Virginia asked "Is there *any* reason for a full term baby in the NICU
to not be allowed to breastfeed at all?"
Yes there are some reasons however not all of them hold water. Some reasons
could be: tachypnea (breathing too fast), apnea (stopping breathing maybe
with feeds), needing to closely control fluid intake. These are just some
reasons however these do not preclude breastfeeding and esp. not if baby is
bottlefeeding. Some folks still think that bf is "harder" than bottlefeeding
altho this is not so. Some folks feel they cannot trust the mom to feed the
baby he might die or something (sarcasm) and so they must "do" the feeding
under controlled circumstances. Some folks feel that they must control amt
of fluid baby is getting and can't do that if bf (not so - they can do
weights). So yes there are reasons but often do to
misinformation/misunderstanding of lactation.
What i would suggest is for the family to "rock the boat" gently by asking
for a family/staff meeting. State what theier goals are (to bf) and then ask
how to accomplish this and why it's not happening . until they know what the
reasons are they can't bring in evidence to support their postiion and
neither can the LC go to bat for them. remmerber the staff and docs almost
always have babies best interests at heart even if they are not up to date
on bf - yet.
Not trying to knock nicus, used to be an nicu nurse for 11yrs, but i happen
to work in the real world and know all too well the barriers. good luck.

Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN
New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA


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