NICU refusing to allow my friend to breastfeed! Help! - Page 4

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by LoveChild421

well I just went to the website of the hospital and found a phone # where you can call if you have concerns about patient care or safety. I called and left a message asking that my friend be put in contact with a lactation consultant and a patient advocate. I told them the situation about how they will have a mother who is recovering from a C-section who is epileptic just sitting in a waiting room all day because they won't offer her a place to stay so she can breastfeed her son. I told them how they compare to other area hospitals. I left a lengthy message about how shocked I am that NICU nurses do not have a basic biological understanding of breastfeeding, how important breastfeeding is to a sick/small baby, and suggested that they make sure all nurses are educated on breastfeeding and how to support breastfeeding. Hopefull something will happen today.

Awesome! And make sure make a follow up call tomorrow to see what they are doing about it! Else they may just ignore you.

[LoveChild421]

Originally Posted by HomeBirthMommy

Lovechild, is she anywhere near the Atlanta area? If so, have her transfer the baby's care to Dr. Kute. She is a fantastic ped and is also a IBCLC and will fight for that mama and baby. It might be worth a call to her anyway to see if she can help in some way.

unfortunately we are in North GA, probably out of her range. I did find a pediatrician on the hospitals website who recently won an award for his breastfeeding encouragement and advocacy so I will be contacting him to see if we can work together to change things in this hospital.

There is an address where you can send formal complaints if the hospital admin. doesn't return your phone calls or you don't have an adequate resolution. I am definately not going to let this go. I have to change things in my community. I am off from work tomorrow so I'm going to get my resources together and figure out a plan of action. I'm not going to stop speaking out for women like my friend until I see that things really have changed and that breastfeeding is understood and made a priority for all mothers in our local hospital.

Why is she out in the waiting room? She should ask the staff to bring her a rocking chair and then she can hang out with her baby the entire day (except for shift changes). I spent lots of days doing that. It's not comfortable but at least she'll get some more time with him and hopefully be able to get him out of there faster.

I just tried to call her and suggest she ask them why she can't just stay in there in a rocking chair. I'm not sure, but from what she's said its like they don't want her in there other than the "scheduled" feeding times and she just hasn't gotten very vocal with them yet.

[meesa143]

Originally Posted by Caittune

That is crazy! When my DD was in the NICU, they had special privacy screens for moms who wanted privacy while nursing.

We had those too. That is ridiculous.

[cschick]

This is awful.

My 37-weeker didn't end up in NICU, although I ended up with him skin-to-skin for almost the entire time we were in mother/baby to keep his body temp stabilized. But we toured the NICU wing of our hospital during our childbirth class, and it was very different from this. NICU had 24 hour visiting for mother+father, a couple of "mother's rooms" with beds located nearby so that mothers could stay on-ward even after discharge, rocking chairs by each "box" for parents, and screens available (by request, not required) for breastfeeding mothers.

[MKJA]

Sorry if this has been said before, I need to hop off soon but:

Are you all in GA? I don't think they can legally allow that. Breastfeeding is allowed here (as you may very well be aware ) anywhere the mother and child are authorized to be. If the mother is allowed in the room, she is authorized, I would think. Best of luck to all of you!

[emilysmama]

Originally Posted by LoveChild421

They DO allow her to send milk down to the NICU, but she can't get enough colostrum to send down. A few drops will come out and then just get stuck in the parts of the pump, nothing much gets into the bottle. He needs that colostrum. I asked the nurse if she could have a medicine syringe so that she could try and hand express colostrum in to that and then send it to the NICU and they could give it to him just like it was medicine (which of course its BETTER than medicine) and the nurse said "oh that won't work" I asked why the heck not and she couldn't really answer me. She said she would "see what she could do."

When my baby was in the NICU, the nurses gave me sterile cotton swabs (q-tips). I was instructed to swipe the colostrum off of the pump parts and then swab it into the inner cheek of my baby so that she could get the colostrum. I think your way might work too, but it depends how efficient your friend is at hand expressing, and maybe it still might not work? Maybe the colostrum is too thick to get out of the syringe? I remember that I pumped very little colostrum out, so I don't think there would have been enough even for a syringe, and most of it would have stayed stuck in the syringe walls.

[tbavrbab]

I used the pump, and since the colostrum never even got near the actual bottle, or pump valve, I was given a dental syringe to suck the colostrum out and then we put a label on it and took it to the NICU and if it was near the time for her feedings she was given my syringe first and then given her 1cc of formula.

She got formula until I was able to produce enough to meet their demands. Once I could do that, she was only getting my milk. It got VERY VERY tight near the time she went home. Once she reached "full feeds" I was having a very diffcult time keeping up with the amount they wanted me to pump.

I wish your friend the best and I hope she's found some more support.

[veganone]

I had a 35-weeker on 9/3.

I also used a syringe to get the colostrum from the pump parts (I was thrilled the day I got one cc) and we syringe fed her whatever I could get. She got formula when her jaundice kicked in since we needed to help her flush it out (which I think helped her only have to stay one extra night). Save every drop of that stuff!

[sophiekat]

any updates?

[TeaLeaf]

I am delivering this weekend at 34 weeks and my baby will be in the NICU where they have screens/curtains and a pump next to each baby with a nice chair. The neonatologists encourage bf b/c it helps the baby with the immune system among other things. There are plenty of LC on staff to help out.

