A fellow mother friend and I were wondering, on how the body knows to produce Milk for the baby if a woman goes through a C-Section rather than natural child birth.
i have no idea how your body knows --that is a great question! when i had my c-section, i do not remember them giving me anything but i cannot be sure because i never thought to ask! my son was a champion nurser though!
Sarah's explanation couldn't be better!
I had to laugh when I read this. I breastfed my adopted daughter! True story. Once she was in my arms I actually felt a slight milk letdown (like I did when I had my birth daughter 10 years prior). I talked to a nurse friend of mine and told her the weird feeling I got and she sent me to a lactation consultant. In two weeks they had me breastfeeding. You could look at it as cool or weird, but I just had to add this story because I wasn't even pregnant and I could produce milk!
No matter how the baby is born the body can tell that the baby and placenta are no longer there. The hormones and other signs they give off (physical and chemical) are no longer produced. It is true that oxytocin (the body's natural version of the synthetic pitocin) increases when you are breastfeeding (that is why manny women feel extra cramping in the first few days after birth when they nurse). But it alone does not induce or increase lactation. There are many other hormones involved. Lactation is not dependent on contractions, cervical dilatation, or a baby passing through the vagina. Sadly, even if a baby passes away late in pregnancy the body still initiates lacation, regardless of the method of delivery.
The body is certainly an amazing piece of work!!
Following my c-sections while I was in the recovery area, the OB/Nurse administered Pitocin through my IV. Pitocin is the drug that induces labor -- and I was told that it will initiate lactation. It worked!
