It was asked of us to share the triumphs instead of only the train wrecks
and frustrations.
Good stories for the week:
I was working with a mom and baby and was so happy to see everything we know
can work...work so well. She had a cesarean birth due to dangerously high
blood pressure. Baby was given to her rather quickly, the hospital LCs both
gave the same information each time one was with her, her baby latched a
couple of times in the hospital, but not for long. Mom has inverted nipples. They
had her pump a few minutes to pull them out, she was told to keep the baby
skin to skin, taught how to cup feed, and to offer the breast as often as she
could. Now, her milk was still not fully established on day 4 even with
pumping every 2 hrs. (I wish I could figure out why some moms with the cesarean
have full supply day 3 and some are struggling as the first week passes.)
So, for four days, mom is skin to skin, pumping, offering the breast, and
supplementing as needed and being patient. When I saw them on day 5, she was in
bed with her baby sprawled out happily on her breasts. The pumping had pulled
her nipples out a bit. Her breasts were also feeling hard and full. No
edema either because the cesarean was scheduled, so not those 14 hrs of pit
induction first..
We put him in the cross cradle, and I could easily help him latch that way
by just supporting him and her breast and being patient. Poor Dad kept trying
to shove his little head in and I had to keep gently moving his hand away.
Haha. When allowed to give a little fuss first, he got on himself very easily.
Since mom's upper arm strength is still pretty zapped, I also wanted to her
to be able to use the football hold until she was a bit stronger and could
hold him in place better. So, we did that, and he was so funny....he just
cried and cried...but not the feed me I am so starving and must eat cry...More
like a "I have something to tell you" cry. We did not pull him in, we started
him already close enough, we did not do anything more than stroke the breast
down, not with the nipple, but with the areola. As he would open mom would
let the breast fall into his mouth. No shaping either. He would make a
little cry sound and then latch perfectly stare up at her and gulp away. I have
heard a lot of babies cry that frantic cry that you have to calm them down
or they just cannot organize enough to think about eating, but this was not
that cry. Mom just listened and told him she could hear him, she was right
there, and he could latch when he was ready. And then he did. I was there a
few hours so was able to see him do it more than once. I had to explain to
Daddy that there was no need to touch his head because he really did not want
help, he wanted to do this on his own...helping him makes him mad. Haha.
And, just two days ago a baby who had not been to breast in 4 weeks happily
latched and looked up at momma all excited about the new way to eat. This
thanks to the ideas of lots of tummy time to help the tongue get forward more.
Her nipples are very flat and even 4 weeks of non stop pumping has not
changed them much. But, he managed to figure it out and mom just sat there
looking at him and cried, but the tears were happy tears.
And then just to top off my good experiences, I got to watch a baby crawl up
a mother's body to seek and find the breast and self attach without sending
her into screams of pain. Very tongue tied baby who was so frantic and could
not even think of settling at her breast. Cried so much. And, what he
really needed and wanted was skin to skin time. He had spent some time in NICU
and he needed to be held. Mom and Dad were just not prepared for the reality
that babies do not eat and go to sleep and lay in the cradle for hours and
then eat again. When I explained skin to skin and why and they still did not
get it. But, when that little baby crawled up his momma, staring at her face
and then searched and self attached and looked up at her while he nursed with
his whole body completely relaxed.....they were believers in the importance
of touch. Next morning a trip to the pediatrician gave them an appointment
with an ENT for a tongue clipping. Mom also learned from her mother that she
was tongue tied...and had speech problems so it was clipped when she was a
toddler. Go figure.
These babies remind me that babies are born to breastfeed. It's what they
want to do. Sometimes they need a bit of help, but they want to breastfeed.
Best,
Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLC
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