Milk not coming in - please help if you can!

[Anneye]

Hi guys,

I had my lovely baby boy 6 days ago. I was induced due to pre eclampsia and also he wasn't growing well, but he became distressed even with braxton hicks so we had an emergency c-section.

He was only 4lbs 6 oz and very small even for 36 weeks (2nd centile). In the first couple of days he was dropping his blood sugars so we had to start feeding him with formula via a nasogastric tube. Since then he has been very medically stable but still needing scbu for 'feeding and growing' He has no idea how to feed yet and still struggles with swallowing from a cup feed.

I have been expressing breast milk from day 1 - first hand and now pump and giving him everything I produce. But it is day 6 now and although my milk seems to have changed from colustrum to more milk like colour and consistency I am still only producing a max of 10 mls and I don't feel like my milks has 'come in'

Sorry for the long post but just wondering if anyone had any similar experience or any tips. I have been so adamant about breast feeding but this is so so stressful and disheartening - I just want to be able to feed my baby!

Thanks for listening!

 

[Cazzyg]

First, congratulations on the birth of your baby boy!

How are you pumping? Do you have access to a hospital grade pump? And are you pumping every few hours? It's important to make sure you are pumping from both sides approx every 3 hours, especially during the night as difficult as it is to get up. The hormones that regulate milk production are more active at night. I also used to find that I got more during the night.

And are you looking after yourself? Eating well and drinking plenty? It's also important to make sure you are eating healthily and keeping hydrated. Oats are supposed to help.

Some little things that can help are expressing in the unit, if possible. I was able to express next to my daughter's incubator and the amount of milk I produced was amazing. If you're not there, havig something that reminds you of your baby can help - a picture, something that smells of your little boy etc. Sounds daft but I felt it worked.

Speak to the staff about when you can start to breastfeed directly - it does make a difference too as babies are much more efficient at getting milk than pumps and again, it's a better boost ti your supply.

HTH!

 

[Agiboma]

i agree with cazzyg great advice

 

[katy1310]

I agree with Cazzyg as well. I thought my milk was never going to come in but it did after a few days of lots of expressing! I was hand expressing every 3 hours, day and night - I did try the hospital pump but it was a bit uncomfortable before my milk was properly in and I remember feeling really upset sitting there for half an hour with it and getting absolutely nothing! I was in tears on the midwife on day 4!

Have they shown you how to do the massage thing to encourage the milk to flow? I went to a breastfeeding support group while Sophie was in neonatal and they showed us there and it did help if I did that for a few minutes before starting to express. You might be able to find something online about that. Does your unit have any kind of bf group you could go along to?

I was so disheartened after a few days when I was only getting 4ml but then it was suddenly 10 then 20 then 50....and before I knew it I was getting 100 from each side - I remember passing another mum on the way into the expressing room in the unit when Sophie was just a few days old, and the mum was carrying 2 full 100ml bottles of milk and I thought I would NEVER be able to do that but it wasn't that long before I was!

xx

 

[PleaseBaby]

I was only gettig a max of 10ml when I first started. I started taking fenugreek for a week and now I get 5oz at a time easily. I highly reccomend them

 

[25weeker]

Although your lo hasn't mastered feeding are they allowing you to put him to the breast. This will help your milk supply even if he isn't feeding off you.

My milk took ages to increase and even then the most I ever got was between 500-600ml for a full day pumping but I still went on to breastfeed and still am 16 months later. A baby is much better at getting milk than a pump ever will be.

I believe with a c section it can take your milk longer to come in.

I hope you start getting loads of milk soon

Xx

 

[alparen]

it took about a week of constant pumping every 2 hours during the day and twice at night to bring my milk supply up. i found just sitting somewhere quiet so i could relax helped my milk let down. or focusing on tv whatever grabs your attention away helps. i would watch videos of samantha on my iphone like the hospital recommended to help my milk come in. drink lots of fluids and eat loads. If you are stressed out you are going to have a hard time getting your milk to come. Get lots of calories in you. you need twice as many as while you were pregnant to get up a good supply.

 

[okciv]

Barley almost doubled the milk i was producing - barley in homemade soup & lots of diluting juices are 'fruit & barley'
I'd try that and don't get too stressed about it x

 

[Anneye]

Thanks everybody - that is rally helpful! I am staying on SCBU so baby is with me all the time (staff only help with feeding). I try him on the breast every 3hours before his tube feed (but he can't suck yet) and then I express directly after. I must admit I did miss the last two 3 am feeds as I was so tired and was only told today by midwife about hormones being higher at night.

I am finding it hard to control my stress levels at the moment as I am tearful a lot, but do think I am eating and drinking well. I am sleeping as much as possible bit it's difficult and try and have skin to skin every day.
!
Might try the oats/fenugreek/barley though so thanks for that! Your advice has been great -thank you!

 

[Marleysgirl]

There are good threads about expressing/pumping over in the Breastfeeding forum area.

I struggled with expressing, by the time I was discharged (14 days after birth) I was still only up to around 25ml per pump. Andrew was so tiny that this was still well in excess of his requirements! I got up to around 40ml through regular pumping, but then started taking Domperidone to increase the amount. I think my record was about 150ml/session, I was still not a prolific milkmaid.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

I was exactly the same and I got domperinom (not sure of spelling) and that was great i went from 2oz every 2 hours to 6oz.

It is a very stressful time but your LO is doing great and it wont be long til hes home, make sure you have time to yourself for a bath aor a hot shower at night and relax.

Ellie was 4lbs 3oz and dropped to 3lbs and came home after 7 weeks xx

 

[toothfairyx]

I never produced vast amounts of milk either when expressing. I did get enough while he was only needing small amounts, and had enough to see us through hospital with out needing formula but when we got home and he was demand feeding I was struggling to keep up and constantly having him attached to me. It took a week before my milk came in for the second time. Then it was big time and I was like a milk maid!
I didn't get up in the night to express - maybe that would have helped me, but I found that during the day I got the same if I did it every 4-5 hours as if I did every 2 hours only I got really sore if I did it that often.
Get some lansinoh cream which is brilliant if you get sore, and I also hand pumped which was more effective for me than the electric ones which I found a bit aggressive.
Mostly, try not to stress about it as you are under enough stress at the moment - putting yourself under more pressure will more than likely have a negative effect.
Also - check any tablets you might otherwise take for possible side effects - it is hayfever season and antihistamimes dry things up - not just snot but other bodily liquids. I took something when I was expressing without realising it was doing this.
My final bit of advice would be that if you do wish to be breastfeeding when your baby is home, just keep going at the moment no matter how little you feel you are producing as you will likely get a second wind like I did when it's needed.
I also read a really good thread on the breast feeding board from someone who had ended up for some reason expressing and feeding her baby exclusively on ebm for some reason - think the baby was better on bottles than the breast but she wanted him to have breast milk. I'll try and find it as she had brilliant advice.