Breastfeeding with a c section

Of course it's possible! The way you give birth has nothing to do with your ability to breastfeed. I had an emergency c-section, had immediate skin to skin while they were stitching me up, and then went on to exclusively breastfeed for over two years. There's this weird myth that a c-section somehow prevents your milk coming in but that's not true at all. The production of mature milk starts 2-5 days from giving birth regardless of the way you give birth (until then, colostrum is more than enough!). What triggers it is the detachment of the placenta (and the hormonal cascade that follows), which obviously happens both in vaginal birth and during a c-section. Hope this helps! X

Also to add, while skin to skin is important it's not a dealbreaker for being able to breastfeed! I think the only way you'd be denied skin to skin is if you were put under for the c-section (very unlikely with a scheduled one) or if the baby was really poorly and needed immediate medical attention.

@Paulina omg that's a huge weight off my mind! I thought they don't let you hold them until you're out back on the ward etc and was just dreading it! I should learn not to Google things because that basically says that it's harder to establish if you've had a c section! Thankyou so much for your reply! I've only ever had vaginal births so I've been over thinking everything x

I had no issues at all breastfeeding, I even over produced! They try to do as much skin to skin as physically possible, then my baby went with dad in recovery room whilst I was regowned and cleaned up, and then had skin to skin in recovery room where midwife helped get baby in my nipple x

I had no issues. It can delay your milk by an extra day or two but colostrum is fine while you wait. If you know you'll have a csection, expressing some extra colostrum ahead of the birth might help. I had skin to skin in theatre - that's possible as long as there's no issues. And I had milk by day 3 which is average anyway.

I've not actually had any colostrum yet 😕 I don't think i did with my last either, dry as a bone. But then baby was put on after birth and managed to get a drink so maybe I have produced it sooner and don't realise? X

Absolutely can have skin to skin & when you are ready to breastfeed, I’d highly recommend a breastfeeding pillow to prevent hurting your wound & for extra support 🫶🏻 https://www.amazon.co.uk/LabTEC-Breastfeeding-Multifunctional-Adjustable-Pillowcase/dp/B0BQMMQW7T/ref=asc_df_B0BQMMQW7T?mcid=72080710a4ab3f1498a33f533f380474&hvocijid=13113272460352320433-B0BQMMQW7T-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13113272460352320433&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045495&hvtargid=pla-2281435178098&psc=1&gad_source=1

There's no evidence that I know of nor a reason at all why a c-section would delay milk production compared to vaginal birth. One thing that may have influence over it is blood loss (milk is essentially made from blood) but you can have substantial blood loss from vaginal birth and a c-section doesn't need to result in a massive blood loss. So there's that. As for colostrum, just because you're not leaking doesn't mean you're not producing it. I never leaked (neither colostrum nor milk), struggled a lot trying to express any colostrum prior to birth, actually worried about my supply (as many of us do, I'm sure) but my baby always grew well and never had a single bottle so I can only assume I produced enough from day one :) x

Breast fed after both my c sections! The elective c section baby actually fed better than the emergency! I didn't have skin to skin in theatre but as soon as I was in recovery he was on me feeding. You can have skin to skin in theatre there's just not a lot of room. Might try it this time though

https://laleche.org.uk/caesarean-birth-and-breastfeeding/ La leche league is a great source of advice.

There’s also a 24 hour national breast feeding support helpline you can run any worries past them at all. https://www.nationalbreastfeedinghelpline.org.uk