Baby just born via c section with excessive postpartum hemorrhage and I can’t keep him fed on the breast

[agmitchell]

My baby was born Monday, June 1 via c section after 2 days of labor. I ended up losing about 2.5L of blood and had a transfusion. He latched exceptionally well and at first I was producing colostrum but still nothing now. I am letting him feed at the breast as long as he wants but then he starts wailing. When I offer him formula to supplement he chugs it down which makes me think he isn’t eating enough. Will my milk ever come in? What can I do to save this breastfeeding journey?

 

[lxmai95]

@agmitchell It takes 3 to 7 days for your milk to come in. Dont stress too much and just keep letting babe suckle and you will have plenty soon enough. It took about 5 days for mine to.come in fully. Babies belly is tiny and it diesnt take much to fill them up but they will cluster feed like mad. You'll think they are starving but they arent they are just trying to up your supply.

 

[katrina2017]

@lxmai95 The research literature defines delayed onset of copious milk production as >72 h. PPH is a risk factor. OP needs to breastfeed, supplement, and pump to stimulate her supply until it’s enough.

 

[jeremiahk]

@agmitchell My milk didn't come in until 5 days after my c-section. I didn't make enough colostrum for my son and he lost 11% of his birth weight. What ended up getting him back on the right track was having him nurse each side for 15 minutes then giving 15ml formula then pumping for 10 minutes each side and giving him anything that came out until my milk came in. Now I have a 13lb 9weeker!

 

[keithcarey]

@agmitchell Post partum nurse for reference

Infants almost always feed well in labor and delivery and then are sleepy the next 24 h and have to be reminded to feed. Not sure if formula was medically indicated but I would encourage paced bottle feeding. Max 20ml ish.

Formula supplementation is totally fine. In theory the more often you supplement and the larger amount the more fussy the infant will get at the breast.

I would strongly encourage hand expressing after every feeding to stimulate your supply and you can top baby off with what you get and I’m about a day of doing that you should just be able to supplement your expressed breast milk

 

[yeshuahelper]

@agmitchell My milk came a full week after my c-section. It was emergency c-section and I was very stressed and upset.

 

[friendofsthomobonus]

@agmitchell I lost 2L after a forceps delivery two weeks ago and had this exact problem. In night three she barely slept 2 hours in a 24 hour period because she just cried and cried and cried. Eventually I gave her formula and she settled immediately. My milk came in a bit on the evening of day four and was properly here on day five. We’re currently combination feeding still out of choice, but my milk is plentiful and I think if I started pumping a little more I could EBF. I was worried that I’d never be able to breast feed once I’d introduced formula but that’s not been the case at all.