I have just had my first opportunity to work with the Hazlebaker
fingerfeeder, new in the Medela catalog. I usually use an SNS for this
purpose, but ordered 2 of these when they came out to see what they were
all about.
We had a preemie baby girl del at our hospital , and the ped was the one
thats usually the unbreastfeeding friendly one. Baby was tube fed for
about 24 - 36 hours then I got the go ahead to try and help baby to
breast , baby latched and sucked , but only a few sucks with the sns in
place. Mom was thrilled , in tears cause the baby sucked a few times....
I had a long discussion with mom about her long term bf goals and she
really wanted to bf no matter what. Mom was d/c that day and offered to
stay as a hospitality pt ( free room , no food or meds supplied to her )
she had been induced for PIH and had a 2 day labor and was exhausted so
she decided to go home and sleep and come in fresh the next am. I taught
mom and dad how to ff (fingerfeed) with the SNS and they liked that
idea, baby had previously been feeding with a premie nipple and bottle.
I ff the baby and later that night after I went home , dad came in and
brought the colostrum his wife had pumped , and he ff the baby the
colostrum . This man is the most supportive dad I have ever seen! The
next day I went in to work and the baby had been nippled though out the
nite, I taught mom and dad how to use the hazlebaker ff and it worked
well. Mom would put baby to breast , baby would nibble and fall off to
sleep , she would pump and dad would ff..... awesome to watch the
bonding between dad and this tiny little daughter. He is soooo patient.
When the ped came in for rounds he actually asked me what *I* thought we
should do (this is the unsupportive bf ped) so I took a BIG breath and
told him that I thought he should write an order to have the baby only
ff , no nipples , feed every 2 hours breast first , then expressed bm
with formula added to make 22 cc per fed. He said ok and asked me to
write the order and that he would sign it. I didn't know to faint, cry ,
die or kiss him, so I thanked him instead. ;-) This is a real old school
ped and I have been working on him for years..... some of probrally can
recall some of my posts about him in the past. I feel that I am
finally getting some respect from him. He even told the parents that he
was old school and didn't know about these newfangled gadgets but if I
thought they would help , then ok with him. A few years ago this ped
threw a fit when we syringe fed babies by dripping supplement into their
mouth , this was before I knew about ff. Its a wonderful feeling to
know that I am making a difference with one ped. So you can too, just
keep trying!
The moral of the story is : We can do it one baby / one ped at a time !
:-)
And I am still is awe of this dads support of hos wife bf, I had
opportunity to speak with him alone and told him that is support would
ensure his wifes success at breastfeeding. I am seeing this baby in
follow up Tues am , will keep you posted.
--
Cindy~
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Cindy , RN, IBCLC ~ Virginia , USA
ICQ # 412812 mailto:[log in to unmask]
Benefits of Breastfeeding Home Page http://www.erols.com/cindyrn
LactChat Home Page - http://www.erols.com/cindyrn/lactchat.htm
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