Dear Lactnetters
I read with too much familiarity Donnas letter about the ABM blues.I
know the frustration when people just don't get the point. As an
independant midwife I had a client yesterday who was a gestational
diabetic. The baby was admitted to the neonatal unit after birth for
blood sugars to be done. I made sure that the baby had been to the
breast before I went home and the blood sugar was OK then went home
leaving the baby in the care of another midwife. I came back in the
morning to find that the baby had had two formula feeds in the night
without going to the mother for 9 hours!The blood sugar had been low so
the NNU nurse had given formula without even offering the breast. And
thats not all the baby was then kept apart from his mother for another 8
hours.Now obviously he's a bit jaundiced and sleepy. Consequently she
has now gone home 2 days after her c/section as she doesn't want to be
there any longer.We have both written letters of complaint but in the
meantime I fume with rage as you do Donna.