Tips for BF & C-Section Recovery

[vmars]

I just wanted to provide you with some tips from what I learned so far, esp. if you have a c-section and you want to BF. 

1. Do NOT pack a lot for the hospital….I didn't use 90% of what was in my bag. Bring 1 or 2 pair of nursing PJs and something comfy to wear home. Due to my c-section I couldn't use the nursing pillows & the only comfy thing to use for support was a pillow. (btw, bring at least 2 pillows from home - hospital pillows suck!) 
2. If you plan to BF, buy soothie pads, they are awesome for sore nipples in the beginning.
3. Buy a good nursing bra! I have 2 of these and they are awesome -- www.apeainthepod.com/Product.asp?product_Id=195570361&MasterCategory_Id=MC29. 
4. If you are having problems BF, ask for help! I seriously told everyone who would listen about my BF issues, I ended up getting some great help from 2 different LC. My sister also helped me the first day. Also, DH was a dream and helped me every time I needed to nurse to get DS to latch. Having support from your partner is essential, IMO, esp. with a c-section where you can't do a lot except nurse and rest.
5. If you get a c-section & your partner is able to, have him take off at least 2 weeks, recovery sucks and you don't want to over do it. I am also not the type who likes to ask others for help, I'd rather it be DH. 
7. Bring a sleep mask to the hospital….our hospital makes you keep a light on in the room at all times with the baby.
8. It's okay to send the baby to the nursery for a little bit of sanity and peace & quiet. Do not feel bad about it.

Any questions, let me know. Hope this helps! 

[Stingyshark]

I'll add a few of my own, hope you don't mind.

~Ditto the extra pillows! We brought 3 or 4 pillows (WHAT? I'm high maintenance!) Plus DH needed one.
~I wore the hospital gown on Sunday, then yoga pants Monday/Tuesday. I didn't need most of what I packed.
~Take the motrin or whatever pain killers they offer.
~Take the stool softener. I was so scared to poop, it ended up not being near as bad as I thought - but I have internal tears, so that might be why.

[simpsongal]

Hmm, my only question/comment is about the nursing bra. They're pretty pricey and your milk may not come in for a few days, so it might be hard to size until after birth. Maybe y'all were pretty full? My boobs are still changing. I bought a couple inexpensive nursing tanks from Target to get me through the first few days. After that I intend to get a few nice nursing bras.

Thanks for the pillow recommendations - I thought I was being silly by packing one, but now I'm thinking of grabbing another

I'm sorry it's been a rough recovery vmars - I can't imagine how hard it is to care for an infant after having major abdominal surgery.

[Deleted]

When I had DS, (vaginal birth), I changed into yoga pants within about 2 hours of giving birth. With DD, (c section), I wore the gown and then changed into a cheap nightshirt (I bought a few in the pj section of Walmart). It was annoying, but easier because they were constantly checking my incision.

One more for c sections, fill your pain med prescription before you go home. Even if you feel great in the hospital. You don't want it to be 2am and realize your incision is killing you and you have nothing to take. And stay on top of your meds.

Thanks for the tips! A sleep mask is a great idea!

[vmars]

Jan 1, 2014 16:23:12 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Hmm, my only question/comment is about the nursing bra. They're pretty pricey and your milk may not come in for a few days, so it might be hard to size until after birth. Maybe y'all were pretty full? My boobs are still changing. I bought a couple inexpensive nursing tanks from Target to get me through the first few days. After that I intend to get a few nice nursing bras.

Thanks for the pillow recommendations - I thought I was being silly by packing one, but now I'm thinking of grabbing another

I'm sorry it's been a rough recovery vmars - I can't imagine how hard it is to care for an infant after having major abdominal surgery.

I got a medium...the fabric is very stretchy and my boobs got bigger when the milk came in. It's also padded so in case your nursing pads don't hold up you have extra protection. I tried target and returned it - no where near as comfy.

[formerlyak]

I can add a few from what I remember from DS:

- ask the nurse to help you take a shower as soon as the catheter is out and you feel ready; that first shower made me feel so good

- don't let anyone bully you about breast feeding. I was planning on breast feeding until I had to go back to work and then combo feeding (formula during the day breast other times) when I returned to work. The first lactation consultant told me that was impossible and started telling me all about how work was required to let me have pump breaks, etc. I knew all this but it wasn't my choice. I finally told her she could either get me information about combo feeding or she could skip my room on her rounds (I didn't need help with the actual feeding - DS latched like a champ and my milk was in by day 2). She finally stopped her bullying and got me info I could use. I was glad I stood up for myself.

