Breastfeeding and Ceasareans

At the moment I'm facing a small possibility that I may have to have a C-section (fingers crossed that it won't happen :crossfingers: ) I think that I have read somewhere that its harder to B/F after a scheduled C-section than after labour - is this true?
I would love to hear from some women who have B/F sucessfully after a C-section. Did you have to use any special strategies or techniques? Did you need extra support?
I geuss it might seem that I'm jumping the gun a little here but if I do need a C-section I won't find out until quite close to the event so I won't have alot of time to prepare.

Dach, I had a c-sec & bf for 12 months ( and still a lil now ) , The only probs I had were what I woul call your avg first time bf probs eg Learning attachment and similar issues..Cant pinpoint anything that may have been related to c-sec but I will have another think...

oh yeah, i had to bf in bed for the first 24hours, so he co-slept with me. but the nurses offered to take him in & out of bed for me

i had no problems - even expressed for the first 2 days cause eliana was in SCN - probably the only thing was not being able to move around much so needed the nurse or if someone was visiting to actually hand bubs to me - other than that all went well & im still breast feeding now

I was told my milk wouldn't come in straight away like it does with vag birth, but my milk came in the night of the day she was born. I had NO problems with my milk supply, I just had problems with stupid Dr's giving stupid advice :fuming: And had I been more knowledgable I daresay we would have continued bf'ing for at least 12 mths :D

*hugs*
Cailin

Dach - I had a scheduled C/S and I didn`t have any problems at all, I also had a baby who attached himself so didn`t need any help from the midwives, the only problem I encounted was sore nipples when my milk came in but that was only for a short while. Matthew is now 8.5 months and we`re still breastfeeding, the only hurdle I`vehad was with my Gastro 2 weeks ago but my milk came back in and we`re doing fine again now.

You could take raspberry leaf tablets and tea as this is meant to bring your milk in, I was taking RLT and tea before I knew I had to have a scheduled c/s .

I also had a scheduled C-S at 37 weeks with my fourth child, who is now 10 weeks old. I had no trouble breastfeeding him at all, its just for the first couple of days you might need a bit of assistance, as you are not very mobile. My milk came in after 3 days, even though he was being given top up formula feeds as he was very small (5lb6oz) and had low blood sugar. Since my milk came in he has been exclusively breast fed, and has been gaining weight at a rapid rate. I did find it difficult getting up out of bed to feed him, as my stomach muscles were so sore, but actually feeding him was fine, I used a pillow to support my tummy. To be honest, I didn't really notice any difference between feeding after C/S and feeding after natural delivery, still takes a while for you and baby to get the hang of it.

Good luck

I had c/s for both my babies and found that the first day was the hardest - just in terms of not being able to move much. the nurses or dh had to hand the baby to me (if not already in bed with me) and i had to lie down to feed. It took about three days after my first to be able to sit comfortably and feed using a pillow, only about 1.5 days with the second. The best advice I was given after having a c/s was to get up and move asap, that's not to say you should do more than you feel like but the more you try and get up etc the easier it becomes......good luck!

Not meaning to give the sad side- but i couldnt b/f for a few days coz i couldnt get good attachment and also i was too exhausted. My milk didnt come in until about day 5 as well.

That might have had something to do with the exhaustion too- I am not sure exactly but just wanted to give a balance. I wished i could have b/f- it wasnt from a lack of trying either...