Response to babies direct breastfeeding after cesarean birth: Our mom and babies routinely nurse following the birth. It is our policy that moms and babies have the opportunity to nurse within the first hour regardless of type of birth. Often with our cesarean birth moms, this will occur in the recovery room which is in the same area as our birthing suites. Due to the responsibilities of the nurse helping mom after delivery...attaching IV fluid to pump, checking fundus, bleeding, etc., and often in addition to caring for a second patient in another room often means the LC will have to assist mom with direct breastfeeding. In most instances, someone has to remain at the bedside the entire feeding for the safety of the baby and to support and encourage mom who may be exhausted from a long labor followed by a Csection, who may be nauseated, who may be shivering, who may not be capable of adequately and safely supporting her baby and her breasts. We appreciate this opportunity as that first hour or two seems to be critical to imprinting, to stabilizing the baby's glucose, to allowing mom and baby time together, and to educate staff and community that the baby's needs are important; that they cannot be postponed regardless of the inconvenience to staff and family. Typically, a support person is present and occasionally can assist and can often remain while baby does skin to skin to allow us to leave the room. Occasionally mom or a member of the family ask that we just give a bottle for the first feeding so mom can rest. In most cases, this occurs because mom views human milk and nonhuman milk as equivalent. This gives us a chance to educate mom and most times, she will happily breastfeed her baby in RR, she just did not realize it mattered. Immediately following a CS is not the most optimal learning moment; but, sometimes its the only moment we have. Sometimes mom's condition does not allow for breastfeeding at that time and as most of our babies eventually go to a triage nursery (I know! I know!), this delays the first feeding until mom is taken to a postpartum room which is not optimal for all the reasons associated with delaying a newborn's feeding. If the baby is hypoglycemic, he can be returned to the RR for nursing if mom's is willing and able. Always, Always, I take my cues from mom. She is the one who ultimately determines her ability to nurse at that time. "A person's a person no matter how small" - Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who... Georgia Morrow *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html