Just crossed 4 days from birth and milk not in yet! Baby is nursing all the time and seems fine. She had lost weight within normal limits as of yesterday morning. I had a vaginal delivery and didn't expect it to take this long, and the constant feeding, especially at night, is exhausting, though I know that won't really go away after my milk gets here.
Anyone have any thoughts or words of wisdom or encouragement for this stressed out mama?
grapefruit / 4669 posts
You can do it! Nursing continuously is the best thing, so even when it seems like she's hungry CONSTANTLY, just keep feeding and I bet it will come in soon!
pineapple / 12793 posts
Lots of nursing and lots of skin to skin. It will come!
Congrats btw!
GOLD / pineapple / 12662 posts
Mine didn't come in for 5 days . . . but it did come in! No worries mama - sounds like you're both doing fine!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
I think you're still within the normal range (up to 7 days I think). Just keep nursing consistently! They have such small stomachs at this point that the colostrom you have is enough!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Hang in there, it will come in! It took 9 days with my 1st and 6 days with my 2nd LO! Nurse around the clock and maybe you can use a SNS if you decide to supplement with formula.
Good luck!
nectarine / 2504 posts
Just keep at it mama! My colostrum didn't come in until day 4 and my milk didn't come in until day 5. You're doing great!
coffee bean / 44 posts
Mine took 6 day after an uneventful vaginal delivery. LO was a late term preemie so Dr had me supplement with formula and weigh LO daily - luckily switching to EBF once I had milk went very smoothly. In the meantime, supplementing kept me from completely freaking out.
coconut / 8475 posts
@Revel: I got my milk the midnight/morning of the 5th day! Basically, I had to give my son some formula the 4th night because I was desperate (not telling you to do that but, I did) and then I went to sleep. I woke maybe 5h later at 4am and I was ENGORGED!
I did do nipple stimulation and pumping that day though. I think it was the pumping helped stimulate milk production. The pumping got some colostrum out too. I fed it to LO but it def wasn't enough to help the hunger issue. I think I gave him maybe 2.5oz that night because the kid was screaming and hadn't eaten anything in 4 days.
nectarine / 2019 posts
Around day 5 is when there should be some concern. Just keep nursing and checking weight gain. If it goes beyond 7 days, you may want to see an LC or start pumping in order to bring your supply on. How do you know your milk isn't in?
coconut / 8305 posts
You're doing GREAT!!! I would think that as long as your lo is still within the weight loss limits & is having enough wet/dirty diapers there isn't any reason to supplement. Just keep doing lots of skin to skin & nursing on demand! It'll come!! 
Do you have an LC in your area you could meet with?
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
Is there wet/poopy diapers? I think that's the main thing to go by when you first get home. My milk took a long time to come in too. It came in on the fourth day (but of course by then we had already given 1oz formula because lo went all of day 3 with only one wet diaper and no poopy in over 24 hours. Oops.)
cherry / 174 posts
Mine took 5 days! Hang in there and don't give up, it'll suddenly come in, I promise. *HUGS*
pomegranate / 3388 posts
Keep an eye on diapers, keep nursing, and hang in there!
Maybe not what you want to hear, but mine never came in despite doing all of the right things. I was devastated. I know that supplementing can seem like the end of the world if you planned on breastfeeding, but if you turn out to need it to keep your baby healthy then it's totally ok., and you shouldn't feel guilty about it.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
I think mine started to come in day 5? You're already winning that colostrum is enough for your baby! It wasn't for my LO. So +1 for you! Great job!
grapefruit / 4923 posts
my milk ducts were starting to congest around day 5, but LO's suck was not strong enough to get it to flow. so after freaking out big time, i met with a lactation consultant and started pumping after every nursing session. we also supplemented with a bottle (for a week we supplemented with formula, then i had enough pumped milk to supplement with that).
ETA: pumping saved me--otherwise i don't know if my supply would have established itself.
pomelo / 5093 posts
You're doing great, and this is totally normal! Mine came in day 4. I think the suggestion to talk to an LC on day 5 is really good - if you're not fully established by day 5, a little extra push might be great. Or, if you can't get to one that day, maybe just start pumping after each nursing session.
