Rachel wrote: <<maybe it's more
effective to let them know how they will need to accommodate the baby's
reduced ability to get to the breast if they want breastfeeding to go as
smoothly as possible after their epidural. . . . This should not be
presented as though it were piles of 'extra' work, but
just the normal scheme of things.>>

I think this is a great idea -- just let pregnant women know right off the
bat that if they're planning on an epidural, they'll also need to plan for
a sleepy baby/disorganized suck.

When my babies were brand-new newborns, I couldn't believe how many people
would say in amazement, "She's so alert!" I thought, "Do they think babies
are born with their eyes shut, like kittens?" And then I went to work at a
hospital whose epidurals produced extremely sleepy babies.

I've never seen such sleepy babies! And this was after years of working as
a nursery nurse at three other hospitals that also had high epidural
rates. But in those hospitals, most of the epidurals' side effects were on
the mother side -- the moms looked wiped out, couldn't walk for a very
long time, couldn't pee. Yet the babies were alert and would nurse. At
this other hospital, the moms looked great after delivery and were up and
around quickly, but their babies went to sleep after a few hours and
didn't wake up for at least a few days. (Well, you know what I mean!) Very
frustrating, especially because other hospital staff led the parents to
believe that this situation was the norm.

So I've wondered what was different about those epidurals. What are the
differences that the rest of you have seen with regard to various epidural
medications? And does a hospital's anesthesiology group have a medication
protocol that they all follow, or does each anesthesiologist follow his or
her individual preference? Have any of you ever put forth a research-based
request to your hospital's anesthesiology department to use certain
medications over others?

Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC
Germany

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