Breastfeeding after CS

Leahrose518 · June 2013

I'm scheduled for a c section in September. I'm also high risk for an early labor. I've decided to breastfeed, Did breastfeeding hurt after your csection? Were you able to feed immediately. My sister had a c section and was really shaky after and couldn't hold my niece. Is it common to wait a while after the c section to breastfeed?

mariahrb · June 2013

i breast-fed right after i was wheeled into recovery. it didnt hurt but yes, i was very shaky and couldnt keep my eyes open, pretty doped up and dazed. the nurse helped me. also i was reclined back pretty far so my LO was able to just lay on my chest. we did skin to skin while breast-feeding. if its important to you to breast-feed asap then ask a nurse to help you, they will. i made it clear before surgery that i wanted to BF/skin to skin as soon as possible.

i do remember when LO would latch my ute would contract. i wouldnt say it hurt bad but you feel it for sure. i didnt think it was all that bad but i also endured 31 hours of labor before the c-section.

CNJ4EVA · June 2013

My DD had amniotic fluid in her lungs and was coughing that up at first. The nurses said that she wouldn't want to eat right away because of that. She ended up nursing for the first time about 6 hours after birth.

ETA: It didn't hurt at first, but it did start hurting when DD was about 36 hours old. That lasted until my milk came in on the 4th day after birth.

+ASH+ · June 2013

I never tried, but I was shaky after all csections (the first was the worse because I was fighting it - the others, I knew to relax into it). And after my last c/s I also was itching like crazy.

rockyrollgirl · June 2013

I was able to nurse while in recovery. It did not hurt and there are nursing positions perfect for c-section moms like football hold and sidelying position. Your uterus will contract while nursing so you will feel a sharp pain, but it dosn't last very long. Every mom is different though and some do have a hard time with it or are just unable. As long as you give it your best try, its nothing to be ashamed of.

Neener73 · June 2013

DS was breastfeeding about 20 minutes after he was born. It took that long for me to get stitched up and wheeled into the recovery room. As soon as I was settled, the nurse asked DH to bring DS over. She helped position him with some pillows, so it didn't hurt at all. Honestly, I wasn't feeling much below my shoulders at that point, so she probably could have laid him across my incision, and I wouldn't have noticed.

Leahrose518 · June 2013

Thanks ladies! Your stories make me feel less anxious about breastfeeding After the c section.

magdalina.h · June 2013

I had him latch as soon as we got back to our room which was within an hour of his birth.

Mellisa412 · June 2013

I was able to breastfeed him as soon as I got back to my room. I would say at least within an hour of him being born maybe 2 hours tops.

hopefulmom81 · June 2013

I have read several places that breastfeeding usually is best done a few hours after birth. LO has settled a bit and mom is more recovered (from either type of birth).

I breastfed a few hours after birth and it went 100% great. The only issue I had was because of the CS, my milk came in "late", so it took about 4 days for it to come in fully.

emberlee3 · June 2013

I held DD for the first time in the recovery room and she latched on immediately. It was an hour or two after delivery because I was really sick during my c/s and then had bleeding afterward so took a little while before I was stable.

She was pretty small (6 lbs 15 oz). I did not find the first few weeks to be any more awkward or uncomfortable than with BFing DS, who was born vaginally. Newborns are just so floppy, yet wild...it's challenging, no matter what.

ecu0505 · June 2013

mariahrb:
i breast-fed right after i was wheeled into recovery. it didnt hurt but yes, i was very shaky and couldnt keep my eyes open, pretty doped up and dazed. the nurse helped me. also i was reclined back pretty far so my LO was able to just lay on my chest. we did skin to skin while breast-feeding. if its important to you to breast-feed asap then ask a nurse to help you, they will. i made it clear before surgery that i wanted to BF/skin to skin as soon as possible.
i do remember when LO would latch my ute would contract. i wouldnt say it hurt bad but you feel it for sure. i didnt think it was all that bad but i also endured 31 hours of labor before the c-section.

This sounds exaclty like my experiance.

HarrietNJMommy · June 2013

I've had 4 c-sections and have BF all 4 kids (still BFing #4). It was HARD with my first. Yes, it hurt like hell for 2 months. It was awful, but I stuck it out. With #2, #3 and #4 it is very easy.

I've been able to nurse my babies once I am out of recovery except for this last time. I was in recovery and BFing (hospital policy changed).

GL to you!

capulet · June 2013

I was very cold and shaky after my first c/s, which was an emergency and I was cold during labor too, so that probably had something to do with it. (My body temperature went down to 94 degrees, which I didn't know was possible.) I wasn't able to hold DD for a few hours later and didn't really establish BFing for the first 24 hours. With DS, because I expected to be shaky, they were able to anticipate that and warm me up much more quickly. I was able to hold and breastfeed him in recovery about an hour after he was born.

I had no problems nursing either baby long term (little pain, no latch problems, no issues that a lot of my friends with vaginal births had), but with DD and to some extent DS, they were both really sleepy and not super into nursing right off the bat. I think this is frequently the case with c/s babies, either because they haven't had the mucus squeezed out of them in labor or because the anesthetics have some effect on them. Either way, it is something to be aware of so you're not alarmed about it. Keep offering the breast, but don't worry if they don't nurse a lot the first day.

harmonicbabe26 · June 2013

We tried right in the recovery area and it was fine. The incision was to problem at all. Just use a boppy to loft the baby up.

Runaway22 · June 2013

I had an emergency c/s, so general anesthesia. I nursed in recovery, and have had a pretty good run of it so far. It didn't "hurt" any more than it would have if I had had a vaginal birth.

MrsNyberg09 · June 2013

My section was an emergency so I was numb for hours after my surgery couldn't feel my chest so I didn't breast feed till the next day. My milk also came in the day after surgery.

Dragonfly1226 · June 2013

I nursed both babies in recovery.

honkytonk_kid · June 2013

hopefulmom81:
I have read several places that breastfeeding usually is best done a few hours after birth. LO has settled a bit and mom is more recovered (from either type of birth).

This is absolutely not true. Where did you read that? Newborns often have a brief (~hour) alert period after birth, then settle into the sleepy newborn phase. Breastfeeding should be initiated as soon after birth as possible. Maybe you read within a few hours after birth?

A37licia · June 2013

I got my son an hour after surgery, in recovery. My midwife physically helped me get him latched on as I was laying flat and trembling as the spinal wore off. I'm so thankful for her, and he got latched and nursed for 45 min.

Schell2013 · June 2013

The nurse actually held her to nurse off me, cause I was too out of it from being put under. I found foot ball awkward and nursed on my side or the cross over hold with a pillow, it never hurt me at all. I had to wait about 2 hours and in the mean time I spent time skin to skin instead of trying to BF. I am successfully EBFing a month later so not being able to nurse right away I was still successful in the end anyways.

hopefulmom81 · June 2013

honkytonk_kid:
hopefulmom81:
I have read several places that breastfeeding usually is best done a few hours after birth. LO has settled a bit and mom is more recovered (from either type of birth).
This is absolutely not true. Where did you read that? Newborns often have a brief (~hour) alert period after birth, then settle into the sleepy newborn phase. Breastfeeding should be initiated as soon after birth as possible. Maybe you read within a few hours after birth?

Within a few hours. Sorry for the miscommunication.

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