But mostly, let your baby be your guide. If they're nursing, happy, wetting enough diapers, you're good. Good. Perfect.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
That happened to me too..... although LO wasn't fine. She was starving and crying all the time, so we had to supplement. Glad your LO is satisfied with what you've got! Hopefully it will come in soon 
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
This probably won't be helpful, but I didn't even NOTICE when mine came in! People kept asking me if it was in yet and I was like "Um... I guess?" I had no idea how to tell! They say that you'll know because you'll be super engorged, but that NEVER happened to me because Xander was just nursing constantly! I think around day 5, I had an LC helping me with Xander's latch and she showed me how to bring the milk down (if there was any) to get things started, and I squirted at her, so that's when I knew it was in, but I had no idea beforehand!
cherry / 115 posts
Mine was like day or 5 too, perhaps even day 6? I can't remember, but I know that I didn't sense it happening (and had thought it already did) But then I had these giant hard boobs out of nowhere!
persimmon / 1396 posts
@Adira: I didn't know either. I was never engorged or had any leaking. It wasn't until later that I could tell if my breast was full.
Mine came in day 5/6ish. We did supplement with formula bc baby was hungry.
pomegranate / 3414 posts
While exhausting, keep nursing as much as LO wants. My milk didn't come in until day 5 with DD and day 9 with DS. Both were inductions but otherwise no complication vaginal deliveries.
pear / 1563 posts
Thanks for all the encouragement ladies, we have milk! I think she was getting it late Wednesday because I noticed a change in her nursing - more gulps - and she slept a 4 hour stretch at night!
Thursday and today so far she seems a little more satisfied and has been making the right amount of diapers, so hopefully we're on track.
On another topic, her latch seems to have gotten shallower since the change in size of the boob, and I'm having trouble fixing it, any tips?
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Revel: yay, so glad your milk came in!! My friend's milk didn't come in til day 10 and she was going nuts. She was really stressed out until her OB told her she had a patient whose milk came in on day 21. So sometimes it just takes a while my friend went on to have a great milk supply and breastfed for quite a while.
With her latch, don't hesitate to stick your pinky in her mouth (slip it in right next to her nipple) to break the latch and have her retry. Tickle the side of her mouth to get her to open wide, then try and get the nipple as deeply into her mouth as possible. It's a learning curve for both of you! Good luck!!!!!
pomegranate / 3895 posts
@Revel: I found this helpful: http://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/dept.asp?dept_id=3228.
If you're engorged it will be difficult for her to latch. You can relieve the engorgement by hand expressing or pumping a little. I also found warm compresses to be helpful on the first couple days after my milk came in.
If you are finding the latch at all difficult, see an LC ASAP. Don't do what I did and try to get away with a painful latch...DD is six weeks now and it's only in the last few days that I've been able to nurse without any pain thanks to the injuries I sustained in weeks one and two due to a not great latch and some poor positioning (changing your position by an inch or two can make a world of difference). My LC saved my nursing relationship..she's pretty much my hero!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@Revel: yay, congratulations! Must be a huge weight off your shoulders.
grapefruit / 4006 posts
@revel: hooray for milk! i found that switching positions helped her latch in the beginning. she was able to latch much more easily in the football hold, than if i was doing a cradle hold. i think it was easier for her to get more in her mouth. sometimes she'd slobber on it and it would be too slippery for her to get a latch, so i'd wipe it off with a cloth before trying again.
pear / 1563 posts
Thanks for the quick responses! I'm going to try some other positions today and see if that helps, and I do have lactation support easily accessible to me and will seek that out asap if things don't improve.
GOLD / grapefruit / 4007 posts
@SleepyMonkey: I agree with football hold for newborn. At 4.5 mo we never use it anymore but it was our go to in the first weeks
pomelo / 5331 posts
Glad your milk came in! Definitely try pumping/expressing out a bit, it was really hard for LO to latch when I was engorged. Thankfully that phase only lasted a couple of days, but it was a hard couple of days for us! LO also started to develop a shallow latch after my milk came in because the letdown was a little much for him. His latch has gotten slightly deeper over time, but not really much -- we both just kind of adapted to his style. He's got a high palate so that's part of the problem, too.
I like this technique for getting a deeper latch:
http://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/dept.asp?dept_id=3228
There's also a technique where you pull the nipple back with your thumb then pop it in her mouth and pull back out, which helps her lip flange out too. I originally found it online but can't find it... hopefully this makes sense!
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