Congratulations, you've made the awesome decision to breastfeed your baby! Breastmilk is undoubtedly the best nutrition you can provide to your baby, but many new moms like myself question when their breastmilk officially "comes in". Is it 1 day postpartum or 1 week..I've heard many answers. Truth be told, the arrival of mama's milk varies from person to person..., but typically your milk should arrive anywhere between 2 and 4 days after the birth of your baby. The colostrum (liquid gold) will start to be replaced with mature maternal milk. According to Kent, 2007 milk production is established by the first month of your breastfeeding journey.
I will honestly admit, I had no idea what to expect when my milk started "coming in". No one warned me about what seemed to be an immediate onset of fullness and engorgement! The entire process (in my honest opinion) was very painful. I had no idea what I was doing. It was a complete learning curve. However after doing some hard core googling (is that a word?) I found many answers to many of my questions.
During my second pregnancy I had a better understanding of the breastfeeding process and knew exactly (or so I thought) what to expect! I came prepared with as much knowledge as I could to ensure both my baby and myself would have a positive breastfeeding experience. Of course that is until he wanted to nurse every 10 minutes (literally). What seemed "normal" to me was in fact a whole other issue in disguise (tongue tie). Ha ha, this made our early breastfeeding journey very interesting! I will share in a later blog post, so keep in touch. So....how was your breastfeeding journey upon starting? Did you come prepared with as much knowledge that you could possibly attain? Please share below!