Did you breastfeed staight after birth?

[Laur_250]

I can just imagine myself running round the hospital naked now after all this but Ive found out an old strappy nightie to pack as its short so will just cover my top mainly and the strap can be pulled down to pop one out afterwards for a feed if needed!xx

 

[andreag]

I got skin to skin straight after the birth and fed her virtually straight away. I think I must have just whipped my t shirt straight off for the skin to skin, because I was definatley wearing it for labour but you honestly won't care a jot - the ob was stitching my perinium at the time so being topless was the least of my worries. When I passed her to hubby he also stripped his top off to get skin to skin.The midwife was quite surprised - apparently she had never seen it before but thought it was lovely. I would definatly recommend that.

 

[keli]

Cooper was delivered then straight on my chest as i was naked and in my notes it said he fed for 2 hrs! Not surprised i got blisters! lol.

 

[trixipaws]

i didnt rele wanna be nekkid either but the MW stripped me off while i was in too much pain to object lol!

i cant remember whether i'd had my shower already when i first BF or whether i BF first. i think probably both actually. i had a home birth so was lucky i had 2 MWs all to myself and they had millie latched on a few times for me before they left.

 

[Squiglet]

Ive always wondered what happens if your milk doesnt come in till a few days, how can the baby feed?

As has been said, initially its colostrom that comes out. Really good stuff for baby because of what it contains in those first few days till milk supply kicks in. Its plenty for LO to go on

Babies are evolved to survive fine on it and the body fat store they have (iirc they store extra round their kidneys or somewhere for those first few days) and they always drop from their birth weight the first week or so before gaining again. All quite normal

babies contain brown fat... as nature intends for you to breast feed, this fat is a safety net... the colostrom is like a vaccination .... it contains all your antibodies, vitamins and nutrients... its also highly calorific, but its not enough to sustain a rapidly growing baby... thats where the brown fat comes in and its why its very common for bf'd babies to loose weight in the first week. They use the brown fat to sustain them till the milk comes in.

I bf'd both my girls after birth... it makes you release a hormone oxitocin and that helps your uterus contract, reduces your bleeding... with Tia it was obvious it wasn't working and they wanted to make sure she hadn't swallowed meconium, so she went to SCBU and I went to surgery.

With lil miss, I passed my placenta within 10 mins and lil miss was being weighed/measured/cleaned up etc in that time... after that they gave her to me and she never stopped bfing really for 2 days except for occasional doctor visits, family cuddles etc It was wonderful just to be left alone with her straight after in recovery, just feeding her...

 

[lulu]

Hi, you probably wont be bothered about this when you give birth. I thought this first time round and then it all went out the window when jack was born. With Arlo I wasnt bothered. As soon as you give birth you wont care, you will just want to hold him/her. Of course you will want to freshen up but believe me it will prob be the last thing on your mind.

As for feeding straight away, you prob will want to, but might not be able to.

 

[Kimbo]

yes and it went well until a couple days later

 

[KJ]

Ive always wondered what happens if your milk doesnt come in till a few days, how can the baby feed?

nobody's milk comes in till a few days after birth. Baby gets colostrum until the milk is in. That's how its' supposed to be.

So don't panic if baby feeds constantly to start with. COlostrum isn't big on volume so they do feed a lot until the milk is in.,

On the subject of feeding straight after birth. I did. Asher was put straight onto me and I breastfed him in the delivery room. Didnt' care how naked or sweaty I was!

It's best to feed quite soon after birth as baby is quite alert then. A bit later they tend to go to sleep for a long time, so if you wait until after then you may not get to breastfeed for quite a while. Obiovusly, the sooner you start feeding, the quicker your milk is likely to come in.

K.xxx

 

[Charlie:-)]

I had it written into my birth plan that I wanted to BF and wanted to try as soon as possible so when I had been moved to the recovery room after my emergency section Maia was put straight onto my breast and fed for 40 minutes. They even wheeled me from theatre through the maternity ward to my room whilst she was feeding. I was so out of it though from the anesthetic I couldnt have cared less!

Why not think about putting your wishes into a birth plan then the midwives know you would prefer to freshen up before you feed.