C-Section mums who are pumping - How long did it take to fully establish your milk supply?

[moonphantom]

Hi all - TLDR: looking for a bit of reassurance about how long it takes to produce enough breast milk for 4 week old’s demands and having to give a lot of formula top up.

Long version: I’m a first time mum, 4 weeks postpartum following an emergency c-section after 5 days of unsuccessful induction attempts due to pregnancy induced hypertension.

When our baby girl was born we tried breastfeeding but her latch was poor and led to my nipples becoming sore and cracked very quickly. She wasn’t getting enough colostrum/milk in the first few days and lost 15% of her body weight. We ended up being readmitted into hospital and she had to have a feeding tube and formula top ups to make sure she was getting enough milk.

Despite working with a lactation consultant I found breastfeeding too stressful (not knowing how much milk she was getting when already losing weight) and I felt more comfortable with the idea of pumping and knowing exactly how much she was getting so I knew she would grow and be healthy.

Since then I have exclusively pumped and topped up with formula where needed.

I’m currently pumping about 550ml on average each day and this hasn’t increased in the last week. Baby girl is asking for around 800ml so I’m trying to pump more often throughout the day to get my breasts to produce more.

The midwives told me it can take a bit longer for unsuccessful induction and c-section mums to get their supply established as your body had to kick start itself to get milk going.

I’m just wondering if any mums in similar situations had the same difficulties and can you give a gal some reassurance that my supply will get there eventually (plus any tips for getting there!!)

Thanks very much!

 

[manimalcrackers]

@moonphantom My experience with this, after a C-section, was pumping and breast feeding were unsuccessful. I finally gave up at six weeks. The most I would make a day was 80ml and it was driving me crazy. The lactation consultants recommended maringa and oatmeal to help with production. Maybe that could help you but it was obviously unsuccessful for me.

 

[moonphantom]

@manimalcrackers Thank you for sharing with me. Did you do straight formula feeding after 6 weeks then? I’ll give oatmeal a try, nothing to lose!

 

[manimalcrackers]

@moonphantom I have moved to strictly formula. I think the odds were against me with various circumstances plus nervousness of not giving the little one enough. Good luck!

 

[parrishchapel]

@moonphantom I had a natural birth but my son was premature born at 31 weeks. Mine seems to fluctuate. I would keep pumping and you can also do an extra pumping. Mine has went down some the past few weeks. I can relate to how fustrating it is.

 

[moonphantom]

@parrishchapel I hope you and your son are doing well now? Yes it’s so frustrating. I’m trying to do a bit more skin to skin contact as I’ve been told this can work wonders but it’s so tricky fitting everything into the day with a newborn!

 

[parrishchapel]

@moonphantom Thank you. I hope you and your LO is doing well also. Yes the skin to skin does help. I know several weeks later I am still working out a schedule.

 

[leviticusrocks]

@moonphantom I’m also an exclusive pumper! r/exclusivelypumping is a great community - maybe try posting there?

 

[moonphantom]

@leviticusrocks Amazing, thank you so much!

 

[anlopez]

@moonphantom So the one negative of pumping here is that you aren’t feeding on demand. When your baby goes through a growth spurt and cluster feeds that frequent feeding cycle tells your body to produce more as part of a feed back loop. You need to look into power pumping. I’d pump for 15-30 minutes. Take a break, and then pump again for another 10. And repeat this cycle for an hour.

 

[texfire316]

@moonphantom Make sure you drink plenty of water, get lots of food, and try to get enough sleep / get your partner to do those night shifts. What are the hours you pump at right now?

 

[moonphantom]

@texfire316 Thanks for responding! I don’t think I’ve been drinking enough so I’ve tried to do more of that today. Using one of those bottles with hour markers on to remind myself.

Sleep is tricky as I’m sure it is for everyone. I’m doing the night shift so my husband is awake enough to go to work safely the next day and as I have to be up anyway to pump I also tend to do the feeds. I’ve never been a good sleeper.

Currently I’m pumping every 2 hours-ish in the day until about 9pm, then every 3 hours at night. I’d like to be able to go a bit longer at night eventually but for now I do it just because I’m up anyway.

 

[texfire316]

@moonphantom Yeah I would try to get your husband to do something like 8->12/12:30 so you can get 4-4:30 jours straight, that 100% will help. It’s his baby too, it’s important he takes some of the heat.

> Currently I’m pumping every 2 hours-ish in the day until about 9pm, then every 3 hours at night. I’d like to be able to go a bit longer at night eventually but for now I do it just because I’m up anyway

This is going to sound counterintuitive, but try dropping pumps. I would go every 4 hours at night, so you can get some sleep. We saw an improvement when my wife dropped from 8 to 7 pumps a day fascinatingly enough, killing yourself doesn’t help . You can try one power pump as well. I would also make sure you have the right flange sizes, and that you know how to use your pump properly.

Also got ~50ml out of using the spectra properly for us. Make sure you empty properly if you are trying to get supply up.

Also make sure you get your calories up, try oatmeal/ oat milk maybe? I’m not sure that one actually helped

 

[moonphantom]

Thanks - I’d not heard of power pumping so I’ll give it a go! How often would you recommend doing this?