Breastfeeding (With/Without an Epidural) Experience

eco+ri · January 2013

Ladies any experience with this?

I read the baby latches better after a non-medicated birth, does anyone have experience with both a medicated and natural birth that can possible share their experience with this?

tia!

blush64 · January 2013

I breastfed both my sons. With my first I had an unmedicated birth and I had an epidural with the second.

Both latched well right away and both gained weight quickly. The second son was not sleepy or less awake. I had no issues due to the epidural at all. I ended up breastfeeding each son for about 2 years. I have heard this used as a scare tactic. The only difference for me was that with the epidural I was more awake after birth and better able to breastfeed. I was better rested although I was in labour all afternoon, evening and night. Your attitude and demeanor can also have a lot to do with how well you do at first.

My sister breastfed her first daughter and had an epidural. She did not have any issues.

This time I will have a med-free birth again. I still plan on breastfeeding. I had amazing experiences with both births and I do not regret either choice.

iris427 · January 2013

I've had one labor with an epidural (ended in a c/s) and one without (ended in a vaginal delivery). Both my babies latched fine right away. I had a harder time breastfeeding my c/s/epidural baby, but not because of how she was born. I know a lot of mothers who have breastfed after having a medicated delivery or a c/s and I really wouldn't stress about it.

One thing I would caution about breastfeeding after an epidural or c/s is that you tend to get a lot more IV fluids during those deliveries. Those IV fluids can make the baby gain water weight before birth and then it can look like they lose "too much" weight when their body clears the excess fluid out in addition to the normal postpartum weight loss that babies have. So sometimes mothers are pushed to supplement with formula because of that.

meltoine · January 2013

I had an epi with DS and he latched fine after birth. We did great in the hospital, but our first day home I got so engorged he couldn't latch. I think this was exacerbated by the huge amount of fluid I was given, but I'll never know for sure. In any event, once we got a nipple shield we were fine and he is still BFing now.

eco+ri · January 2013

iris427:
I've had one labor with an epidural (ended in a c/s) and one without (ended in a vaginal delivery). Both my babies latched fine right away. I had a harder time breastfeeding my c/s/epidural baby, but not because of how she was born. I know a lot of mothers who have breastfed after having a medicated delivery or a c/s and I really wouldn't stress about it.
One thing I would caution about breastfeeding after an epidural or c/s is that you tend to get a lot more IV fluids during those deliveries. Those IV fluids can make the baby gain water weight before birth and then it can look like they lose "too much" weight when their body clears the excess fluid out in addition to the normal postpartum weight loss that babies have. So sometimes mothers are pushed to supplement with formula because of that.

I was curious about the IV fluids. I had a section with DS and hoping to go natural-vbac if I can this time around. I heard that IV fluids can also postpone when your milk comes in? Not sure how true that is, my milk came in about 3-4 days after my section.

oliversmommy32912 · January 2013

eco+ri:
iris427:
I've had one labor with an epidural (ended in a c/s) and one without (ended in a vaginal delivery).  Both my babies latched fine right away.  I had a harder time breastfeeding my c/s/epidural baby, but not because of how she was born.  I know a lot of mothers who have breastfed after having a medicated delivery or a c/s and I really wouldn't stress about it.
One thing I would caution about breastfeeding after an epidural or c/s is that you tend to get a lot more IV fluids during those deliveries.  Those IV fluids can make the baby gain water weight before birth and then it can look like they lose "too much" weight when their body clears the excess fluid out in addition to the normal postpartum weight loss that babies have.  So sometimes mothers are pushed to supplement with formula because of that.  
I was curious about the IV fluids. I had a section with DS and hoping to go natural-vbac if I can this time around. I heard that IV fluids can also  postpone when your milk comes in? Not sure how true that is, my milk came in about 3-4 days after my section. 

I had iv fluids and my milk came in less than 48 hours after the birth.

I also had an unmedicated birth and baby had a super hard time latching. It was an up hill battle the entire time I breastfed. His apgars were 9 and 9 so that wasn't the issue.

nosoup4u · January 2013

I have also had a c section and an unmedicated birth. My first son latched on within an hour of birth or so, but I also started pumping within a few hours of birth bc we were separated at that point. We did get breastfeeding established, though the first few weeks were pretty tough. My second son was a million times easier, but he was also my second! I didn't have any supply problems either time.

TwoSkis · January 2013

I had an epidural for both babies and both had no issues BFing.

iris427 · January 2013

eco+ri:
iris427:
I've had one labor with an epidural (ended in a c/s) and one without (ended in a vaginal delivery). Both my babies latched fine right away. I had a harder time breastfeeding my c/s/epidural baby, but not because of how she was born. I know a lot of mothers who have breastfed after having a medicated delivery or a c/s and I really wouldn't stress about it.
One thing I would caution about breastfeeding after an epidural or c/s is that you tend to get a lot more IV fluids during those deliveries. Those IV fluids can make the baby gain water weight before birth and then it can look like they lose "too much" weight when their body clears the excess fluid out in addition to the normal postpartum weight loss that babies have. So sometimes mothers are pushed to supplement with formula because of that.
I was curious about the IV fluids. I had a section with DS and hoping to go natural-vbac if I can this time around. I heard that IV fluids can also postpone when your milk comes in? Not sure how true that is, my milk came in about 3-4 days after my section.

