Hello all,
Today I was faced with a scenerio that I am not faced with too often, thank
goodness, but always stumps me.  A primip delivered a baby with multiple
anomalies including a life threatening heart defect.  They want to do open
heart surgery but the baby is not stable enough and they do not give them much
hope of the baby surviving even with the surgery.  Her plan was to breastfeed
the baby.  This was totally unexpected.  Today the nurses would not let me go
in to talk with her because she was so upset about the "bad news".  I
explained to the nurse that she may want to express milk even though the
prognosis looks grim as it will be something only she can do for the baby even
if the baby is never able to receive it.  Of course, they look at me like I am
crazy and that would only make her feel worse if she has a milk supply and no
baby.  I would like the mom to make the decision but yet she has more
decisions to make than she needs at the present.  I am not sure what is the
right thing to do.  What do you think?  I am a very empathetic and perceptive
person and I think if I could have just talked with her, I would know what to
encourage her to do.  I also know that if left to the nurses, breastfeeding in
this case will not be encouraged.  Looking forward to your replies!   TIA
Denise