Survey for BF moms

[luvtoshop]

Hello.

I wish that someone would have told me that due to my C-sect my milk would be delayed so much that I would need to supplement my 8lb, 5 oz baby. I was so determined to BF that I didn't want to supplement. I ended up having to supplement after my baby got jaundice and was severely dehydrated. My baby was born on a Friday morning and my milk didn't come in until Tuesday. We started supplementing on Monday after a trip to the ped. My baby never had nipple confusion and as soon as my milk came in I BF 100%.

I also had the luxury of a LC at my fingertips. There is a local service that has LC on call. They return you page within 30 min. It was fabulous! I also attended a weekly Lactation Support Group for the first 12 weeks. Support, support, support is what every mother who attempts bfing needs.

Good luck!

[lizajane]

i am very opinionated, so if my ped tried to get me to supplement, i would have left that ped. but i had a friend who were told to supplement la de da like it was no big deal. she quit breastfeeding at 8 days. she was also told to feed her baby for 15 minutes per side and then offer formula. ACK!!! my son ate for 45 minutes per side and my milk still didn't come in for 5 days.

so my comments:

everyone loves a compliment.

everyone hates a criticism.

everyone needs information about where to get help.

i think it would be GREAT if peds offered some phone numbers for lactation consultants, along with a little info about what they do and how they can help. not only with how to latch on, but with reassurance that you WILL get it and you CAN make it work and you DO have enough milk and it is OK if you feel overwhelmed and sad and like you need a break.

and i just WISH WISH WISH that peds would STOP STOP STOP telling moms to supplement like it is just the best idea ever for anyone. (i do recognize that it is the best idea for many moms/babies who really need it.)

[stillplayswithbarbies]

The first night after Jake was born, the nurses brought him to me to feed him, and told me to ring for them when he was done. (rooming in wasn't available back then) I was feeding him, as best I could since I didn't really know what I was doing and wasn't even sure he was eating, and I feel asleep with him in my arms. Sometime later, the nurse came back in to check on us, and said to me:

"What a good momma you are, you're doing a great job feeding him"

I still remember that statement today. I am an awesome breastfeeder. I'm good at it. And that one statement started it all. It validated my choice and gave me the confidence to stick with it no matter what happened.

So, my advice is to compliment the mothers. Build up their confidence by telling them they are doing a good job, and don't undermine their confidence by telling them you'll have to supplement, or saying things like "if your milk doesn't come in soon". Women should feel empowered at a time like this, especially by other women.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[hellosmiletoday]

I cannot say anything from experience, other than I plan on BF for my baby coming in May because I have researched the benefits. Yet, as with the pregnancy books I have read, I think you can go a little overboard...my pregnancy books stressed diet and nutrition to the point that I felt awful when I had morning sickness and could not ingest any vegetables. My mom did not BF me b/c back then she was told that formula was better, and I turned out just fine. I think as important it is to encourage BF and state the facts, we need to keep in mind that not everyone can do it for medical reasons.

[wagner36]

I completely agree with Karen. My milk came in very early - while I was still in the hospital, and I still smile everytime I remember the nurse saying to me "you're a breastfeeding natural!" I barely remember anything else about the hospital stay, but I will remember that forever!

If your hospital has a "What-to-bring" list, I would also recommend putting a Boppy or another nursing pillow on there, referencing that they are very helpful for moms who plan to breastfeed.

A friend had recommended that I bring one, but in our haste to leave for the hospital with what seemed like too much stuff, we left it behind. I was SO HAPPY when DH ran home to get it the next day - trying to get the right positioning with those crappy hospital pillows was a nightmare!

[tamipayne]

My pediatrician was on vacation when I gave birth, and I saw an on-call pediatrician. He didn't really give me any information on BF, just asked me if I was BF. Even the nurses on staff were not very helpful. They would just drop Delia off and expected me to know what to do. When I asked for help, they told me to keep trying and gave me a nipple shield (which I did not know was not a good thing to use at the time). It was very frustrating, once I got home, all of my information on BF came from a video I saw in childbirth class and some books and articles. Living in a small town, there are no lactation consultants and the nearest LLL group is 40 minutes away. The only help I've gotten with BF was from LLL by calling a leader.

I definitely think more education on BF before leaving the hospital would be helpful. I can see why people would easily give up and go to formula w/o the right information. Delia latched on wrong for the first few days and this caused a lot of pain. She's now got a better latch, but I'm still recovering from the mis-latch.

It would be great if either the ped or RN would sit with you and watch you BF to tell you what you're doing right/wrong and give tips on how to make it better. Also some resources to call if you have questions once you leave the hospital.

[babymama]

Had my son in a pro-breast feeding, pro-mother/baby hospital. One important topic that I wish *someone* had discussed with me (I saw 3 lactation consultants, my pediatrician, a neonatal specialist, my ob/gyn, and dozens of nurses all while still in the hospital) is the symptoms of breast infestion. My left breast got infected soon after I got home from the hospital. The pain felt like being stabbed by a sharp knife everytime my son BF on that side - worse pain than childbirth (and I had a medication-free birth). This further delayed our getting BF established. I had no idea what the pain was, and thank god I talked to a friend about it who experienced the same thing. She made me promise to call my ob/gyn the next morning. I was able to treat it right away. IMO, it's VERY important to educate new moms about potential infection.

