Milk/Colostrum delayed

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dawnbirduk

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I’m 47, my wife is 43. Last September we had the 20th anniversary and in November we finally went to the Dr and the wife was pregnant. Pregnancy went fine until last week. The wife’s BP shot up so they decided to induce early. Baby was due June 15th. We had him on May 23rd. Delivery was fine. Momma and baby are both healthy and happy. Baby was 7lbs 1oz and 20” long. Baby never went to nursery at hospital. We kept him the whole time. All is well with the baby. Also this is our 4th child. 
The only draw back we have had is my wife’s breast are pretty much dry. No Colostrum or milk yet. She’s stressing on this as she breast fed the other children. Some folks have said it may take up to 5 days to come in  since we took the baby 3 weeks early. 
Has anyone been through this before?? If so what was your experience??
 
@dawnbirduk It’s true it may take a few days since her body didn’t initiate labor. Definitely bring baby to the breast and skin to skin as much as possible. I would even try to pump to get things going.
 
@dawnbirduk I was unable to produce enough milk for my first two babies. So when I delivered my third a few weeks earlier due to high BP, I just figured I wouldn't get enough milk again. I started giving her formula immediately. After about a week, my milk came in, and although I didn't breastfeed, I had enough milk to exclusively pump. So I would just give it some time.
 
@dawnbirduk My baby was 2.5 weeks early. I did have colostrum, but it took five days just to start to transition to milk, but no volume. We supplemented with formula along with lots of breast time. I then pumped every 2-2.5hrs around the clock for ~5 days, still along with lots of breast time. It was really hard but I persevered. During that time my milk slowly increased and by the end I was finally producing enough that we could stop supplementing with formula. It might be worth trying to add pumping in for a bit to see if it helps.
 
@conner007 She did. They basically told her to pump even if it wasn’t producing. To massage, (I’m getting in on some of that action) :) , to use hot Rags, and to be patient. She’s got the whole post partum thing starting up and some say that may actually help her start producing. I feel like she will start soon. We’ve been curious hear other people’s experiences
 
@dawnbirduk I had a c section at 38w, 5days at 41 years old. First/only pregnancy. My milk “came in” at 5 days. However, we ultimately did exclusively formula feeding because my supply maxed out at 4.5 ounces a day at 3 weeks.

Your wife will probably have better luck than I did since she’s successfully breastfed in the past. HOWEVER, milk duct quantity within the breast increases over time until about age 35-40. Then it starts decreasing. She may find that she just cannot produce the volume she did previously.

I had PPD, largely due to my feelings around my inability to produce breast milk. It may be wise for you both to start having some contingency plan discussions.

If you’re using formula + bottles right now, make sure you’re using ultra slow-flow nipples. I don’t believe in “nipples confusion” but I do believe in babies preferring the easier/faster flow from bottles.

If you end up formula feeding r/formulafeeders is a wonderful resource. FYI, Costco formula is experiencing a shortage right now, so I’d choose something different. Kendamil is rumored to be “most similar” to breast milk for whatever that is worth. All formulas sold in the US are highly regulated and safe. Just pick one and stick to it
 
@jesmo We used Dr. Brown’s premie nipples (P), which is what the lactation consultant recommended. Then the T/transition nipples, then level 1. I only found out the T nipples existed thanks to Reddit.

Once we switched to level 1, our baby had absolutely zero interest in attempting to latch to my breast, but we’d never been very successful at that anyway. My supply was down to about 1.5 ounces a day by then, so also not very rewarding for baby to go through the effort
 
@jesmo Medela actually makes slow flow nipples. If you're using nipples they gave you at the hospital (or the ones that came with the pump bottles), they're probably medium flow, but you can buy replacements that are slower.

If you're interested in other bottles:

•We really liked Boon Nursh. The smaller bottles come with size 1 nipples, which were slow enough for my baby, but you can also buy size 0 if you want an even slower flow.

•Phillips Avent Natural Response size 2 nipples are very slow. They were the ones my lactation consultant recommended until she saw how slowly my baby drank from them.
 
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