I had an unplanned c section, was so doped up on anxiety meds from the surgery (I was NOT numb) that I couldn’t hold my son for 3 hours. We’re about to cross a year of EBF. My brother and I were also breastfed and born via c section. I also have a friend who didn’t BF her first after a traumatic unplanned cesarean but had no issues with the second and a planned surgery. So the odds are not stacked against you as far as I am concerned. My biggest advice is to INSIST on breastfeeding at the hospital. Take up every minute of the lactation specialists’ visits. I had a neonatalogist try to push formula when my nurse was standing there with a pump for me to try and I tore him two new ***. Breastfeeding is work and the commitment starts in the recovery room. Just be firm about what you want to do. And I can’t compare the nights to bottle feeding, but my son has always gone right back to sleep after nursing. When they get big enough to side lie, it’s such a piece of cake to just pick them up, lie down for a while and then pop them back in the bassinet.

I hold my baby before feeding her and tell her “You know I love you sooo much! Mama does this just for you.” I know it’s silly but it reminds me of why I am willing to sacrifice my sanity lol I did the same with my now 2 year old who I EBF for a year. Good luck!

Yes to side lying at night! Literally a life saver overnight. I was having trouble keeping myself awake so I got some games on my phone to help keep me up. I also found it easier to stay awake if I had a show or something to watch. Also, be easy on yourself. I had an emergency c-section for my second and I did a combo of breast feeding and bottle feeding for the first month. If baby was sleeping I would do a quick pump with a manual pump so my hubby could feed her when she woke up and I could get some rest! The first month is definitely the worst, my pain started to turn around once I hit a month PP. Also really recommend the “My Breast Friend” nursing pillow. That helped me a ton the first month, you can essentially be hands free if you’re sitting down so it makes it a lot easier to eat or something while you nurse.

If you don’t have a bedside bassinet, I definitely recommend it. I was just planning on using the crib but bending over to put her in and out of the crib was torture after a c section. It was so much easier just to roll over in bed

Thank you ladies! ❤️

Even though my husband couldn’t feed my baby he would watch her sleep first few hours of the night whilst I slept. Just to help me out incase I slept through babies cries (which never happened, it just gave me piece of mind to be able to enjoy my sleep). Those 2-3 hrs gave me much needed rest, and I felt so good too. Then I would feed baby and back down for 2-3hrs again and so on throughout the night.

First few weeks are the hardest, once you get past these hard weeks it’s worth it! Challenges will come that’s inevitable, but otherwise it’s worth the fight.

All the best God bless��❤️