Milk not in day 4; help?

Hi all,

Sorry this will be brief w typos. I delivered beautiful bg twins on Wed. These are my first. We came home from the hospital yesterday. They are healthy good sized babies. I am expressing colostrum and some white stuff, but only a little. Is that milk? We've been supplementing w formula, per the advice at the hospital. Baby girl is a good latcher but baby boy gets frustrated and wants the bottle.

Is this milk? If so, how do I make more of it? How do I get baby boy interested? Thx so much.

 

The way to make more is to latch the babies on and have them nurse frequently or pump if they can't latch. Colostrum is golden yellow. Milk is thinner and white (in the transition between colostrum and milk you'll see a hybrid). It sounds like your milk is on the way in. Keep stimulating your breasts!

My milk took five days to come in with my first. Ironically, that was an all-natural vaginal birth. With the twins (planned c-section) my milk came in at the 36-hour mark.

 

My baby girl had trouble latching and preferred the bottle for the first 10 days or so. I worked with her at every feeding by giving her half an ounce of formula or expressed milk before trying to latch her so she wasn't super hungry when trying to get a letdown. Sometimes I would hand express or use my pump to get a letdown then latch her that way so she didn't have to work so hard. She eventually caught on and is now an expert nurser!

I hope things continue to improve.

 

The good news is that it is not that uncommon to have only colostrum (plus it's pretty hard to hand express milk until you get more experience) at that point, and the babies really need that. Remember a newborn baby has a tiny stomach.

Moreover, babies almost always get more milk from nursing than you can express with a pump. So the good news is you are probably making more milk than you think.
Also it's completely normal for babies to lose some weigh in the beginning, unless they are preemies I wouldn't worry too much about that.

If I were in your shoes, I would try my best to go cold turkey on the bottles. Sometimes babies get used to the easier and faster flow of the bottle, and they become lazy suckers. Try your best to get them to the breast as much as possible, which will stimulate your milk production, and help them become more proficient nursers.

I can empathize with you. My milk came in on day 5 with the boys and day 4 with my daughter. You just have to keep nursing them as much as possible, and rather than focusing on ounces or what you think might be coming out of you breasts, I'd focus on peeing an pooping. If they are peeing and pooping then they are getting enough nourishment.

Keep it up mama.

Oh, one more thing. If you son gets really mad, you can try to let him calm down and try nursing again when he's chilled out. Try your best not to offer a bottle; it will be hard at first, but I promise he will adjust. :hug:

 

^^^^^^ Everything that she said.

Plus, I would HIGHLY recommend getting a one time consult with a Lactation Consultant. You can look them up on IBLLLC or call the lactation center in your delivery hospital (or any local hospital) for recommendations. It is worth every. single. penny. She will usually come to your house and can tell you how many ounces the babies are getting at each feeding, check for tongue ties, show you how to tandem nurse.. I seriously can't recommend getting one enough!