Q about breast milk for those who've had C-section

How long did it take for your milk to come in following the surgery and did you have to give the baby formula milk in the meantime or was baby satisfied with just colostrum?

Thanks in advance

xx

I think it came in about 6 days after, colostrum is gold.

I was worried I didn;t have enough milk and gave him a bottle (plus cause the stupid mw kept saying he needed feeding) i think this is what contributed to us having problems with him latching as he could get the milk faster from the bottle then me so its something to take into acount...

x

I've had 2 sections and had no problems feeding, both babies were fine on just breast milk. Milk came in on day 4.

Mine was on the fifth day.  I did have probs feeding before that, the colostrum just wasn't coming very much, and they made me supplement with formula in hospital.  Don't think we really needed it though and it did not result in any b/f issues.

Day 6 for first section

Day 3 for second section

You shouldn't need any formula, just put baby to boob as often as you can to encourage supply

I had an emergency section first time and we didn't have any problems bf/ing.  One of the nurses helped to get her latched on the first time, fortunately this worked although we did have a few latching problems in the early days and I was very sore (which wasn't helped by all the nurses in the hospital showing me different 'techniques' and me getting thoroughly confused).  We both soon got the hang of it though.

Think my milk came in around day 3 or 4 IIRC.

My milk came in on day 5/6 and I had a similar experience to skybluesarah, I was encouraged to supplement in the hospital, Zoe would latch fine but wasn't satisfied on just colostrum in the first couple of days. However, once milk was in, we had no problems at all and went on to bf for 15 months. In fact, she wouldn't take formula after that.

I was producing so much colostrum that I thought my mil HAD come in - at least 120ml each feed - I know because I was expressing and sending it to scbu. Then when my milk did actually come in on about day 6, I thought that the BF counsellor had done something weird to me by recommending breast massage and that my tits were going to blow off. They were like rock hard bags of lego.

I was reading a study the other day that said that there's no evidence to show that milk doesn't come in as normal with full term sections. Best of luck.

1

My milk came in 3 days after my c/s and it was fine - no top-ups required

Holly Bags:

I was producing so much colostrum that I thought my mil HAD come in - at least 120ml each feed - I know because I was expressing and sending it to scbu. Then when my milk did actually come in on about day 6, I thought that the BF counsellor had done something weird to me by recommending breast massage and that my tits were going to blow off. They were like rock hard bags of lego.

 

 

 

I was reading a study the other day that said that there's no evidence to show that milk doesn't come in as normal with full term sections. Best of luck.

 

WHBS... my section was at 36+3 so early as well. Unfortunately my boys just would not breast feed, so I spent 23 weeks expressing!

x

This is how much I'd get at each feed when the boys were about 10 days old.

x

Mine came in on day 4.  E was fine with colostrum up until then, but she (or more likely I) had problems with the latch for what felt like ages, so in the first few days I did a lot of expressing and syringe feeding.  The MWs were lovely and kept trying to help.  As soon as my milk came in, feeding suddenly clicked - I was fortunate I was still in hospital at that point, as I'd needed so much support to get there.

Day 5 for me. LLL produces a leaflet on C Sections/BFing and say in the event of a C Section following labour ie not early/elective) milk can come in quicker, obv because of body starting the labour and prep for the baby itself.

I think it was about day 3/4 with Tate, he never had any formula.  With Flynn he was born at 34 weeks so he did have some formula in SCBU, I expressed and think my milk came in on day 4 ish, not really sure!

I think it was round about day 4 or 5 and yes he was fine with colostrum until then. x

Colostrum is brill stuff, so definitely get that to babe. I actually can't remember what day my milk came in, but don't remember thinking it was much later. We didn't give fomula, altho were pressurised to do so - C was a big baby and so many midwives told me I wouldn't be able to bf him exclusively. They were wrong!