My breast feeding Rant...

[Squiglet]

Ok I just have to get this off my chest... its really getting me down.. I spend half my time in tears atm (although DH has shed a few too because of what's been happening) so although I know its hormonal... its also been an emotional rollacoaster ride too.

Little miss started getting jaundiced the day after she was born.. I told the doctors in the evening, but they just said to put her by the window the next day... but the next day her little eyes had gone yellow too... and they tested her and we were told she needed photo therapy by the pediatrician. About half hour later they gyno comes in.. and hands me some tablets, I ask her what it is, she said they are to dry up your milk because your baby has to go to SCBU... So I told her to stick em... and got DH to go complain. It turns out that the SCBU unit only has 6 feeding times during the day, none at night, where the mothers can feed the babies. (9am, 12pm, 3, 6, 9, and 12am). During the night the babies get fed on formula as breast milk is too much of an infection risk.

We told them I was breast feeding, and you would have thought that they could have let me stay in one more night, but nooooo yesterday at 3pm they kick me out because I was refusing treatment to have my milk dried up... leaving the baby there... but apparently I'm supposed to be on bed rest for 48hours ... So literally I gave birth on the Wednesday, and I'm having to drive back and forth from the hospital on the Friday/Saturday in order to feed the baby...

I only get 30 minutes to feed the baby... In that time, I have to feed from both breasts as "apparently" the baby gets more milk, even though I've tried to explain fore and hind milk to them, and I then have to FORCE feed little miss 30mls of formula until she is sick... I absolutely hate it, it goes against my every instinct.. Last night she wouldn't even take my breast which made me feel 1000x worse, although she wasn't overly interested in the bottle either, she took that because it literally just pours into her mouth... Every time I've been Little miss has been sound asleep and I've had to be rough with her to wake her up to feed... so have the nurses.. she's not been hungry.. Now I am afraid that she will get into this topping up habit... and I really jsut want to breast feed her..

If she has to stay in the hospital for longer than a week I'll have to quit breastfeeding, because in all honesty this is just not practical I just can't believe they have this whole "breast is best" senario here, yet breast feeding is sooo misunderstood even by the medical community.

One of the babies in the scbu was born at 33 weeks, his mother was advised to give him formula because .... get this.. it was BETTER for him as he would put on more weight with it... I mean COME ON!!!! These are supposedly doctors and nurses... Its just really annoyed me... so me and DH have decided to discharge little miss tonight as her levels today are nearly normal and arn't dangerous, and shes out of photo threapy... I've had enough and I just don't trust the doctors if this is their "medical" advice.

There rant done... If anyones got any advice as to reintroducing breast milk to a baby I would really appreciate it... I don't know what she's going to be like yet, but I can just feel it in my bones that this whole thing has messed up the breast feeding badly...

 

[xrachx]

...i just wanted to give you a hug.xx

 

[lisa&alex]

1st of all.. i think your doing the right thing..

dont have any formula in the house..and keep at breastfeeding.. shes only a few days old.. so hopefully she will not have lost the suck that they need for breastfeeding.. i highly doubt that she has.. and if your determined im sure you will be able to do it.. you should be so proud of yourself squig for not having a nervous breakdown.. just make sure you rest the next few days.. make henrik do everysingle thing and only get up to wee lol. you need to take some time to bond with serena..the jaundis i bet will clear up.. especially if you put her in sunlight.. ed still has jaundis and hes almost 4 weeks old..good luck hun.. remember im ehre if u want to talk xxx

 

[valentine]

Squiglet,

I have no advice, other than to say - you go girl! You know the best for your baby and won't be bullied. I can't believe how they've treated you and would encourage you to get in touch with any local breastfeeding advisors as soon as possible or to call the Spanish equivalent of La Leche League or the NCT breastfeeding info line as a matter of urgency, for advice on relactation.

Good luck lovely and congrats again!

Valentine Xxx

 

[Redshoes]

I feel so sad having read that Squiglet
I am so sorry what they put you through, and I cannot believe how strong you are being, very well done, I do hope you are all a happy little family together and well so very soon

Isaac was incubated for extremely high jaundice, they didn't offer me milk drying up pills they made me try and express, drip fed him, and I just felt sh!t, so I can empathize to a point, but I was by his side as the incubator was brought to my bedside. It did lead to partially breastfeeding Isaac too, I do hope you get to feed LO as you wish, regardless of what's happening, very very best wishes

 

[Minxy]

I feel your pain. Jaundice was the reason our breastfeeding failed so early on. It was impressed upon me how milk was needed to 'flush' the jaundice through and although I persevered my milk hadn't yet come in by day 4.

After being told by a midwife that I was starving Stanley, I asked for a bottle of milk, and was patted on the hand and called a 'good girl'

You're a second time mum and intelligent woman. We're all vulnerable after birth but stick to your guns if breastfeeding is something you really want to do. I wish you luck xxxx

 

[*saulino*]

Hi

Alli can say is WOW i would make a big complaint even go as far as going to the news paper I was so upset when i read this i went and told Bernie he couldnt believe what they have done either .
I am so sorry you were put through this but you know whats best for your baby and dont let this discourage you hun stick to it and within a few days im sure she will get into the swing of it
Good luck hun were here if you need help
Katrina

 

[Hells]

You poor things, this stress is the last thing you need with a new baby. You can do this, you can still breastfeed exclusively with a bit more time. My son was in the scbu for a week and was given only bottles (although this was ebm). I was really upset because I wanted to feed him myself. He came home on bottles of ebm, but I put him to the breast first. He used to scream and scratch and it would take 45 minutes to get him to latch on. Then he would pull off (rather painfully) after two sucks.

It was very frustrating and I felt like a complete failure as I had to top him up every feed (and express too). In the end I used a teat from his bottle as a kind of nipple shield. This helped him get used to the feel of me, then I'd top him up with some ebm. After a few days I saw my mw, who showed me a good way to latch him on in the rugby ball postion. After that I just persevered without the teat. He used to fuss and keep pulling off for 5-30 minutes but he would settle down and feed properly in the end. It took another good week for us both to get good at feeding, but by three weeks old he was comfortable and has really enjoyed every feed since. He's nearly four months now and is still exclusively bf. It was worth all the trouble.

It sounds like you have a lot of support from you OH, which is half the battle when both you and the baby are struggling. You will be able to breastfeed if you can persevere with it. I found it was well worth the effort. Good luck.

James was also jaundiced, and it didn't fully clear up till he was about ten weeks old. We bf the whole time and he has gained weight well and had no other problems.

 

[newmum]

.

 

[trixipaws]

aww squig that sounds terrible!

sorry to hear this i hope u can manage to keep up the BF and hope little miss is better soon

 

[mamichuli]

Aww Squig, I am so sorry to hear this and FURIOUS for you Sounds like your hospital was the absolute pits
I got lucky with the hospital where Ani was born - they were really pro breastfeeding; one nurse actually told me that the staff were really happy when Moms wanted to b/f - less work for them!

I hope everything is OK now and that Lil Miss is taking well to the breast - feel free to contact me if you want a natter.



Lisa

 

[Squiglet]

Thank you everyone... things have been going really well... apparently formula upsets her little tummy... so we really can't use it... She had a rough few days but last night she slept all the way through, only to feed twice, but hasn't had formula in 24 hours. we are co sleeping atm... just because shes become really clingy since we left the hospital... and its almost like she can sense when we aren´t there...but it will come

thanks again...