- when you try to get up, put light pressure on your incision with a pillow and roll on your side to get up. Don't try to just sit up. I've had two surgeries on my lower ab (Cs and hernia replacement) and that advice helped a lot.

- ditto on the stool softener

[sent]

I didn't nurse right after my C-section since they whisked my baby off to the NICU, but I did pump. I went to the hospital quite unprepared since the baby came unexpectedly early so I had no nursing tanks. I stripped off my shirt and just wore their gown when it was time to pump. I didn't care about female staff coming in and out of the room while hanging out in the gown attached to the pump.

Yes to stool softener. I question every detail before I allow the doctors and nurses to administer anything to me. Initially I refused this.  But after one attempt where I sat around for 30 min, I became really scared that I would never have a bowel movement.  I asked the nurse for it. Thank goodness it worked, because I was getting really scared that they wouldn't discharge me from the hospital until I had a bowel movement and I didn't want to stay any more nights.

I also got a Brest Friend pillow for home on the advice of a lactation consultant at the hospital.  It is nice. The lactation consultants I saw at the hospital were meh. Like formerlyak, I didn't feel like they were listening to me and my specific concerns and were dispensing somewhat canned advice. I mean I had a preemie and they handed me a thick booklet about what to do when you take a full term baby home and only gave sparse advice about what would happen when I took my preemie home.  I got the feeling that the hospital consultants have to try so hard to get women just to nurse because most of them don't nurse that they don't have time to spend with those of us who already have decided to nurse.  Our pedi recommended one that finally seemed to make some sense.  

[rt2008]

I just want to ditto that it's ok to the send the baby to the nursery I had to stay in the hospital 5 nights due the the c/s and we sent her to the nursery for a little bit each night after the 1st and it was so nice to get some good sleep.

[osulori]

Ditto the advice about bringing your own pillow-I didn't have mine while I was in L&D but had J grab it on one of his runs home and it helped a lot. And not being afraid to send the baby to the nursery too, even though I didn't sleep great in the hospital having some time to decompress a bit really helped.

Re: nursing bras-I had picked up a couple on sale at the Motherhood outlet near me before I had AJ, and got them one size bigger than what my boobs were at that point (they were 36D so I got 38D) and they worked out fine. I mean they were definitely too small for the first week after my milk came in...but I don't think anything could contain them that first week, they were HUGE!

Stool softeners and pain meds are definitely your friends.

And the MBF pillow is great for breastfeeding for sure. We use the Boppy plenty for other stuff, but I scrapped it for BFing after a week.

[sonrisa]

Jan 1, 2014 14:41:44 GMT -5 vmars said:

I just wanted to provide you with some tips from what I learned so far, esp. if you have a c-section and you want to BF. 


4. If you are having problems BF, ask for help! ...
5. If you get a c-section & your partner is able to, have him take off at least 2 weeks
7. Bring a sleep mask to the hospital….our hospital makes you keep a light on in the room at all times with the baby.
8. It's okay to send the baby to the nursery for a little bit of sanity and peace & quiet. Do not feel bad about it.

#4: I would take this one step further - even if you aren't having problems, ask every nurse or lactation consultant you se for their tips on nursing. Some will give better advice than others, but you might get a variety of ideas. If you are actually having problems, ask a nurse to come in and observe a nursing most nursing sessions, ask to see a lactation consultant, ask about a pump, whatever you need. Get all the help and advice you can :-) First time I got a ton of advice, some of which didn't apply. But I was able to use some of those tricks for this baby and it helped us get a great start. 
(I also asked many nurses about their swaddling technique since each was a little different)
#5: Definitely look into at least two weeks off work. He might need to take more (DH needed four weeks the first time because of my complications. He could only start again because a friend came in from out of town to help) He should look into FMLA leave if applicable. This time he arranged for 4 weeks up front.
#7: We were lucky. Our hospital was great and we could have the room completely dark if we wanted. I kept some very low lighting on so I could see when I needed to.
#8: Our hospital does not have a well baby nursery. Check ahead of time to find out if yours does. If the baby doesn't need to be in the NICU, the baby rooms in. Always. The nurses were great about helping with everything (getting her out of the bassinet to feed, etc) but she was still in with me at all times. 