I think one contributing factor to my infection was that my breasts weren't being drained because my son had to spend 3 days in the NICU because of a high bilirubin level (caused by bloodtype incompatibility) - nurses fed him formula and encouraged me to pump. I feel like I pumped and pumped and pumped to no avail (to this day I'm not sure if I was even using the pump right). One lactation consultant told me the phalanges on the pump were too small for my breasts, so she got me another (bigger) set. Then another LC came and told me those phalanges were too big. I tried to get my son to latch (once he was able to come out from under the lights and I could hold him and feed him again), but he was too used to the quick gratification of the bottle by then. I absolutely hated that drip feeder (can't think of the name) with the tiny tube that gets taped to the breast and drips formula in the baby's mouth while he BFs. The LCs seemed to be in a big rush all the time and they seemed to be forcing my son to eat instead of teaching me techniques. It was a very stressful time. Overall, I don't remember anyone working to build up my confidence with BFing. I think it's SO important to do that with new moms - ideally, the mom would see one BFing mentor over a couple of days (seems like I saw a new person everytime - sometimes that person would contradict what the previous person said). So please work on building CONFIDENCE with new moms.

We finally established BFing at about 2 1/2 months (yay!) and I exclusively BF for the following month before I had to return to work.
Now I'm BFing while at home and baby drinks formula and/or EBM during the day.

During the hospital follow up visits in the first 10 weeks, my son's ped said "it's no big deal that he's not breast feeding. the baby's gaining weight and that's all that matters." I know she was just trying to be nice and comfort me during my obvious disappointment that I couldn't get the hang of BFing, but I found her comments to be discouraging.

[missmelis01]

I didn't get any advice from the hospital pediatrician (my ped didn't have hospital rights), but I got great advice from my OB. He said BF was the best thing I could do, but to be prepared because it could also be one of the hardest things to do.

When I did meet with my pediatrician, my son was very jaundice and was not gaining weight adequately. She didn't tell me I had to supplement with formula, and instead suggested I pump and give my son a bottle of breastmilk. That was very comforting to know she supported my decision to BF even when it could have been just as easy to tell me to give my son formula.

All the other advice I got for BF was from a BF support group the hospital where I delivered hosts every week. It was the support group and the wonderful contacts I made in the group that helped be get through the first 6-7 weeks, which I thought were by far the hardest. The group was so wonderful and I feel so strongly about the group, I think every hospital should have one!

Cudos to you in your efforts to promote BF.
-Melissa

[Puddy73]

DD's ped is great and has been very supportive of breastfeeding from the beginning. However, the nursing staff was another story. I was having problems getting DD to nurse for more than 10 minutes at a time because she was slightly jaundiced and a little sleepy. Rather than giving me any suggestions or encouragement, the night nurse insisted that we give DD formula. When I protested, she brought a pump into my room and told me to pump while DH fed DD a bottle. She didn't offer any help with the pump or explain why DD needed formula. I was in tears and I wasn't able to pump anything. The nurse took that as a sign that I would not be able to breastfeed and told me to continue giving DD formula instead. Luckily, the next morning I had a visit from the LC, who was very helpful and reassuring. I had read several books about breastfeeding and was very determined to continue, but I can see how even one bad nurse could cause someone to give up.

Best of luck with your conference - hope it goes well!

Jennifer
Mommy to Annabelle Mae 9/8/03

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

[psophia17]

As a PP was, I was also hellbent on BF. But it was a big struggle, and I wasn't prepared for that.

If I hadn't been as hellbent on BF, then I think a lot of the info I was given in the hospital would've caused me to FF. The nurses all had different ideas on how to get DS to latch, and in the 4 days I dealt with them (I had a c-section), only one really helped. Some of them were horrible. I got yelled at at 2am by one old harpy because DS hadn't BF long enough (10 min per side) and that I should be able to do 1/2 an hour per side by that point. I was so proud that for the first time I hadn't had someone in there helping to get DS latched on right. My roommate, who was FF, came over to get me to stop crying. As far as I know, she went down to the nurse's station and filed a complaint about the treatment I got.

The ped we chose was great - he had a 3 month old and his wife was having real problems with BF, so he was incredibly supportive of it, and even asked me for tips when things started to go well. I told him about the nurses in the hospital, and that really made him mad. It was nice to know he was 100% on our side, you know?

About BF info from the ped - the only thing I would've liked was more info on jaundice. DS was jaundiced, and we were told that it was not something to worry about unless the yellow went below the bellybutton. It did, a month later, but by then we had moved and had a new doctor. He told us to go to the ER to get DS's bili checked, and they wouldn't let me BF or FF for 9 hours. That was when we found our new, BF-supportive ped, who let the ER drs. have it for subjecting a new mother and an infant to that torture.

Make sure you have your doc's tell patients that BF is best and why, that it's not easy at the beginning but worth it, and that ____ are the things to look for because they will signal a problem.

-Petra

DS - Nathan, 12/29/03