1 week to go and having a 'go' at hand-expressing - no results!!! Will I be able to bf?

[emeraldgirl1]

Fired up with enthusiasm by a bf-ing class earlier this week and knowing I have a planned C-section I wanted to have a try at hand-expressing in case thanks to the op etc I find it hard to feed.

I didn't want to get milk out in any quantities, just wanted to have a practice at the technique. But I only got 1 teeny tiny droplet out of one side and nothing at all out of the other! I tried massaging etc for a good 10 mins but eventually gave up as I was getting so disheartened.

Logically I know that this is difficult if you have not used your breasts this way in your entire 30 years, but I can't help worrying now that I am not going to be able to bf. Having mad hormonal thoughts about my nipples just not 'working'.

Not helped by hearing y'day from two friends (one still very pregnant and one who just gave birth last week) that they both managed to get proper drops out by hand-expressing before baby came/has arrived.

Has anyone else experienced this but been able to successfully bf?

I am hoping that adding a sucking motion as well as the squeezing will help when it actually comes to it, but if the baby can't actually be put on me right away for any reason I'll still need to stick with the hand-expressing thing.

My dd is four months now. I had emergency Caesarian, and feeding has been no bother at all, milk came in on day four but she did plenty of suckling before then. I have expressed using a pump from about 3 weeks, and get anything up to three ounces.

I have never got to grips (so to speak) with hand expressing at all! I've had various lessons and explanations but I just don't think I have the patience. With the pump though, I just switch it on and chill out for ten/fifteen minutes and all is well.

Yes, milk often comes in a few days after birth. Dont worry about it.

Noooo, don't worry! Even after DD1 was born, I could hardly get anything out by expressing. But I fed her successfully for 10 months. And I had an emergency c-s. It works differently for different folks, so you'll probably be fiiiine

Best of luck with it!

Thanks v much everyone - that is good to hear! I do know that it's silly to get anxious about this, of all things, before the baby is even born, but I think I'm trying to 'control' the little things that I feel I still can control IYSWIM. Unnerving when it doesn't seem to 'work' the way you foolishly imagine it will! But glad to hear successful bf-ing isn't necessarily linked to being good at hand-expressing.
I think I need to chill out about this a bit - I'm paranoid as my SIL struggled to feed after C-section and I think I've got it into my head that it IS a problem.

I tried before birth just nosey to see if I could do it, no other reason. I couldn't get anything out. Then DS came and I BF until he was nearly 13 months. I did manage hand expressing once he was born and we'd established BF but probably had more to do with having rock hard milky boobs, which you won't have until about day 3 post birth. It's good to be prepared about things like this but try not to stress about it and dwell on it, just try and work things though as they come. When you are in hospital get the HCAs and midwives to help you, and be persistent as you want the best for your baby.

Thanks milkyjo - that's good to hear. I think stressing about it is probably utterly counter-productive anyway. I guess I was feeling a bit nosey too, and just eager to see if the promised drops would appear! I've found myself caring more and more about whether or not I can bf and worrying about if it'll happen for me or not; there isn't much of a successful record of it amongst any of my female family members.

You milk comes in two or three days after delivery. Even women with a full supply may not be able to express much milk manually. I bf my son for 2 years - 6 months exclusively. He was a very chunky baby and his weight gain was off the charts for quite a while. He nursed a lot. However even with a hospital grade pump I had difficulty pumping much milk. Not being able to express much milk is not an indicator of low milk supply. The best way to tell how much they are getting is to count wet nappies and by weight gain. There is loads of info on kellymom.com on how to do this in the early weeks. I'll be refering to that site again when my DC2 arrives in a few weeks. The early weeks are a special time and even this experienced BFer forgets a lot of stuff. I plan to see a lactation consultant early on this time. First time around I had problems early on that could have been avoided with proper advice/help,
Can I just mention also that you have to be careful not to squeeze your breasts too hard when hand expressing or you could block a duct. You also have to make sure your bra doesn't pinch your breasts anywhere. And the advice I wish I'd had early on is that if one nipple gets sore, don't avoid using it for a while. Keep baby on the sore one as much as possible. If the pain is too much get a decent pump and pump it as frequently as you can until it's comfy for baby to latch on again. After the initial few weeks of learning how to latch etc. it becomes so easy and there is no pain at all. I found bf to be so fulfiling. I loved watching my baby thrive knowing that my body was providing all he needed. There is nothing like it. And the bonding you'll experience is amazing. I LOVE breastfeeding!
Best of luck. Once you have a "can do" attitude you'll get through challenges should they arise. Hopefully they won't.

I only ever managed to hand express successfully once: after I'd gone av to work, ds was 6mo and I had been stuck in a meeting for hours and my boobs practically exploded on me. Never managed it otherwise, although I had really good results with pumps. Just couldn't get the hang of manual expression. I successfully bf until ds was 9mo when I had to stop as I was seriously ill in hospital and the medication I was on meant I couldn't express for him. I never got a single drop before he was born: it took a couple of days to kick in properly. Don't worry.

Second the reccomendation for kellymom site. Also there is a great book called The Food Of Love that was my bible in the early weeks :)

Good luck :)

To answer your question, I didn't have any visible colostrum until baby was born and we had a great bf relationship for 2 years. Go easy on your nipples now, stop squeezing them. You don't want to injure them before baby comes!

Your milk doesn't come in until a few days after birth (it is the loss of the placenta that triggers the hormone release to make milk.)

