"Mother was delivered by c-sec, baby was at the breast for two days and
then found to be dehydrated. Baby was hypoglycemic and rushed to NICU
for
IV feeds.....Mother couldn't express anything at all until baby was
about 5 days old. Baby is still in NICU and is getting formula
supplemented with mother's pumped milk, which isn't "enough". Mom is now
experiencing
engorgment!.....The feeling is that the baby wasn't "getting anything"
in those first two days, and that bec. of the new rooming in policy at
the hospital, the baby's output wasn't being monitored."

Rooming-in and mother-baby care does not mean "take the baby out to the
mom's room and leave it there".  The hospital staff is still responsible
for ongoing newborn assessments and monitoring of the baby, as well as
teaching the mom how to breastfeed and care for the baby.

If this baby is still in the NICU after 5 days of age, I suspect
something else is going on here related to the baby's condition.

I, too, have seen lactogenesis delayed in some C-section moms, but not
in others.  I wonder if sometimes milk is delayed because the baby was
not put to breast as early and often as a vaginal delivery mom.  Other
factors that might delay milk are prolonged labor with no nourishment
before surgery, physical stress to the body due to the surgery,
medications, exhaustion, etc.  Anyone have any other ideas?

Barbara Berges BS, RN, IBCLC
Rochester, New York