Before giving birth, every expectant mother asks herself: "How soon after delivery will milk come, and in what quantity?".
Particularly on this issue, women in labor are expecting a planned caesarean section.
When does cesarean milk appear?
How many days does milk appear after a cesarean section in a woman who has given birth for the first time and how not to miss his arrival?
Every woman wants to feed her baby with breast milk. It is the most useful, strengthening the immunity of the child in the first months of life. No balanced mixture will give the baby all the benefits of breast milk.
Oxytocin - This is one of the hormones responsible for the formation of contractions in a pregnant woman and the subsequent arrival of milk.
With caesarean section, this natural chain of life is violated for medical reasons.
The female body will need some time to realize that the child has been removed from the abdomen and that it needs natural maternal nutrition. If the operation for medical reasons is carried out on an emergency basis, when the woman in labor felt the first contractions, then milk comes much earlier. This usually happens on the third day after the birth of the child. With a planned operation, the appearance may occur on the fourth or fifth day.
Many women with the planned cesarean section wait for the first contractions and cervical dilatation, after which the doctors do anesthesia and begin surgery.
The child, immediately after removal from the womb, is applied to the chest. If an epidural injection was used, then the woman can see this process even on the delivery table. With general anesthesia, the woman in labor will return consciousness only in the ward, a few hours after a cesarean section. The child can also be in a sleepy state for several hours, so it will be applied to the mother’s chest in the common room. During the first meeting, the only food a newly made mother can offer is colostrum. A yellowish and very useful discharge from the chest, which is enough for one feeding in the volume of a teaspoon, due to the highest calorie content. If the baby will have enough colostrum to saturate, then it will not be necessary to feed him with a balanced mixture until the milk comes into the mother’s chest.
When does cesarean milk come in? It is impossible to answer this question to the nearest minute. Each woman is individual in her own way.
According to statistics, milk after cesarean section enters the mammary glands on the fourth day.
If this did not happen within the indicated period, you should not be upset and thereby increase the time of his arrival. In obstetrics and gynecology, there are cases when milk is produced on the seventh day after surgery, and infants are fed breast milk for a sufficiently long time.
It is impossible to miss the moment of milk arrival after cesarean. The mammary glands increase in size. A feeling of warmth and a slight burning sensation occurs in the chest. On palpation, you can find lumps that need to be manually kneaded with smooth massaging movements. With a light massage, milk will begin to stand out from the nipples. Over time, after feeding the baby, and subsequent expressing, it will come more and more. With the established work of the mammary glands, the opening of the ducts in the nipples and the plentiful sucking of the mother’s breast by the child, natural feeding can last several years, at the request of the woman.
During the arrival of milk, a woman's body temperature can rise up to forty degrees Celsius. There is nothing to worry about, it’s enough to knead the formed lumps in the mammary glands, more often put the baby to the chest and express. If it is not possible to express milk manually, you can use a manual or electric breast pump, which, thanks to the vacuum, will cope with a difficult task in a matter of time. Because of the heat in the chest area, the body temperature is not measured with a thermometer in the armpit, but in the elbow, to indicate the exact numbers.
How many days does milk appear after a cesarean section in a second-born woman?
The birth of a child creates an exciting mood not only in expectation of the firstborn, but also in the subsequent pregnancy. The process of surgery and the postoperative period is already clear. But the question of proper breastfeeding remains unknown.
When does cesarean milk appear during repeated pregnancy? Usually, with a second child, everything is much simpler. Milk comes faster. May appear on the second day. The ducts in the nipples are opened and formed by the firstborn. The mammary glands are filled according to the knurled mode. The child can only suck his mother’s breasts and grow up healthy, getting all the most necessary and useful for his life and development through mother’s milk.
Like the first-born, in the first days of life, the baby is enough to saturate colostrum. Do not rush and feed your baby with a balanced milk diet. Ten milliliters of colostrum per feeding is more than enough for him. A child can lose a little weight, and there is nothing to worry about. He, like the mother’s body, has stress, which causes weight loss. If a woman is worried about this, before feeding her child out of the bottle, you need to count the soiled diapers. During the first three days of the baby's life, only two diapers can be used. From the third day to the sixth about four. From the sixth in the area of six dirty diapers. From the tenth day at least ten. Perhaps there will be more urination, these are the smallest indicators, and if the baby observes them, then he does not need to feed him the milk mixture.
How to speed up the process of milk arrival after cesarean section?
If the baby does not have enough colostrum in the first days of his life, then he has to be fed from a bottle with a balanced mixture. Drinking from a bottle is much easier; you should not use force, as when sucking breast milk. Many babies get used to artificial feeding and do not want to subsequently receive nutrition from their mother’s breasts.
The arrival and production of breast milk comes from a hormone called prolactin. It is available both in the female and in the male body. To cause stimulation of this hormone, it is often necessary to apply the baby to the mother's breast. Obstetricians should show how to hold the baby and how he should grab the nipple with his lips. If the baby doesn’t suck on the mother’s breast properly, the milk will come later, the skin on the chest will begin to burst. This will lead to stressful situations, painful sensations and have to smear the nipples with a softening cream.
The uniqueness of a woman lies in the large appearance of milk in the mammary glands at night. When applying your baby to the breast at night, you can achieve positive results in feeding.
In order for milk to come nutritious and fat, you need to eat well, but do not forget about the diet. If the mother eats food irritants, then when the child consumes mother's milk, he will begin to have colic in the tummy and an allergic reaction may occur. To increase the volume of breast milk, a woman in labor should use a liter of warm tea with milk per day.
What if milk after cesarean did not come?
After delivery, milk comes to all women. It doesn’t matter if the baby was born naturally or through surgery. Milk comes at different times and in different quantities. Some women pour the excess after decantation into the sink, while others cherish food until the last drop, if only their baby would be enough.
If there is too little milk, it is necessary to increase lactation. You can do this with proper nutrition. Every day, a woman should eat nuts, beef and wheat porridge. Also drink plenty of warm liquid, it is better to warm tea with condensed milk or milk. Apply the baby to the breast as often as possible, especially at night when breast milk is being produced.
Even if the baby is sleeping, it must be awakened and put to the chest. By sucking, it provokes the arrival of milk in large quantities, and due to proper nutrition it will be even fatter and more nutritious. All these actions will help the hormone prolactin, which is primarily responsible for the arrival of milk in the required amount for breastfeeding, to be produced.
