Due to Michelle's request for hospital stories, I decided to share my
daughter's recent experience. She delivered a 9lb, 8oz girl, her third
child, having successfully breastfed the previous two for over a year. She
always has a more than adequate supply, and usually feeds on one side only
about every 4 hours, an anomaly, but it works for her. Her second child
developed RAD about 2 months after weaning. The baby had a good blood sugar
count and didn't nurse well at first, but had a good feed at 4 hours. At 7
hours the nurses came in and insisted that since the baby had only fed once
since birth that they were going to take her to the nursery and gavage her
with formula. My daughter was horrified and was in the process of insisting
on another blood sugar test first, when the baby desaturated and they wisked
her to the NICU to give her oxygen. They then proceeded to gavage her with
formula, knowing that my daughter had not only said that she was bf, but
protested loudly that she didn't want her to get formula because of the RAD
history in the family. The breathing problem proved to have nothing to do
with feeding. They gave formula again later for a test that they were going
to do. They didn't even offer to have my daughter bf first. We won't know
what the outcome will truly be for many months, probably until this baby
weans, but I am betting on some problems with atopic disease, RAD, and or
asthma. I spoke with the LC in the hospital and she was also dismayed and
surprised by the incident, she said that normally they are very supportive.
I am not bashing the hospital particularly, but this baby truly needed to be
exclusively bf, because of family history, and that fact seemed to be totally
ignored. Please let parents know ahead of time, they need to be vigilant
about their feeding options being respected in the hospital at all times.
Ciao,
Merilee Reeder CLE
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