Did I Just Not Give It Enough Time?

ANSWER

Hi Holley,
Your story is a good example of why so many mothers fail to have a successful breastfeeding experience. What happens in the hospital during the first critical days after your baby is born can have a lasting effect on whether you are able to nurse your baby successfully, and that is really a shame. When you think about it, your breastfeeding experience can and should last for many weeks, months or even years, depending on how long you want to continue to nurse. The short time you spend in the hospital (even if you have a c-section, it's only a few days) is actually a very small amount of time when you look at the whole nursing period, but what happens during those first hours and days after birth can set you up to fail or succeed at breastfeeding.

The average mother's milk will "come in" 2-3 days after her baby is born. When a mother has a surgical delivery, this time frame is somewhat altered. Most c-section moms will find that their milk comes in about a day later. The early stimulation that the breasts receive from nursing or pumping primes the mother's body to start producing milk, but it isn't a process that happens instantaneously -- it happens over a period of several days.

I don't know how long you tried to pump after your baby was born, but it sounds as though you were discouraged by your early attempts, and probably gave up too soon. The odds of you being one of the very few women who are physically unable to produce enough milk for your baby are very slim, and there is certainly no reason to assume that you would not have milk for any babies that you might have in the future.

It is possible to pump exclusively and produce enough milk for your baby, but it is difficult, and certainly not an option that you would choose unless there was a compelling medical reason to do so (such as a tiny premature baby who is hospitalized, and is too small or weak to suckle for an extended period of time). Situations such as this are fortunately extremely rare. What you need to focus on is the fact that over 99% of mothers can produce an adequate supply of milk for their babies, if they are given correct information and have the support they need.

Hopefully, you will have a very different experience after your next baby's birth. Even if you find that you are going to deliver by c-section again, you can find out more about how a surgical delivery affects breastfeeding before your baby arrives, and set up your support system before hand as well. The article "Breastfeeding After a Caesarean Section" on my website (www.breastfeedingbasics.com) may have some information that you will find useful.

You also might want to check out the article "When Breastfeeding Doesn't Work Out". It may help you deal with some of the feelings of grief and failure that you experienced after your first baby's birth.

-- Anne, IBCLC