Where's my milk? :(

[WantsALittle1]

I am only 18 hours postpartum but I really thought I'd be starting to engorge by now I have no real volume yet, I'm pretty sure Little Man is only getting tiny drops of colostrum, and I really want something substantial to come out, even if it's colostrum. (I.e not expecting mature milk yet, but rather expecting the volume of colostrum to have increased by now.)

I'm not even feeling let downs now

 

[lilesMom]

dont worry it will come.
mine took 5 days cos was induced and bub was in neo so was pumping.
stressing is counter productive. xx
relax it wll happen.
i was told this and was still panicked but it did come in,
right after we got good news about bub .
lots cuddles and skin to skin if poss .
not sure if ur bub is fine or not xxx
if not poss smell bub. think of them. hve pic .
anything that makes u focus on um xxx

 

[lilesMom]

they only need tiny amounts of colustrum cos its super stuff x

 

[MrsPear]

It's really, really early. The first day I spent about an hour squeezing less than 1ml of colostrum out to syringe into my LO. I fed her every three hours, just between 0.5ml and 1ml at a time, and it took honestly forever to get each time. That's all they need right now, honestly, just tiny tiny drops. In fact, the midwife told me to hold off for an extra hour, to encourage her to be hungry enough to try suckling herself. The sucking action they are doing is stimulating your breasts but they are really not getting much out at all right in the beginning.

If you're producing colostrum (just those first drops) and your LO is sucking well (and to be honest, even if they weren't it wouldn't really be a problem, my LO hadn't rooted for the breast yet at that age) then please don't worry that it's not all squirting out. Imagine how tiny and immature your LO's tummy is right now, it's like a marble, nothing more. It really can't cope with much more nutrition in it. You are doing brilliantly

Congratulations on your LO. That's a brilliant birth weight and a lovely name

Keep going, mama! x

 

[xforuiholdonx]

Mine always comes in about 2-4 days after delivery

 

[joanna3240]

Completely normal! My milk didnt come in until 4 days pp, and i couldnt feel any letdown with colostrum either! Hang in there x

 

[misspriss]

Mine didn't come in really until 7-10 days PP, but LO wasn't feeding he was in the NICU and I was pumping. I didn't even get to express until long after birth, didn't produce really anything until 2-3 days out.

 

[Katteh]

As the others have said, you only produce very small amounts of colostrum and it is all they need until day3/4/5 when your milk comes in. You won't notice much difference in your boobs before then x

 

[DianaB]

Like everyone has said it's completely normal. My milk has always come in at about 3 days and with my second lo I didn't even get that engorged when it did, still plenty of milk there though.

 

[WantsALittle1]

Thanks everyone! This is my second bubba but I never BFed my first. She was born at 31 weeks so she was in the NICU for 35 days, completely rejected the breast, and I ended up pumping for 6 months. I figured that the amount of time it took to establish supply with her was because I was pumping and pumping is more inefficient so I'm told. I thought that with breastfeeding things would happen more quickly but I suppose it still takes time for the body to gear up.

Really appreciate everyone's encouragement and personal experiences.

xoxo

 

[Noo]

Day 3-5 is normal for milk. I've never known anyone be able to hand express more than 0-5-1ml of Colostrum for the first few days. This is normal. It's super concentrated. Feed feed feed to encourage your milk to come in.

 

[Pearls18]

My milk came in quicker second time around but it still took 2 days and wasn't as obvious as the first time it was more gradual, 18 hours is very early,bubba has more colostrum to get yet

 

[Rachel_C]

Day 3 was when my milk came in but it was more noticeable on Day 4. I didn't feel let down until about 6 weeks and then it was like, "Woah, what was that? Awesome, do that again!"

Remember that if you're stressing about it, you're probably going to see less milk than if you're relaxed so just go with the flow - as long as LO is happy and healthy, no need to even think about how much or what kind of milk.

 

[AC1987]

Took me 4 days before my milk came in, and then I felt like a cow with milk spilling everywhere