Breastfeeding After Cesarean (C-Section) Delivery

Many parents deliver their baby through cesarean section (c-section) surgery, rather than vaginal birth. Here's what you need to know as you get started breastfeeding your baby after the surgery.

If the c-section was unplanned, you may have endured a long and difficult delivery. Your doctor may be more worried about your rest and recovery and less likely to encourage you to breastfeed right after delivery. You may also feel disappointed by this unexpected turn of events, which may inhibit the let-down and flow of your breast milk.

Most drugs administered to parents who give birth by cesarean delivery do not seriously affect the infant. You will probably receive a regional anesthetic, such as an epidural, rather than the general anesthesia that once made birth parents unconscious during the delivery. Since less regional anesthesia gets into your bloodstream than with general anesthesia, it causes less sedation in the newborn.

Still, some newborns tend to be a little sleepy following an epidural and may suckle with less enthusiasm at first. However, there are no known long-term negative effects on full-term babies' development or ability to breastfeed after regional anesthetics. Even if you are given general anesthesia, you should be able to breastfeed as soon as you're awake enough. When you are counseled about a cesarean delivery, it is a good idea to remind the obstetrician and anesthesiologist that you intend to breastfeed.

To help make you comfortable after a cesarean delivery, your doctor may give you pain medications, initially through your IV and later in pill form.

In most cases, little of this medication passes through your breast milk to your baby. Some pain medications may temporarily make your newborn a little sleepy, but the benefits of breastfeeding far outweigh this potential drowsiness. Pain interferes with the release of oxytocin, a hormone which helps your milk to flow readily for your baby, so adequate control of your pain is important.

If you have any concerns about the pain medication you are being offered, speak with your doctor or lactation specialist.

Your abdominal incision may make finding a comfortable breastfeeding position a little more difficult at first. You might try adjusting some of the basic breastfeeding positions by:

using one or two extra pillows to support your baby on your lap and protect your incision,

by lying down on your side with your baby facing you,

or by using a football hold with enough pillows to raise your baby's head to the level of the breast.

Make sure to get into a comfortable position before beginning to breastfeed, and don't be shy about asking for help. If you feel drowsy from pain medications or lack of sleep, make sure that someone is with you when you are feeding the baby.

As your incision heals and you are able to move about more readily, nursing will become much easier—but expect to need some extra rest and assistance until you are fully back on your feet again. Ask for or gratefully accept the help of family and friends with household chores, so you can concentrate on recovery from surgery and breastfeeding your baby.