Nursing Your Kids

After delivery my very messy baby was given to me. His eyes wide open, I held him close against my chest. My instincts were to see if he wanted to nurse, but I didn’t want to stop looking at his face. I also knew that I needed a few stitches and that they’d want to clean and wrap him up. After a few minutes they took him to the other side of the room. My doctor attended to me while they weighed and cleaned the baby. Bob took pictures.

It felt like forever before they gave him back, but it was only about five minutes. I started to unsnap my gown but Bob stopped me to take a few pictures first. Then it was show time. He latched on right away and knew just what to do. His little jaw started working and I felt a familiar pull. But just as quickly as he started he stopped. I tried to encourage him to nurse more over the next 45 minutes but he didn’t seem all that interested.

He was alert and looking around the room. He looked at me and he looked at Bob. We admired him back. Our baby boy looked nothing like Sam did at birth. He was a full pound heavier with darker skin, darker eyes and a head of thick, black hair. While Sam was happy to latch on and nurse for close to an hour after his birth, Sam’s little brother was happy just to look. He didn’t cry and he didn’t fuss, he just took everything in.

We stayed in the delivery room with him for more than an hour before they took him to the nursery for assessments and took me to my room in the maternity ward. Bob got us food and I had a midnight snack of chicken fingers and French fries while my baby had his first bath. Bob went home for the night. Not too long after a nurse brought me my son and it was time to nurse him again.

Again he latched well but didn’t really want to breastfeed. He was too tired. I stripped off his swaddle, removed his shirt and tickled his feet to wake him up to nurse. He was not happy about being so rudely awakened, but he did latch again and nurse for about five minutes. The nurse took him back to the nursery to warm him up and I was able to sleep for an hour before they brought him back.

When he returned for the night he finally latched on and nursed for about forty-five minutes before falling asleep, completely exhausted. He slept in my arms the rest of the night, completely oblivious to the nurses coming in and out, checking my blood pressure and temperature and patting my uterus. He was one tired baby boy.

I delivered at a hospital that was as breastfeeding friendly as they come. Before his birth Bob and I took a breastfeeding class that was a great resource for both of us. After Sam’s birth he latched on and nursed so well that the nurses let him keep nursing, rather than whisking him away for his bath, eye drops and whatever else it is they do in the nursery. I chose to sleep alone rather than rooming with Sam because I knew it might be the last chance I had for sleep. They brought him to me every two hours to nurse then took him back to the nursery so I could get a little bit of rest in between. The same lactation consultant from the class came to see me the next morning and helped us with some latch problems. The next day, still having some trouble with latch, a nurse brought in a different lactation consultant who recommended saline solution to help ease my pain. Later in the afternoon she dropped off a huge bottle and little dixie cups. Throughout my hospital stay the nurses were supportive, kind and generous and answered questions

I know that not all hospitals or lactation consultants are so easy to work with. I’ve known women whose nurses insist that a baby who cries needs formula because the milk isn’t coming quickly enough. I know women who’ve had nurses who give bad information about proper latching techniques. There are also lactation consultants who don’t listen to mothers, who insist that their way is the only way. It’s no wonder that many women who try to nurse give up before the recommended six months.

A new study in Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care recommends five hospital breastfeeding-friendly practices that can increase long-term breastfeeding success.

-Initiating breastfeeding within 1 hour of delivery

-Keeping infants in the mother’s hospital room

-Feeding infants only breast milk in the hospital; no supplementation of water or formula

-Prohibiting pacifier use in the hospital

-Providing a telephone number to call for breastfeeding help after hospital discharge

“These practices are important because a high percentage of mothers initiate breastfeeding, but a large percentage discontinues it within the first month or two after birth,” says Erin Murray, lead author of the study, “and the main reasons for stopping are related to preventable or resolvable difficulties with breastfeeding.”

I’m not sure if agree about rooming in. I chose to room separately, nursed every two hours and I don’t regret the time apart, especially since I was exhausted after a 21 hour labor. And pacifier use is definitely up to the baby. I think it’s best to wait until after latch has been established to start with a pacifier, and my son never really took to one anyway, but I don’t think it’s a make or break item. I do think that prohibiting formula and water feeding during the hospital stay* when a newborn is closely monitored is key, especially bottle feeding which can interfere with latch. Sam lost more than ten percent of his birth weight in two days so we supplemented with formula until my milk came in three or four days later, but we supplemented with a dropper after each nursing session, so nipple confusion was never an issue.

But for continued breastfeeding success, it’s imperative that hospitals provide support after the mother leaves the hospital. My hospital offered a lactation support group once a week that I attended several times in the first two months of Sam’s life. Without that support I probably would have been very discouraged and possibly given up.

Read the press release about the study here.

* Of course I don’t believe that women who truly don’t want to nurse should be forced to. Formula should be available to mothers who don’t wish to breastfeed, but it should be the exception, not the rule.

breastfeeding, hospital practices, breastfeeding success