It's rare for anyone to get much out before the baby is born. That said, I leaked for several weeks before giving birth and had 'rusty pipe' syndrome - blood stained milk. After leaking for weeks, when I actually gave birth (at 35 weeks) and had to hand express my colostrum, I barely got a thing out for ages. The 1ml syringe the midwife gave me was crap and I ended up just rubbing the tiny drop of colostrum from my finger to the baby's mouth. Then my milk came in and my knockers were like barrage balloons.

I have breastfeed four kids and only got the knack of hand expressing a couple of years ago after I did peer support training. It is a useful thing to learn, but I really wouldn't stress about it now while you are still pg as it in no way means you won't be able to breastfeed.

Breastfed, not feed!

Btw, yes, your baby suckling will definitely stimulate your boobs to make milk and it is jaw action that 'milks' the gland tissue and makes the milk 'let down' and spray or trickle out.

Everyone is right, OP, try not to worry. Colostrum is produced in such a tiny quantity and there is a big difference between expressing and your baby actually feeding. I never managed to hand express a single drop but bfd 3 dcs very successfully. (I found it easier to express with a pump but wouldn't recommend you try that until after the baby is born)

Others things that may be helpful after a c section include-
-lots of skin to skin, you should be able to ask for this in the theatre.
-frequent feeding- just pop LO on whenever they squeak.
-ask for help and support from the midwives and don't think you are being a nuisance. They should be able to help you get in to comfortable positions to feed.

Finally- one drop is a good start....if you really are keen to express and store some colostrum, relax and try again tomorrow. Some women have more luck expressing in the bath.

This is the killer with bf-ing - absolutely no way to prepare for it, or "practise" before the baby comes.
Sorry, I know you are desperate to think ahead but you can't!
I am sure you will be fine OP

I had no milk, no leaks, nothing until DS was born. Day 4-7 when my milk came in, I could express 4 ounces in 15 minutes using a manual pump. As time went by, I used hand expressing more and more, and found it was just as productive.

Lots of skin to skin is important. Spend time in bed with your top off, cuddling naked (with nappy!) baby. You don't have to be feeding, just cuddle while baby sleeps. Baths together are good fun too, just make sure you have someone to help you get out!!

I've had two c-sections and never leaked in pregnancy. My milk came in on day 3 both times without problems. Midwives showed me how to hand express on the ward. I'm guessing it's easier to do when there is actually stuff in there!

I tried electric pumping milk a few times after the birth and never got a drip even though I successfully bf for 17 months.

Not read all posts so sorry if this has been mantioned.

Firstly the amount of milk you can express at any time is not a indicator of how much you have as such. Baby is much more efficent than any pump or hand at draining the milk from the breast.

I didn't leak once before the birth of my dd or able to express anything either and can't express anything at nearly 38 weeks either this time. Despite all of this I had plenty of milk with dd and also leaked a lot of milk once it came in, after birth untill dd was 9 months maybe. She was ebf until weaning just after 6 months and continued to feed until she was 22 months.

Thanks everybody!
Lots of skin-to-skin seems to be a good answer... I'm a bit worried about that though as I'd been led to believe it's be possible literally seconds after the birth (as long as nothing goes wrong with either baby or me!) but then when I spoke to my consultant y'day she seemed to be saying that the baby would be weighed, cleaned etc while the placenta gets delivered and that maybe DH could do some skin-to-skin while that happened. Anyone had a planned CS and know which scenario is more accurate? I'll be demanding my skin-to-skin time as soon as it's feasible but I'm confused as to when that might be!

Expressing is much much easier once you actually have a baby. I found that just looking at my DS would trigger a letdown. I wouldn't worry if you can't get anything out before the birth. From nature's point of view there is no reason to until the baby is actually here.

Also about skin to skin, I had a vaginal birth so a bit different, but at the point where I couldn't hold DS (because I had to be stitched up), DH stripped off his shirt () and had skin to skin with DS. It's

Not sure why it says "It's" at the end of my post there.. I don't think I was going to say anything else!

I had several good old goes at hand expressing colostrum before DD was born, out of curiosity - couldn't get a drop!

However it was a v. different story once she was born & milk had come in: had vast quantities, donated to local milk bank etc. At 6 weeks DD's weight was on the 2nd centile of the growth chart, at 11 months she's gained so much weight that she's now flying up off the chart - 1cm above the 99.8th centile. Lots of milk!

So the two needn't have any correlation :)

Emerald you can ask for immediate skin to skin as long as baby is well. You might have to make a noise about it.

Re hand expressing. If you really want to continue before birth then it's worth trying several times a day. At first you might be getting minimal amounts but it is likely that your breasts will respond and you will get a little more. Don't expect much. Your baby only needs about two teaspoons of colostrum in her first 24 hours. Mature milk comes in after 3-4 days. Colostrum in small amounts is fine until then.

Some women feed their babies no problem but never have any luck with expressing. Finally, I don't know how you have learnt to hand express, but it's worth having a look at a video of the right technique. I do hand expressing with a lot of neonatal mums, there is a tendency to sort of squeeze the breast like a piping bag and drag on the skin and this can cause bruising.

I've had two sections, both times dc were given to me wrapped up and I didn't get skin to skin with them till I was stitched up and in recovery. My DH had skin to skin in the meantime.
The delay didn't affect my mik coming in, so don't panic too much if it doesn't happen.

Same experience as giraffe re: skin to skin- I did get it but not for a little while afterwards.

Also, regarding your concerns abt bf, you sound pretty clued up already, and if it was ever the case that knowledge is power it's definitely true of breastfeeding. I'd known loads of people who'd had massive struggles, but I used mumsnet, la leche league helpline and local bf support groups and at four months dd is still going strong and putting on weight fantastically. I'm sure you'll do great :-)