What can you do to make your milk come in sooner?

[Pandora]

Wth DS, my milk didnt come in til midway through day 5, and even then, it wasnt like a huge full feeling or anything, i just noticed when i was expressing something was actually coming out.

I had a normal physiological birth, placenta came out intact, but did have issues attaching DS, so my midwife told me i should express every 1.5 hours round the clock until my milk came in.

Which i did.

But it stil took 5 days.

Is there anything i could have done differently that could make it come in earlier?

Can you express before the birth - is there any point to this?

[Liz]

You can express before birth, but your body still reverts to making colostrum, and then it's up to you and bub to feed frequently to get the milkier milk in. Colostrum is all they need in those first few days. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! The amount of times I hear of people using formula within a day or two because the midwives are saying they're starving their baby... pfft. Baby's cry because that's what they do.. and the crying stimulates the milk to come in too.. so hushing them up with formula does nothing for the supply.. let alone the lack of suckling at the breast.

It's very normal for it to take that long to come in tho. I wouldn't worry too much. The experience will probably be completely different with this new bub

[Cyathea]

You can express before birth, but your body still reverts to making colostrum, and then it's up to you and bub to feed frequently to get the milkier milk in. Colostrum is all they need in those first few days. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise! The amount of times I hear of people using formula within a day or two because the midwives are saying they're starving their baby... pfft. Baby's cry because that's what they do.. and the crying stimulates the milk to come in too.. so hushing them up with formula does nothing for the supply.. let alone the lack of suckling at the breast.

It's very normal for it to take that long to come in tho. I wouldn't worry too much. The experience will probably be completely different with this new bub

I totally agree!

[Pandora]

Thanks. I guess only time will tell then.
the midwives were great, the were the ones who told me i could choose not to comp. feed when the paed wrote them up after only 48 hours (Ds was 10lb+ FFS, it wasnt like he was a tiny starving bub)

[ticklish]

My milk has been slow to come in twice but I have had two CSs.

Things were better second time around but still slow - my baby ended up dehydrated in hospital so we had to use formula but didn't need it for long.

I never get engorged, have absolutely no outward signs that my milk has come in. For some of us our boobies remain soft and comfortable and the only sign that the milk is there is that bubs is thriving!

I have been told too that expressing beforehand only produces colostrum, the placenta needs to be gone to produce milk, unless of course you have been tandem feeding all the way through the pregnancy.

I would suggest getting good amounts of rest after the birth - I didn't and was exhausted which didn't help the milk supply. I had to feed at least every 2 hours for 3 days to get any milk. Somewhere around Day 6 I had some.

Also the other thing was I found I had to stay really well hydrated - it wasn't until I starting having 3 litres of fluid a day (felt I like I was going to squelch!) did things really start to improve.

TICKLISH

[Liz]

I'm sure you'll be fine rayray - and at least this time around you have an idea of how long it 'could' take your milk to come in, so it won't feel like 'is it ever going to come in??' iykwim. You know that it will come in Just keep putting baby to boob. Lots of skin to skin. Hog all those cuddles for yourself until you feel things are settling in.

ticklish - I fed through my pregnancy, and I'm sure it changed to colostrum after about week 20. I could tell by how it looked, and by DS's nappies! LOL. Talk about a laxative!

[cindyb]

Rach - mine took about 3 days with tori and then with charlotte I swear to you my body knew she was tiny and needed it nice and fast and it came in full force within 18 hours of birth! Even the midwifes etc were surprised but pleased as it meant she actually didnt lose ANY weight after birth, just put it on straight away, lucky coz she had no weight to lose at 5lb 3oz!
Time will tell though

[Liz]

cindy - isn't the human body clever I've heard that we produce different milk for prems too as they have different needs, so I've no doubt your body knew what it was doing!

[Sequoia]

I never get engorged, have absolutely no outward signs that my milk has come in. For some of us our boobies remain soft and comfortable and the only sign that the milk is there is that bubs is thriving!

Really?!

I never got engorged at all after the birth, I mentioned this to the MW in hospital, she had the OB give me a script for Motilium and I was on it for 6 months!

I'd really like to forgo the Motilium next time. In hindsight, I really don't think I needed it considering DS put on 75gms in the last 2 days while we were in hospital.

*shakes head*. Isn't it amazing what we learn along the way and will do differently next time?

SG
xo

[Nelle]

Ray, do you know what your iron levels were like? I had really low iron levels after Si, and was warned my milk might take a bit longer to come in (and it did). So one thing you can do is make sure your iron levels are really healthy leading up to the birth.

[Gabi]

I didn't know that it ever came in before 5 days.

Before I had my Bub my mum told my husband not to worry on day 5 PP, he wouldn't be able to do anything right because I'd be all hormonal because of my milk coming in. Exactly what happened too.

How engorged you get can depend on your 'storage space'. I get full of milk, but not really ever engorged.

[Nai]

My milk didn't come in until day 4 - on day 3 when my milk still hadn't come in one of the midwives asked if I liked stout and I said yes (I adore Guinness) and she said have a small glass with dinner. So I did and my milk came in the next day. I'm not sure if it was the glass of stout, a placebo effect or it would have come in anyway but it worked for me.

[Beach Mama]

With Izzy my milk didn't come in til day 5, and this time around I was determined not to have my little man topped up with formula or me in tears so on day 2 I fed him 3 hourly on the dot both sides, morning and at night we expressed if he slept longer and I also expressed after EVERY feed. It was tough going and my nipples were a tad sore but the midwives really helped me and we syringed those 2-3mLs to my little man after the next feed which he loved. It really seemed to help because on the night of day 3 my bb's started to feel a little fuller, and by the time I came home on day 5 my milk was pretty much there. It took nearly a week to get that OMG full feeling but it came in enough that he was satisfied and topping up wasn't needed. I also drank HEAPS of water and I mean heaps particularly during feeds. HtH Good luck hun! Lots of great advice here!

[cindyb]

Our bodies are definately amazing things, the whole conception/pregnancy/birth and then seeing that little being that was actually IN your body is just unbelievable and so very special, I think we all need to trust our bodies a touch more with regards to everything and try to believe it is doing the best it can!