KS
October 19th 03, 12:49 PM
I just wanted to vent, and hopefully this newsgroups will entertain
me. Here is our recent breastfeeding experience. Things are a bit of
a blur, so bear with me.
Our son was born at 6:22am on Tuesday, October 14. Labor was
over 26 hours, and the baby was finally born via C-section. (I was
9cm, so his head was cone shaped, etc) Within an hour or so, the
staff had me breastfeeding. The baby seemed to do fairly well. The
only issue was that his bottom lip would not always be open. It often
took a couple tries, but eventually we would get it done.
Over the next 24 hours or so, we fed the baby 5 or 6 times. Each
time the baby was fed, the staff instructed us that we had to wake the
baby up and feed it. Needless to say, the baby was not that
interested, and would need constant coaxing to suckle. The other
problem was that every nurse told me something different as far as how
and/or when I should feed. During this time, the baby was making many
bowel movements, and urinating acceptably.
After 24 hours, a nurse came in with a chart that said that I
should have fed the baby 8-12 times during the preceeding 24 hours,
and every 24 hours thereafter. This was the first time we had heard
this. We then began a much more aggressive schedule of waking the
baby up to feed him. Again, he did not seem terribly interested. Yet
again, we kept getting different advice depending on which nurse was
on duty. We asked to see the lactation consultant, only to be told
that we would not see her until just prior to my discharge. We were
also told to listen to see if the baby was swallowing, which he rarely
did. (and it was very quiet at that)
Two days after delivery, the hospital staff told me that the baby
had lost 11.4% of his body weight. The hospital's cuttoff was 10%,
and one nurse labeled the baby as "failure to thrive." They began
supplementing ny colostrum with formula. They did this by putting a
small catheter alongside my nipple. I also was told to pump my
colostrum so they could use that in the catheter instead of the
formula. With this method, they gave the baby 20cc's of
formula/colustrum or more at each feeding. They now told us that we
had to feed the baby every 2 hours, wheter or not the baby was
interested. Because of the "failure to thrive," we finally were given
an audience with the lactation consultant, who was the one that set up
the whole system of catheter feeding.
By the time we were discharged, the baby had gained a slight
amount of weight. We left the hospital extremely anxious, feeling as
if we were not feeding our baby correctly. Every feeding was
stressful, and my husband and I often argued since we were both
convinced that the feedings were a life or death matter... yet we
didn't feel that we really knew what to do.
The day after we got home, we had a visit from a home health
nurse who was a lactation consultant. To make a long story short, she
told us that:
- It is normal for baby's to lose weight. 11.4% is fine.
- The baby is not going to make many (if any) sucking sounds when
being fed colostrum. The baby is getting just a tiny amount of food.
- The baby will tell us when it wants to eat. Of course the baby was
not that interested in eating after a hard delivery. (The C-section
was done because the baby was under too much stress) There is no need
to wake the baby up and force food down its throat.
- The baby was latching just fine.
After this visit, things have gone great. My milk is fully in,
and we are feeding the baby when (and only when) he wants. (about
every 4 hours - and he feeds like a champ taking a ton of milk) The
nice thing is that he seems satisfied to be feeding, and satisfied
when he is done. It is such a change. He even spends some quality
awake time with us when he is done.
The visiting nurse said that teaching hospitals such as the one
where we had the baby have strict policies, and don't really think
about the child's wants.
So there is my venting. We are still a little shaken from feeling
like we could not provide for our child, and were putting our child at
risk. I'm also sure that I've left plenty out, but the good news is
that everything is going great. Thank goodness for the home health
nurse!
me. Here is our recent breastfeeding experience. Things are a bit of
a blur, so bear with me.
Our son was born at 6:22am on Tuesday, October 14. Labor was
over 26 hours, and the baby was finally born via C-section. (I was
9cm, so his head was cone shaped, etc) Within an hour or so, the
staff had me breastfeeding. The baby seemed to do fairly well. The
only issue was that his bottom lip would not always be open. It often
took a couple tries, but eventually we would get it done.
Over the next 24 hours or so, we fed the baby 5 or 6 times. Each
time the baby was fed, the staff instructed us that we had to wake the
baby up and feed it. Needless to say, the baby was not that
interested, and would need constant coaxing to suckle. The other
problem was that every nurse told me something different as far as how
and/or when I should feed. During this time, the baby was making many
bowel movements, and urinating acceptably.
After 24 hours, a nurse came in with a chart that said that I
should have fed the baby 8-12 times during the preceeding 24 hours,
and every 24 hours thereafter. This was the first time we had heard
this. We then began a much more aggressive schedule of waking the
baby up to feed him. Again, he did not seem terribly interested. Yet
again, we kept getting different advice depending on which nurse was
on duty. We asked to see the lactation consultant, only to be told
that we would not see her until just prior to my discharge. We were
also told to listen to see if the baby was swallowing, which he rarely
did. (and it was very quiet at that)
Two days after delivery, the hospital staff told me that the baby
had lost 11.4% of his body weight. The hospital's cuttoff was 10%,
and one nurse labeled the baby as "failure to thrive." They began
supplementing ny colostrum with formula. They did this by putting a
small catheter alongside my nipple. I also was told to pump my
colostrum so they could use that in the catheter instead of the
formula. With this method, they gave the baby 20cc's of
formula/colustrum or more at each feeding. They now told us that we
had to feed the baby every 2 hours, wheter or not the baby was
interested. Because of the "failure to thrive," we finally were given
an audience with the lactation consultant, who was the one that set up
the whole system of catheter feeding.
By the time we were discharged, the baby had gained a slight
amount of weight. We left the hospital extremely anxious, feeling as
if we were not feeding our baby correctly. Every feeding was
stressful, and my husband and I often argued since we were both
convinced that the feedings were a life or death matter... yet we
didn't feel that we really knew what to do.
The day after we got home, we had a visit from a home health
nurse who was a lactation consultant. To make a long story short, she
told us that:
- It is normal for baby's to lose weight. 11.4% is fine.
- The baby is not going to make many (if any) sucking sounds when
being fed colostrum. The baby is getting just a tiny amount of food.
- The baby will tell us when it wants to eat. Of course the baby was
not that interested in eating after a hard delivery. (The C-section
was done because the baby was under too much stress) There is no need
to wake the baby up and force food down its throat.
- The baby was latching just fine.
After this visit, things have gone great. My milk is fully in,
and we are feeding the baby when (and only when) he wants. (about
every 4 hours - and he feeds like a champ taking a ton of milk) The
nice thing is that he seems satisfied to be feeding, and satisfied
when he is done. It is such a change. He even spends some quality
awake time with us when he is done.
The visiting nurse said that teaching hospitals such as the one
where we had the baby have strict policies, and don't really think
about the child's wants.
So there is my venting. We are still a little shaken from feeling
like we could not provide for our child, and were putting our child at
risk. I'm also sure that I've left plenty out, but the good news is
that everything is going great. Thank goodness for the home health
nurse!