How long for milk?

[MaxMommy]

Hi there,
my baby was born the morning of the 26th. She has been nursing steadily, and yesterday and today non stop, yet my milk still hasn't come.

This is my second baby, but #1 was 6 years ago so I kind of forget. #1 was an emergency csection and I can't remember whether we were in the hospital for 3 or 4 days, but my milk came on the last day there. I remember bfing being rough at first, but once we got into the swing of things it was great.

I've been looking forward to a similar nursing relationship with this one but I'm getting worried that I'm not going to be able to make enough milk for her.
Today which is day 4, when nursing, I can hear her swallow for a bit, then she will get upset. I'll change her to the other side and she'll nurse for a bit then fall asleep. If I remove my nipple she wakes and the whole cycle starts again.

Up until last night she has had meconium poop at least six tmes a day, and a surprisingly large amount of it. It's hard to tell if there is any pee with all the poop, but this morning she had a wet diaper. I'm not sure if this is enough output. She peed on day 2 when I was changing her so I know she is peeing. She doesn't look dehydrated either.

Yesterday I was exhausted from the delivery, hospital, etc...so we just spent the day in bed having skin to skin and nursing, I might do some of that today as well. We also co-sleep so she nurses a lot at night too.

Should I be worried yet? And is there anything else, besides resting, skin to skin and nursing on demand that I can do to help bring my milk?

Thanks,
Sandra.

[staceychev]

Mine came in four full days after birth.

[Llyra]

My milk is slow to come in-- each time it's come in late on the sixth day. The first time it was a little alarming, but the last time I knew what to expect. I don't think I'd worry-- just keep nursing as often and as long as you can keep her interested and awake, and relax yourself and concentrate on recovering. Stay hydrated, but not excessively so and trust that it's coming. If you're experiencing any pain from the birth don't hesitate to take appropriate pain meds, so that you can be relaxed and comfortable while nursing.

If you're using disposable diapers, it can be hard to check for wetness when they're so little and the quantity of pee is still so small. One good way is to put a cotton ball into the diaper, near her little girl bits, and see if the cotton ball is wet when you change the diaper. Of course that doesn't help if it's covered in poo...

[PatioGardener]

Hang in there, Mama! It won't be 4 full days until tomorrow morning, so it isn't unusual that your milk is still colostrum. And it worked really well to get out all that meconium! You guys are doing great by nursing up a storm!

Great advice given by Llyra and other PPs.

Congrats on your little one!

[averlee]

Up to a week is a normal range for waiting for the milk to come in. If you are definitely producing colostrum and baby is interested in nursing, I'd say everything is fine!

[lellian]

For me, it took six weeks. . .but I lost a lot of blood after birth. Just letting you know that it does come in, and I'd only assume it won't take you six weeks!

Have you started Fenugreek? Or Mother's Milk Tea? My case was extreme so after very low supply at day 10 I started Reglan. Again, it took six weeks, but milk (always) comes in. Also, if you are still having issues call your LC. We started a program where I used SNS every single session to supplement an ounce of donated bm, or formula. Don't deny your baby formula if LO needs the calories and needs to eat. DD is now ebf, and the formula supplementing helped us achieve that.

Hope this helps.

[cheryllynn]

Mine took 5 days.

Remember that newborn tummies are really small. If I recall correctly, about the size of a large marble. You don't need to be making much at all right now.

I did use a pump to try to help stimulate. I was worried because I'd get just a teaspoon or two.

It all turned out OK, so I wouldn't worry too much yet.

[Asiago]

Congratulations on the birth of your little one!
My milk took four or five days to come in.

[MaxMommy]

A big thank you for all the advice!
My milk came in!!!
Kara is happy and contented, and I'm more relaxed now.
Thanks again for all the support, it's good not to feel alone and to have such wise ladies to turn to for advice.

Sandra.

[PatioGardener]

Yay!

Happy BabyMoon!

[claddaghmom]

It took 4/5 days to come in, and I had to do breast compressions to keep her awake at the breast. (Slow flow, perhaps low supply?) At any rate, nursing on cue made sure I more than fixed the problem lol.

Just recently I bumped into someone on FB who was talking about low oxytocin levels interfering with labor and nursing. She mentioned that low oxytocin levels might delay milk coming in and reduce supply. I wondered if that was my problem, b/c I did not see progress until I stripped us both naked and spent all day holding her, nursing her and doing breast compressions. We had scheduled that day to cut her tongue tie and we were going to check w/ the MW b/c DD had lost a pound. I was sitting naked in the living room holding her and trying one last nursing session before we left...and voila! She's been going great since then.


So if you are feeling antsy and wanting to do something in the meantime, I recommend:

- check out Dr. Jack's website: http://www.drjacknewman.com/ Watch the videos.

-pick out your favorite drink and stock up. Have hydration with you at all times. (IMO I would avoid all soda as it could impair supply).

-carve out a chunk of your day to be skin-to-skin with baby. Snuggle into a comfy chair, get a book or laptop and just spend time together nursing.

[MaxMommy]

I think the low oxytocin might be a factor. My labour was long and drawn out as well, with contractions stopping halfway through and induction required, manual induction though, not oxytocin.
We have been doing skin to skin regularily and things have been going fine since.
I'm also not young (44) so age might be a factor in low hormone levels. I'm thinking that if I want to bf as long as ds1 (4yrs) I'll have to remain aware of this.
Thanks again for all the input
Sandra.

[MamaPhD]

5 days!