As a matter of personal experience I know not all moms are physically able
to nurse directly on the operating table during a c-section. I have had two
unplanned c-sections and one planned one. I am barely 5 feet tall and am
very short waisted. The sterile drape hits me mid breast. There is simply
NO PLACE to put the baby during the closing. There is no room on my small
body to put the child and not compromise the sterile field. I have heard
the same complaint from other short mamas.

My last baby (born 10/99) nursed right away in recovery, which, in our
experience was the nearest to birth that we could manage it.

With my first two sections I was so fatigued and shaking so hard after 50
some odd hours of labor, hours of pushing and then the sections that I did
not have the physical strength to hold my babies. My husband tried to put
the second child to my breast but the shaking was so intense that nursing
was impossible for at least an hour.

My 3rd child was a planned section and I was in much better shape and
nursed as soon as we got into recovery.

When I am couseling c-section moms I am aware that my experience may have
been quite different than mine and many of the taller moms ARE able to
nurse on the table, if they are stable physically.

Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, LLLL, AAPL
Private Practice

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