came in super fast. Fed DC1 for 12 months, still going strong with DC2 who's 6 months. Both super chunky and thriving! Don't worry!

AegonT · 26/04/2022 19:55

I never leaked in pregnancy and had an over supply with my first.

LaSoupe · 28/04/2022 09:54

I had no leakage but had an oversupply. I had a c-section as well.

DonnyBurrito · 28/04/2022 14:06

I didn't leak anything, I could squeeze a bit of colostrum out though but didn't harvest anything, couldn't get the hang of it and like you I didn't want to being labour on. I had an EmCS and only started producing actual milk on day 3. Even then it was very small amounts (collected drip milk in Haakaa on side I wasn't feeding from) until day 5 when I got the page 3 cartoon boobs and the bed had constant milk puddles all over it. We supplemented with formula by day 2 for a variety of reasons, I'm so glad we did and it was the right choice for us, and then once milk was pouring out of me it was easy to bottle feed just the collected drip milk. I stopped collecting drip milk after a month or so as it was getting tiring, and just used formula to combi feed.

I kept up the odd couple of bottle feeds for 4 months as I was worried about supply until I decided to be brave and cut the bottles out. It didn't make a difference to my baby at all. I'm still breastfeeding now at 8.5 months with no plans of stopping. I only feed from one side too as I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to keep switching sides in the night 😂 He also had a dummy quite a bit in the first month or so.

So yeah, I did a lot of the things you shouldn't do if you want a long breastfeeding journey. It didn't make a difference to us. I think if it's going to work for you, and you want it to, it will.

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