Hi Mary! If the mom can find watermelon, have her eat plenty of it! It's a
natural diuretic and will help facilitate removing of her excess bodily fluids
on board. Her body took extra fluids on board during the labor and delivery
process in terms of the saline infusion used to minimize the mec, and I'm sure
they kept the IV fluids wide-open during the "crisis" surrounding her birth,
which loaded her up and her body is indeed showing signs of stress now as it
tries to compensate and recover from this fluid overload state. Keep in touch
with her and offer her support, as I know you will do! Once the pathologic
engorgement is resolved, related to the fluid assault on her body, she may have
a low milk volume until her body recovers from the insult. Thus, she'll need
lots of reassurance as you and she await her slow, gradual increase in milk
volume. I'd continue the pumping regime with a hospital-grade electric
breastpump as you've stated, and reassure her when she indeed doesn't get a lot of
milk expressed.
It's so sad when the moms state that the staff rammed the baby onto the
breast. I hear that alot, too. Then we have oral aversion related to the
suctioning and to the forced feedings on top of the suctioning, and it's not easy to
get these babies to come to the breast relaxed. Sometimes I see babies with
whom a bottle nipple was used on the mother's breast to attempt to latch, and
these babies are the worse ones to encourage back onto the breast as a safe zone
again. My worst case was a baby with whom I worked for 8 weeks to finally
return to the breast. She's now 1 years old and her mom keeps in touch with me.
She called to ask how to feed her daughter when she has to go to a wedding
on Feb. 14th! Ha! The baby never went back to the bottle once she came back
to the breast! Mom's worried as to how to get her to bed at night with the care
provider when she's at the wedding. A problem that's great, eh? Of course,
we discussed ways to handle the situation.
Good-luck supporting this traumatized family! Keep us posted!
Sincerely,
Carol Chamblin, RN, MS, IBCLC
Breast 'N Baby Lactation Services, Inc.
St. Charles, IL
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