how long was it after your surgery before you were able to hold and nurse your little one(s)?

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Ha, and you thought the answer to this question would be short I am guessing.....

Well, I first want to say that if you end up with a section I feel you need to be VERY forthcoming with your expectations regarding BFing ASAP after birth. Don't take, "you can't sit up", "you can't b/c of meds", "it is too hard to do with your spinal/epidural level so high", etc etc for anything other than a healthcare provider either being LAZY or IGNORANT on the subject of how and when c-section moms can BF after birth!!!

Anyway, with ds#1 I nursed within minutes of being wheeled into recovery. I made MY expectations very clear when I showed up in labor at the hospital that unless it was medical necessity for my babies life that he was staying with me and would be nursing if it took a mountain to get me situated in a semi-sitting position to nurse. So, my L&D nurse took my request to heart and had what it seemed 10 pillows ready for us when we got out of the OR. Mind you, I had no clue what the heck I was doing and when I look at photos now(nearly 4 years later) I laugh.

With ds#2 I didn't even have myself pulled up in the stretcher before the nurse had him out of the incubator and across the room for me to nurse. She was an incredible L&D nurse and told me pre-op(between my contractions and epidural placement) that if I was serious about nursing that my little guy would nurse within minutes of getting out of the OR~ she held true to her word.

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Nancy

I nursed her about 2 hours after. They took her away due to a couple of issues and brought her to me after I got back into my room almost immediately. My stitching took a long time and I fell asleep while it was going on. They did make me supplement though due to jaundice. I didn't supplement once we got home.

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Adrianna's Birth Date 9/29/06
Amy's Birth Date 11/28/94

nancy, what an awesome nurse!

won't find that around here. in my hosp, the mama doesn't typically get the baby nearly that soon (unless of course she is a dr or nursery nurse)

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With Loralei- within a couple of hours. I was bleeding pretty bad and it was hard to put me back together. I was in high risk recovery due to being on mag sulfate for pre-e.
With Josalyn it was TWO days. She had pneumonia (as did another baby in there who was a vaginal birth and who was also getting breastfed). I was very insistent about breastfeeding and no bottles. They brought me a pump and I had my milk in by the time she was allowed to nurse. She got two syringes filled with my milk that morning before they called me in with the news that I would get to nurse her. If your baby ends up in special care like mine, or the nicu, insist on finger or syringe feeding only until they can nurse. That's what the one nurse told me. She spent 20+ years in nicu's and I thank God we had Laura at our hospital in special care!
If everything would have been fine, I was told they like to get baby to breast in 1-2 hours.

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I was pretty out of it after DD, long labor and 3 hours of pushing kind of did me in. The staff knew I wanted to BF but I didn't make any special requests....even so, they turned me on my side in the PACU and put her right next to me- the nurse helped her latch and she was off and running like a champ! It was probably an hour or less since she had been born, but I'm not sure. Then she nursed continually for the next six months.........

My son was a VBAC so that wasn't an issue the second time. He was born at 9 am and I think I remember nursing him for the first time around 9:45 or 10 or so. So about the same as DD.

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Suzanne

Proud mommy to Katie and Rob

Because of blood sugar issues my baby was taken to the nursery for an extremely long two hours. They pushed her full of formula, must to my dismay. At least we were able to have them feed her via syringe rather than bottle. So, by the time she got to me she was so full and sleepy that she did not nurse for probably 6 hours. I was very disturbed that they would not let me pump and feed her but I suppose it all worked out in the end.

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My 1st was a crash section and it took me forever to wake up after. When I did wake up, Dion was already gone to a different hospital... I didn't see him for another 3 days.

With my twins, they were a little premature. They were taken to the NICU and monitored for a couple hours. I was able to hold/nurse them about 2 1/2 hours after when I could make my way down to the NICU.

With Reece I think it was within an hour I was able to nurse. It would have been sooner but he was having the usual "Juicy" c-section baby issues.

I do have a REALLY good tip for you. Our hospital has recently stopped giving baby a bath for at least 6 hours after birth. They found this helps breastfeeding The reason is, a bath for such a new baby is a real shock to their system. After the bath they are very sleepy and tend to not latch as well. The LC at the hospital when I had Reece said that this small little change has increased breastfeeding success rates in the city.

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