When did your milk come in after c section? Day 3 and nothing !

[Posyrosy6]

I’m 3 days post elcs & still no milk - baby is latching but nurse gave formula last night as so hungry

They keep saying be patient for milk to come in but is it too late now? Breasts seem swollen but no other signs

Thanks everyone

@Posyrosy6

Thank you so much !! This is so reassuring.. where do I find how much formula to give 3 day old baby? I feel totally out of my depth here ! They should be feeding every 3 hours or so? Makes me feel reassured that others took time to come in as well

I basically had my baby on the breast whenever she wanted all day but especially in the evening. So she was on the boob from 5-8/9pm just sucking away and on and off all day. Not much milk there though. So it was more comfort sucking but it stimulated my supply. At 10pm I would hand her to my husband and give he would give her 1 bottle of formula. I have no idea how much it was as this was 9 years ago! After she had her bottle she would settle to sleep. I slept while he looked her her from 10pm until she work, usually around 3 am then back in boob!

It was absolutely relentless but we got there in the end. I think it was day 3 to day 10 she had 1 bottle a day. The rest in boob! I also pumped too to stimulate my supply, forgot to mention this before as totally forgot.

Some people are saying to be weary of formula here. While I agree loads of time on boob and if too much formula she won't want the boob so will not stimulate your supply. I disagree totally that you should avoid it totally. If you don't have enough milk yet your baby still needs food one way or another so giving a small bottle a day, enough to feed something but not enough that she does not want the boob.

I am a Dr in A&E and I cannot tell you how many babies I have seen that are bought to us at 10/14 days old starving and emaciated because the mum does not want to give any formula but her milk has not come in. It's total madness.

Day 6 (but vadge birth)

First time was day 5 despite baby being in the nicu and me being too ill to see him for more than 30 mins a day. It disappeared after 3 weeks.
Second time it never came in even though baby was on me constantly for comfort as he was in so much pain.
Both babies were tube fed then bottle fed formula

@Alayalaya

How do you know there’s no milk? I was never able to express any milk by hand but the baby managed to suck enough milk to feed for two years!

Also I was inexperienced and I thought that I should try to feed the baby every three hours. Nope. You need to let the baby suck pretty much constantly to bring the milk in.

With most babies when there is a lack of supply they are very hungry. So first sign is less wet nappies. Maybe no poo. A later sign is an inconsolable baby who is starving. This was my daughter on day 3. Beyond that they will loose too much weight. So newborns commonly loose up to 10% of their birthweight by day 10. A hungry baby will loose more which is concerning. They may also develop jaundice.

Day 5 for first baby - 41+6 and induced
Day 3 for second - 40+6 and EMCS. I did loads of colostrum harvesting with DD2 as she was admitted straight to NNU after delivery so this potentially helped with milk production, but who knows! It’s impossible to know for sure, ask for help from your midwife if still applicable or your Health Visitor if you have worries!

Aboud 10 days after for me :( baby already got used to bottles at that point and didnt want boob.... hope yours start any moment now keep massaging, buy breastfeeding tea, eat porridge, try everything xx

If the baby is hungry and your milk hasn't come in please don't be scared to give it some formula.

I’ve had 2 CS, milk came in day 3 with DC1 and 36 hours after birth with DC2, I don’t think the midwives believed me with DC2 until they saw me pump even with my milk coming early, both my DC needed a formula supplement in hospital because both of mine struggled to feed efficiently at first. Both were EBF after leaving hospital so please don’t be afraid to give formula if it’s needed!

Mine never really came in properly. BF was like having razors sucked out of my nipples, I expressed enough for one feed for each baby over a 24 hour period.

Gave up at 6/8 weeks as I wasn’t producing enough for a feed each and was driving myself mad. They thrived on formula.

I did not give any formula milk. Just let baby suck loads. Baby got colostrum and milk flooded in on day 4. Baby soon caught up birth weight. Relax when baby is sucking. Put baby to breast every couple of hours. They will get colostrum and bring milk in.

Please ask for some information from the infant feeding team at the hospital or call the breastfeeding network helpline. They will b able to give you some reassurance.

It might come quite soon OP, mine was day three but nothing in the morning, had a short nap in the afternoon and woke up to rock hard boobs! Also pumped a bit as well.

I also gave formula as my little one was hungry and we struggled to establish with a huge lip tie in the first two weeks - found the nappies shields worked well for that. But breastfed to 10 months (at which point she declined the breast as she was far too busy).

Found breastfeeding much easier when we got home and didn’t have concerned people stressing over us (lovely as they were)!