Hi everyone,

We are trying to get our hospital to be as breastfeeding friendly as 
possible. One on the steps we want to take is in the management of 
c-sections. Mothers who have c-sections are routinely taken to a surgery 
recovery room-ICU were there are surgical patients from all over the 
hospital. There is no possibility right now of creating a separate space 
for these moms. Their babies go to the nursery for six to ten hours, 
which is the usual time it takes for the anesthesyologists to consider 
the mom can go to a room.
What we are mulling over is how to get moms and babies to be together 
during these critical hours. The main reasosn why the ICU personnel say 
no are:
- we are not trained in lactation or in baby care
- we are not enough personnel to attend to babies
- there is probably a high risk of infection for these babies, as an 
adult post-surgery ICU is not an ideal place for them, germ-wise.

To face these barriers, we are proposing:
- the labor and delivery nurses and the midwives will go and check on 
the mom-baby at least once during the stay at the ICU.
- the father (or another family member or support person) can be with 
mom and baby during the ICU stay to hold baby if necessary, to help mom 
put him on the breast if she can´t move, etc.
- I have yet to find evidence for or against this third argument. Do any 
of you out there know if there is indeed a higher risk for a baby in 
these conditions? If the baby is skin to skin with his mother, is there 
really a high (or any) risk of him getting infections in an adult ICU 
vs. getting them in a nursery while waiting for mom?

I would dearly love to hear how you handle c-section moms and their babies.

Thanks,
Kika

-- 
Dra. Carmela Baeza, IBCLC
Lactancia Materna
Centro de Atención a la Familia "Raíces"
C/Bravo Murillo 221, 2ºA
28020 Madrid, Spain
Tel 91 571 1282
www.centroraices.com

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