I've never heard that about IV fluids and breastmilk but certainly many women are able to breastfeed after receiving IV fluids during delivery (which most women do these days).

Have you been over to the VBAC board yet?

pamiva1 · January 2013

I've had both a natural and epidural birth and all of my kids have nursed wonderfully.

wifeofadam · January 2013

Epi with #1, natural with the other two. I did have some latch issues with #1 that caused soreness, but I don't attribute it to the epi. I think I just didn't know what I was doing. #2 and #3 were better nursers from the start, but only because I had experience (IMO). #1 was alert and wanted to nurse, despite the epi. I just wasn't putting my entire nipple in his mouth (OUCHIE)!

skio · January 2013

I had an epi and ended in c/s with my daughter and she had no problems latching and nursing as soon as we were in recovery together. Approximately 30 minutes after birth.

I had a wonderful supply and we BFd for 14m.

luvmyducks · January 2013

I don't have experience with both, but w/o an epi, DD and I still had BFing problems. She latched on so-so...not great. But my milk didn't come in for a long time, so that was a struggle as well. But it was not easy.

LaurelBee · January 2013

I had a med free birth with an IV with Ds. He latched fine and BFing started out on the right foot. But I definitely had struggles after the 1st week or so. I would place blame on me not knowing what the heck I was doing and trying to listen to too much advice from well meaninged family and not whether I was medicated or not during his birth.

My sister has had 2 medicated births and BFed both sons successfully. My Sil has had 2 CSs (her 1st she was put under general and didn't get to hold her son for a few hours after). She has also successfully BFed both her sons.

I'm very happy to hear other moms thought it was easier for their 2nd kid!

jellybeanjean · January 2013

No problems nursing or latching either one from the get-go; DS1 was a medicated (epidural) birth (bf for 14mon); DS2 was natural (bf 10mon).

lolabeans1 · January 2013

With my first DS I had an all natural birth experience. Went into labor on my own at 38 weeks, after a short time laboring (7 hours) he was born. We were able to do skin to skin right away and we tried to latch him immediatly. He didnt latch well at first. He actually slept the first 24 hours and not seemed to really care that much about eating. I did put him to the breast every 2 hours and he would just kind of sleep there. After that though he figured it out and we never had any issues. He was a bigger baby, 8lbs 8oz, especially for two weeks early and I always felt like that helped in our advantage.

eco+ri · January 2013

iris427:
eco+ri:
iris427:
I've had one labor with an epidural (ended in a c/s) and one without (ended in a vaginal delivery). Both my babies latched fine right away. I had a harder time breastfeeding my c/s/epidural baby, but not because of how she was born. I know a lot of mothers who have breastfed after having a medicated delivery or a c/s and I really wouldn't stress about it.
One thing I would caution about breastfeeding after an epidural or c/s is that you tend to get a lot more IV fluids during those deliveries. Those IV fluids can make the baby gain water weight before birth and then it can look like they lose "too much" weight when their body clears the excess fluid out in addition to the normal postpartum weight loss that babies have. So sometimes mothers are pushed to supplement with formula because of that.
I was curious about the IV fluids. I had a section with DS and hoping to go natural-vbac if I can this time around. I heard that IV fluids can also postpone when your milk comes in? Not sure how true that is, my milk came in about 3-4 days after my section.
I've never heard that about IV fluids and breastmilk but certainly many women are able to breastfeed after receiving IV fluids during delivery (which most women do these days).
Have you been over to the VBAC board yet?

Sure have!

kathleen02 · January 2013

I had a transfer from a birth center to a hospital and had an epi. I delivered my son and he was eager to eat right away. My mind is a little hazy on the timing right after birth but I was shocked when my friend and doula was like okay, let's get him latched on. I want to say within 20 minutes. We never had an issue with BF.

joecubed · January 2013

I had an epi with my first and delivered my second naturally. I did have a harder time BFing my first, but I think it was a combination of slightly flat nipples and not knowing what I was doing. After one visit with the LC the next morning, we were well on our way to a successful two-year BFing relationship. My daughter, number 2, latched immediately. But, like I said, I think it had a lot more to do with me knowing what I was doing.

pixieprincss · January 2013

DS1 was a (reluctant) medicated birth--he did the breast crawl thing and attempted to latch, but it turned out that I had flat nipples, so we had some initial trouble.

DS2 was an unmedicated birth and he had no interest in the brest crawl or nursing right away, though when he was ready things went pretty smoothly once he stopped sucking in his bottom lip and unlatching himself.

bripratt2 · January 2013

ive never had a medicated birth but my friends that went natural still bf almost all my friends who went medicated gave up after a short time because they didnt get a good latch. Im strongly against meds but I think its more about what you know prior to going in. I definitely dont think it like rules out breastfeeding but Im not gonna advocate for meds.