Dear Colleagues:
    Today, I made a big mistake, and am sharing  it for us all to learn from, 
and trying to make myself feel better.
    I have been feeling pretty good about breastfeeding  lately; I've been 
getting more skilled. I've been working at it, in many forms,  for nearly 30 
years.
    The universe, as usual, "slapped me upside the  head" because I was 
becoming overly confident.
    Today I totally freaked out a baby and a mother.  The baby is an 
iatrogenically premature infant, the mother was ripped off labor.  (Her family "all 
have cesareans" and her doctor said her baby hadn't dropped  yet, that she 
looked like she was 36 weeks at 39. So she surrendered to be  cut.)
    Mother tells me: "Baby is SO sensitive. No noise,  no light, no 
distraction during breastfeeding. Has to have blanket a certain  way. Likes this 
particular chair", which is a terrific nest! These are all  excellent observations.
    I say great, and am already to  help her with  her sore nipples with 
abraded tips. She's been pushing the breast away from  baby's nose and using a 
pacifier to delay feeds because of soreness and damage.  Day #4.
    I promptly disregard all that she has told me about  her baby. I totally 
ignore what she has said. I talk. I hover. I touch. I move.  I rush them 
energetically. Baby totally freaks.
    Fortunately, I realize it and back off. Pull the  drapes closed to make 
room dim. Support use of pacifier to calm baby,  as a bait and switch back to 
breast. Apologize and explain to the anxious  grandmother.
    I call them after I get home. Mother did settle  baby. Took suggestion, 
pumped a little, and fed to baby on a spoon. She liked  the rolled towel used 
to support the heavy breast. (Whew! I did  help some....). Mother also thinking 
about pumping and bottle feeding. I  explain: this is temporary situation 
until breasts ease up.  Stay with it!  Please.....? 
    I will call tonight.
    The lessons: Live and learn. Slow down. 30 years  means nothing to this 
particular mother and baby. Listen to the mother, the  expert.
    warmly,
Nikki Lee RN, MS, Mother of 2, IBCLC, CCE
Maternal-Child  Adjunct Faculty Union Institute and University
Film Reviews Editor, Journal  of Human Lactation
Support the WHO Code and the Mother-Friendly Childbirth  Initiative

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