Christine says:

"epidural babies" seem to have long awake periods where they just seem to
stare and show no feeding cues.  I have heard her say many times "baby is
awake but is not in the least interested in nursing".

 

I had a mom the other day who had a difficult spinal.  She was dosed twice
with no results so had general anesthesia for her c-section (for failed
induction, of course).  The anesthesiologist couldn't figure out where the
spinal anesthesia went, gave mom morphine PCA, and transferred mom to ICU
for 12 hours for observation "just in case."  I saw mom the next day to
assist with breastfeeding.  Baby had been in Special Care for observation
due to an irregular heartbeat.  The nurses said he was a poor feeder.

His behavior was exactly as Christine describes: wide awake and staring, no
feeding cues, no rooting, absolutely no effort to latch onto the breast.
The baby was in this quiet alert state for at least an hour.  Mom opted to
supplement with a bottle and baby's behavior was the same even with a firm
nipple in his mouth and food in his mouth.  

His behavior was in direct contrast to another baby that day who was a
forceps delivery and had bruising over the temporal-mandibular joints.  This
baby actively displayed every aversive behavior known in order to avoid
eating.  The first baby showed no reaction to environmental stimuli.  It was
easy to see where that vanishing anesthesia had gone.

Linda Anderegg, RNC, IBCLC, RLC in Chicago


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