What does newborn feed on before milk comes in?

Question

Ill be delivering at KKH. I heard from some mums that breastmilk comes in only after 3-4 days. So from birth till then, what does KKH (or hospitals in general) feed the baby? I also heard from someone that newborns have some reserves and can withstand those days without any formula or milk until breastmilk finally comes in.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

You may latch your NB right from birth to stimulate your BM. After which KKH will give baby formula milk in tiny cups, about 30ml per feeding. Don’t worry about whether baby is introduced bottles early or not. The important thing is that you latch baby as frequent as possible because it’s based on supply and demand. Borrow their pump machine to pump out your BM. At first you’ll only pump out 10-30ml. Or even drips but don’t be disheartened, it’s totally normal. KKH will also help to keep your expressed BM in the fridge and give baby for feeding time. Keep pumping, massage and pump, massage and pump. Use your hands to press on your breasts and squeeze them to express out the milk, you’ll realise you breasts will be hard right after birth (that’s usually the case), that’s when there’s milk in it, all accumulated. It also hurts. Nipples are also sore, what’s worse is the nurses will squeeze your nipples so that your milk will come out, that’s what you got to do too. Slowly but surely you’ll get used to the pain. So pump it out often. Drain your breasts as much as possible. 20mins each side if possible. Otherwise do 10mins each side. But massage is important to “wake up” the breasts. Meanwhile at the same time when baby is awake, latch baby to your breast. They will auto suck. For a start babies only need a few drops of BM, and the first few BM amount is super delicious and the best for NB cause it’s colostrum, rich in nutrients and all the good stuff for NB. It will look yellowish and gradually change colour as you pump frequently. Pump every 3hrs if possible, keep a stash of BM in the freezer for when you go back to work. Breastfeeding is tough, but you’re not alone. Don’t fret if you can’t produce much. Supplement with formula milk, it doesn’t make you less of a mother and it still gives nutrients to your growing baby. Can standby FM at home in case your BM haven’t kick in. Keep pumping, don’t stop, even if it is dry pumping! And drink more than 3L of water per day because BM is made up of 88% water!