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When Does Milk Usually Come In? Should I Worry?

10 posts on this thread and the last post was on August 9th, 2009 11:34 AM
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preggosauce - September 18th, 2006 4:12 AM
[Original Post]

Hey ladies. I had my baby the evening of Sept 14th and so far my milk hasn't come in...Should it have already? When should I start to worry that it won't? I breastfeed every 2-3 hours to get it going, but nothing yet. Any advice? Thanks all.


Jamie - September 18th, 2006 6:15 AM

Don't worry about it yet...are you giving the baby a pacifier, or supplementing with formula? cause if you are, you should stop. Frequent nursing will bring in your milk, but it can take up to 5 days, I believe.


Steph - September 18th, 2006 5:28 PM

Seems to me that you are doing just fine. Jamie's right, it can take up to five or six days for your milk to come in. You may want to take a pretty hot shower and stand with your breasts to the stream and massage them a bit. It's been known to stimuate the milk gland to help your milk to come in a bit quicker. Other than that, sounds to me like you are doing just fine. :o) Hope all goes well!


Jamie - September 19th, 2006 7:17 AM

Let's see...your baby's 5 days old...has your milk come in yet? Feeling reassured?



preggosauce - September 19th, 2006 4:26 PM

Well, I pumped just to see if i was producing ANYTHING, and got a LITTLE milk, but for sure not enough for the baby. The dr' s have told me I need to supplement until my milk really comes in which stinks. My baby is really tiny (only weighed 4 lbs 4oz at birth) so I FOR SURE don't want her to lose weight because I'm not producing....AHhh its frustrating!


Miriam - September 19th, 2006 4:51 PM

I'm not going to argue with your doctor because I don't know your situation. But its hard to say how much the baby needs and pumping is not a good indicator of your supply. Also the best way to get your milk to come in is by nursing. By supplementing you are decreasing the amount of nursing that you do. That said, if you do choose to supplement you should pump to make up for it. Finally, I would highly recommend that you speak to a lactation consultant, because supplementing does create issues and she can help you with getting your supply up. Hang in there!


bean - September 19th, 2006 6:34 PM

Most importantly - if you do supplement - feed from a bottle AFTER you bf. Give your baby a chance to nurse first, then after she falls off the breast give her a bottle.


preggosauce - September 19th, 2006 10:52 PM

Thanks ladies for your help and advice. I do make sure to bf before I give the supplement. I've been taking hot showers, and trying anything I can think of. I'm not giving up....I am producing a little so that is a good sign...



sahmof3 - September 20th, 2006 8:46 PM

I agree with Miriam. I breastfed all three of mine and was never once able to pump... but my babies were getting enough. Pumping is much less efficient than the baby's suck for some women.


Kara H. - September 20th, 2006 9:13 PM

You most certainly don't want to mess around when you have a LBW baby. Breast milk is best but a baby that small can't afford to miss out on desparately needed calories. I would contact a lactaction consultant ASAP and get a hold of a supplemental nursing system. It will allow you to breast feed and give formula at the same time via a small tube that is taped to the nipple so the baby is sucking from it and your breast at the same time. Also ask your doctor or lactation consultant about high calorie formula for preemies and LBW babies, if she isn't all ready on it. It really helped my baby to gain weight. Sometimes we don't get the exact breastfeeding experience that we had envisioned, and we have to modify our expectations. I had a 6wk premature baby via c-section that had poor sucking reflex. Being hooked up to that pump every two hour around the clock was not what I had planned, but I am so glad that I was able to provide my baby with what breastmilk I could those first few weeks until things started working better. And in the end what's most important is keeping our little ones healthy. Good luck


gbenitez - August 9th, 2009 11:34 AM

when does milk come during pregnancy