Arggh!  What a day!  I started off my shift with report as usual
and was told that one of the patients had wanted to BF, but the
baby "would not eat."  The night nurse (gotta luv 'em!-not) told
the mom that she would go ahead and feed the baby ABM during the
night so she could get a break and rest and not have to worry
about the baby not eating.  Well the baby did not like bottle
feeding either.  The baby is orally defensive.  When anything is
brought near her mouth, she clenches her jaws and will not root or
open her mouth for ANYTHING!!!   The baby also appears to have a
mucous plug and spits up alot.  After I spent over 30 minutes
allaying the mother's fears about starvation, dehydration, and
preference to bottle, she agreed to "try again."  She seemed
honestly interested in continuing BF, but too many people had told
her too many things.  She was constantly worried about her baby
"starving."  We tried every 2 hours to get the baby to nurse.  She
was VERY difficult to arouse, and at the third feeding (with alot
of coaxing and training) the baby did root and attempt to latch,
but she would not hold the breast in her mouth.  I left her in
hands of a not-so-gung-ho-breastfeeding advocate (I felt so
guilty!!)  I called back to the floor later this evening and the
nurse said that the baby was not keeping down her formula and
would not suck her bottle!!!  I felt like my entire shift was
worthless. The baby had not passed any meconium at 26 hours of age
and ended up being placed NPO for studies as she was spitting
everything up as well.  It is so frustrating!!!!  I'm hoping
tommorrow I can get the mom to pump, and hopefully after the
crisis the baby will BF.  Any suggestions or ideas???

Frustrated,
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Jeffrey S. Fouche, RN, BSN
Breastfeeding Educator
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Web Page:  http://members.gnn.com/jsfouche/breastfeeding.html
Higher intelligence begins with breastfeeding!
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