CS, painkillers and BF

[growyourown77]

If you had a CS, what BF support were you given in hospital and what advice were you given on which painkillers you could take while BF?

[BlueHat]

I took paracetemol, Voltarol and some oral morphine after my cs. Breastfeeding support was not great, had lots if help straight after the birth when in recovery, not much when on post natal ward. I had to keep asking for help.

[ipswichwitch]

I was given paracetamol (which I took) and voltarol (which I didn't). Bf support was great considering I had to solely express for the first week as DS was prem and tube fed. They got me going with a pumping regime and helped me get to grips with expressing. DS was on Scbu for 3 weeks and they were great helping me to get him to bf- had to start slow with 1 bf a day with tube feeds and build up. Before he came home we stayed on the pn ward for the weekend to be sure he could bf properly, and support was great there too.

[Geekster]

I had paracetamol and codeine as allergic to volterol. I was the same as BlueHat as far as breast feeding support went, was great in recovery but quite frankly crap when I was on the post natal ward. I kept pestering them for help. You have to.

[rainrainandmorerain]

Was given paracetamol and diclofenac. had no support in hospital but didn't actually need any as ds just got on with it, I fed on demand and kept him with me all the time and we didn't have any problems.

I had a very easy planned cs btw, not an emcs. i'm sure this helped.

[babybouncer]

I had similar pain relief, but they're pretty tooled up on what you're allowed when breastfeeding. (Once I left, I always made a point of double checking anything the doc prescribed with the pharmacist).

I was fine with bf when I was on the ward - they were helpful and I always got them to check my latch/asked a silly question when they picked up dd to pass her to me to feed. It helped that I knew I had to ask for help being post-op and I could hear lots of others asking for help too. The support wasnt always great, for example, I had talked to a feeding counsellor about an agreed plan of care to support bfing, but when I asked to speak to her the day after my cs, I was told she didn't work weekends - not helpful! I needed more support later and got this from hv and Nct helplines. I was unable to bf my first (not cs) and I think this made me more determined to demand ask for help so I knew I was definitely giving it my best shot this time.

If you keep asking, eventually someone will be a great help, it just takes a little stamina to keep asking sometimes!

[elizaregina]

oral morphine, codeine, ibprufen, paracetomol..then difolenic -

my section was easy too - once got part fear of being in a theatre.....

however please please after take great care when you move from side to side in your bed! dont twist etc....at first...

i didnt need much support but it largely depends on who you ask at that given moment - we had one dud MW i could hear others asking but mostly - all the rest were brilliant - took loads of time to help ladies and explain stuff. then a breat feeding speicalist came round with lots of leafletts and info..

i dont know if this is 100% true but i read that its the removeal of the placenta that gets milk going....everything came in normal for me as it did with first - natural birth

[mayhew]

Eliza, you are right about the placenta. It cleverly gets the boobs developed and producing colostrum but holds back the mature milk. Once its out, the hormones holding back the milk take 2-4 days to get out of your system. Then, TA DA!

Some of you might see a similar effect on the baby's tiny boobs (boys and girls). As you get full, the baby's nipples look swollen from its own withdrawal of placenta hormone.