[vmars]

Jan 2, 2014 0:21:53 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Jan 1, 2014 14:41:44 GMT -5 vmars said:

I just wanted to provide you with some tips from what I learned so far, esp. if you have a c-section and you want to BF. 


4. If you are having problems BF, ask for help! ...
5. If you get a c-section & your partner is able to, have him take off at least 2 weeks
7. Bring a sleep mask to the hospital….our hospital makes you keep a light on in the room at all times with the baby.
8. It's okay to send the baby to the nursery for a little bit of sanity and peace & quiet. Do not feel bad about it.

#4: I would take this one step further - even if you aren't having problems, ask every nurse or lactation consultant you se for their tips on nursing. Some will give better advice than others, but you might get a variety of ideas. If you are actually having problems, ask a nurse to come in and observe a nursing most nursing sessions, ask to see a lactation consultant, ask about a pump, whatever you need. Get all the help and advice you can :-) First time I got a ton of advice, some of which didn't apply. But I was able to use some of those tricks for this baby and it helped us get a great start. 
(I also asked many nurses about their swaddling technique since each was a little different)
#5: Definitely look into at least two weeks off work. He might need to take more (DH needed four weeks the first time because of my complications and could only start again because a friend came in from out of town to help) He should look into FMLA leave if applicable. This time he arranged for 4 weeks up front.
#7: We were lucky. Our hospital was great and we could have the room completely dark if we wanted. I kept some very low lighting on so I could see when I needed to.
#8: Our hospital does not have a well baby nursery. Check ahead of time to find out if yours does. If the baby doesn't need to be in the NICU, the baby rooms in. Always. The nurses were great about helping with everything (getting her out of the bassinet to feed, etc) but she was still in with me at all times. 

DH is actually home until 1/28 but I def think 2 weeks is the absolute bare minimum too.

[eav2c]

I cannot stress #8 enough. I swore up and down that my first would stay with me 24/7 but I needed the nursery. I was exhausted after a failed induction and left in a state of shock post-C/S. The nursery was necessary to my recovery.

[saltypearl]

For my c-section I wore the hospital gown until they let me out. I had no desire (or energy) to change into my clothes. I also wore the mesh panties home from the hospital.

On the BF bullying, don't let them bully you either way. I had a night nurse that was insisting my DD needed formula even with 8 soaking wet diapers during the day. I absolutely refused and kicked her out of my room.

[kelle017]

My c section was not planned but I agree with the advice given. My h had to go back to work the day after we got home and that was really tough.
1. Take pain meds as often as you can.
2. Take the stool softner
3. Put pressure on stomach when getting up.
4. Ask for a stomach binder. Someone told me to
Do this and t helped a ton
5. Sleeping on the couch actually helped me.
6. Get moving as soon as you are allowed to

[vmars]

Jan 3, 2014 5:32:42 GMT -5 kelle017 said:

My c section was not planned but I agree with the advice given. My h had to go back to work the day after we got home and that was really tough.
1. Take pain meds as often as you can.
2. Take the stool softner
3. Put pressure on stomach when getting up.
4. Ask for a stomach binder. Someone told me to
Do this and t helped a ton
5. Sleeping on the couch actually helped me.
6. Get moving as soon as you are allowed to

Idk how you managed without DH so soon. I would have been a complete mess.

I should add stomach binder too but I never even asked....it was already on me in recovery - I don't recall them putting it on.

[kelle017]

Jan 3, 2014 8:47:08 GMT -5 vmars said:

Jan 3, 2014 5:32:42 GMT -5 kelle017 said:

My c section was not planned but I agree with the advice given. My h had to go back to work the day after we got home and that was really tough.
1. Take pain meds as often as you can.
2. Take the stool softner
3. Put pressure on stomach when getting up.
4. Ask for a stomach binder. Someone told me to
Do this and t helped a ton
5. Sleeping on the couch actually helped me.
6. Get moving as soon as you are allowed to

Idk how you managed without DH so soon. I would have been a complete mess.

I should add stomach binder too but I never even asked....it was already on me in recovery - I don't recall them putting it on.

I'm not sure how I managed either. Other than in the hospital and one night shortly after we got home when I was having a meltdown he hasn't done any middle of the night anything (and she's almost 3 months). Although if I have to feed her I might as well change her myself I guess. I really hope if/when we have another I can have a vbac or he can be there more.
I didn't get my binder until the last day when I was getting ready to go because I didn't know about them.