Quick Qn - BF related

This is a bit of an odd question but anyway that's what BT is for right?

My DD was born at 35+1 and although we did bf, it was a real struggle. She didn't know how to suck and I always felt I didn't have enough milk for her. I never had that milk coming in feeling.

Today I am 37 weeks with no 2 and am feeling very happy that at least this time I will have a term baby, who should be practising his or her sucking reflex as I type. However although my breasts feel heavier and fuller, I have not leaked anything at all.  I suppose I am secretly longing to be one of these women who is inundated with milk and leaks everywhere etc. But is leaking ahead of the birth any indicator of a plentiful supply or not?

Did you leak early and have a plentiful supply?

Or conversely did you have no sign of leakage before the birth and go on to have lots of milk once baby arrived?

I know this is a how long is a piece of string type question but I was thinking about it this morning, so thought I would ask

Bee x

Hi Busy Bee,

firstly, there is no such thing as an odd question on BT!!  I've asked loads  :-)

I had my baby at 40+4.  Prior to that I had no leakage at all.  In fact my boobs didn't seem that much bigger to be honest (I'm a DD anyway).  I had to squeeze really hard to even get a tiny bit of colostrum out (I too wanted to check that my boobs were 'ready' even though they'd given no indication that they were!)   When O was born, he had his first breastfeed within the hour - no problems.

We are now at 16.5 wks and O is a happy BF baby.  I've never leaked ever, but I have no prob at all with supply.

Hope that helps,

S xx

Hi Busy Bee,

I am still feeding my 13 month old and never once have my boobs leaked in that whole time.  I have never had problems with supply so don't think the two can be linked.

Try to relax and enjoy the next couple of weeks and hopefully you will be bursting with milk when the time comes!

xx

I breast fed for 10 months and I think I leaked about 4 times during that whole time. Leaking is no indication of being able to breast feed.

I'm BFing my 20 month-old. I didn't leak before birthing; within a few minutes of being born I got him latched on and he suckled for about 20 mins each side; I didn't get much engorgement once my milk came in (guess I was just lucky that my body didn't wildly over-estimate milk requirements. I've never felt I had a problem with supply.

Have you got any local BFC/support group names and numbers? Does your hospital have a BF specialist (ours was called an 'infant feeding advisor')? Got the national helpline numbers noted down? All these could be helpful for rapid advice and reassurance in the first days and weeks.

Thanks for these replies ladies.

Corinne - Your point about getting support if needed is a good one. With DD the nurses in SCBU were very supportive and helpful with getting feeding going, but it was really hard. There is a BF specialist at the hospital and my HV started a BF Cafe around the time I had my DD but I'm not sure if it is still going now.

I think I am finally starting to think about newborn praticalities now I've reached 37 weeks. I certainly know that stressing about it won't help matters

Bee x

I was induced at 37+6 due to bleeding, no leeking or any real size change (36E to 38F but I think that was just me being lardy) pre birth.

When my milk came in (day 4 or 5) I had LOADS and leaked everwhere! I had to express off a bit before I fed so Iz could get a latch. it settled down soon enough and Iz learnt how to cope with a fast let down. I ment I ended up with a pretty effiecent feeder in the end. Now I only leak if I've been a long time between feeds (like over 14 hours if I'm away from her) and it's been like that for a long time (although she was feeding more frequently pre weaning of course). Iz is now 10 months

HTH x

I never had any leaking throughout pregnancy and have successfully b/f both my girls.  I did leak quite a lot in their newborn days but now A is 4 months and my supply is settled and her feeding is less erratic I rarely leak.  In fact, I think the only time I do is when I feed her at night  and not really enough for me to bother with wearing a bra and pad at night)

I had a slight leak at about 25 weeks and then nothing after that. I am now 5 weeks into bf'ing and seem to have a LOT of milk. Suffice to say the start of every feed involves lots of spluttering and some loss of suction as N tries to deal with the flow of milk, so don't worry!

x

No pre-birth leaks from me either. My milk came in after 5 days with both of mine and I fed successfully for 5.5m with my first and 9m with my second.

Same here, no leaking prior to birth. I BFed my 1st for 15 months and now BFing my 4 and a half months old. I still don't leak, I have even ditched the breast pads!