Hi everyone- I’m am really struggling and need some input from people with experience. First time mom here. Without going into too much detail, I expected that breastfeeding would be difficult due to a surgery I had 20 years ago. I attempted while in the hospital and my sons latch was good but the sucking was extremely painful (he left marks). Nothing ever came out though. He was a bit underweight thanks to my 9 months of hyperemesis, so our first night in the hospital he was howling from hunger. We ended up giving him formula to help, but continued attempting breastfeeding. When I was discharged from the hospital the lactation consultant had kind of given up and assumed I wouldn’t be able. She gave me supplemental formula instructions and said keep trying, but never gave a concrete answer about when I should expect my milk to come in. Fast forward to day 5, I woke up to find that both breasts were hard bowling balls, completely engorged. I started pumping and at first got nothing. I kept pumping and eventually started to get very small ants of milk (I’m assuming colostrum?). I’m still pumping now on day 7 and still tiny amounts. My breasts are no longer hard and painful.

Here’s my question- did I miss my opportunity? I really thought I wouldn’t make milk, but it turns out I could and did. But I’ve never pumped more than just a very small amount (like 2mL total). Is there any hope for me? If there’s a way to get milk to come in is really like to feed my son with it, but it seems like it’s gone now. I’m not engorged anymore, but consistently get dripping milk when I pump.

Please help- anyone with this experience? Was it fixable??