It sounds like this hospital in backward. Did you have a talk with the neonatologists? They should know better.

Good luck fighting them, but changes occur slowly; you may want to consider a different hospital as a backup for yourself until then.

In disbelief

[LoveChild421]

Originally Posted by sophiekat

any updates?

well her baby is now home, and although she is still pumping a few ounces of breastmilk for him everyday, he's pretty much on formula Surprise, surprise he developed a preference for the bottle and his latch deteriorated since he was bottle-fed in the NICU for so long. I gave her my Avent ISIS and she does make a point to pump as much as she can and add that to his bottles so at least he does get some milk.

I am still waiting for a response to my letters, I still have a few more people to write to so hopefully at least some change will come from my observations and suggestions.

[forthebest]

What disgraceful behaviour, whoever was involved really needs to be educated on breastfeeding and reprimanded,sounds like they were pushing the formula. Your friend could keep persevering with the breast but it's looking like saboutage A disgrace.

[veganone]

I would encourage your friend to rent a Madela Symphony pump (hospital grade) for at least a few weeks. I'm still using mine (5 weeks in) and it's SO much more effective and comfortable than my In Style Advanced... It's worth it...

Good luck - maybe a really good lactation consultant can help get her back to breastfeeding? I'm still using a nipple shield part of the time, which is MUCH easier for an early baby to latch onto than the breast. It's a pain, but can be a lifesaver and now I am transitioning her off the NS and onto the breast.

[Hallielynn01]

Originally Posted by veganone

I would encourage your friend to rent a Madela Symphony pump (hospital grade) for at least a few weeks. I'm still using mine (5 weeks in) and it's SO much more effective and comfortable than my In Style Advanced... It's worth it...

Good luck - maybe a really good lactation consultant can help get her back to breastfeeding? I'm still using a nipple shield part of the time, which is MUCH easier for an early baby to latch onto than the breast. It's a pain, but can be a lifesaver and now I am transitioning her off the NS and onto the breast.

This is what I was thinking! I know some of the le leche meetings around here (don't know if you have them near you or not) have women who knows details of relactating. like here http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/relactation.html If she's still getting some milk its not a loss yet!

I just read this thread, I'm so sorry this is happening! Ive unfortunately found that there are a lot of people who "support" breast feeding, but aren't knowledgeable about it. I really hope it all works out for her!

[TeaLeaf]

While my son was in the NICU a couple of weeks ago, they bottlefed him formula at first since I didn't have any milk; however, as I was producing more and more I asked that they fed him only breastmilk first (no mixing with formula so it coats his tummy and gives him the protection needed) I was lucky that they respected my wishes.

I made a point to be there at most feedings and having him at the very least nuzzle with my nipples if that's all we could do. I also discarded the nipple shield after two tries although it was strongly recommended; I figured if I was patient, it would eventually happen. There was no nipple confusion; my lactation consultant, Carol, says it's a myth and I tend to agree. My DH has been feeding the baby everyday once or twice per day breastmilk using the bottle; we've been doing it both way and no problem. You may check out this web site, I think Carol has stuff about that online: http://www.breastbabyproducts.com/

I think that not all is lost for your friend. With help from a good lactation consultant and armed with patience, her baby should revert to the breast.

I also second the Medela Symphony, I have enough milk for triplets! That pump kicks you know what to get milk in I am renting it for a month and switching to a Medela Pump In Style Advanced which is a personal version of the Symphony.

Best wishes to her.

Originally Posted by LoveChild421

well her baby is now home, and although she is still pumping a few ounces of breastmilk for him everyday, he's pretty much on formula Surprise, surprise he developed a preference for the bottle and his latch deteriorated since he was bottle-fed in the NICU for so long. I gave her my Avent ISIS and she does make a point to pump as much as she can and add that to his bottles so at least he does get some milk.

I am still waiting for a response to my letters, I still have a few more people to write to so hopefully at least some change will come from my observations and suggestions.

[Tofu the Geek]

Originally Posted by LoveChild421

well her baby is now home, and although she is still pumping a few ounces of breastmilk for him everyday, he's pretty much on formula Surprise, surprise he developed a preference for the bottle and his latch deteriorated since he was bottle-fed in the NICU for so long. I gave her my Avent ISIS and she does make a point to pump as much as she can and add that to his bottles so at least he does get some milk.

I am still waiting for a response to my letters, I still have a few more people to write to so hopefully at least some change will come from my observations and suggestions.

At least he's getting some mommy's milk. It's so terribly sad, because this is a case where he did not need formula and should not have had it. :

[Devaskyla]

There was no nipple confusion; my lactation consultant, Carol, says it's a myth and I tend to agree.

Just because some babies don't get it doesn't mean it's a myth. I know too many [eople who've had it happen to ever consider it a myth.

OP, any update?

[alegna]

Originally Posted by TeaLeaf

There was no nipple confusion; my lactation consultant, Carol, says it's a myth and I tend to agree.

It is ABSOLUTELY not a myth and it's offensive to many moms that you would suggest such. It is well documented and any breastfeeding-friendly resource will tell you about it.

True- not every child will have an issue with nipple confusion. But it is a very REAL issue that destroys breastfeeding relationships.

-Angela

[Ammaarah]

I don't really like the term "nipple confusion." I mean, even a tiny baby can taste and sense the difference between a silicone bottle nipple and his mom, or between the pacifier and the mom. I think "nipple preference" is a far better way to describe it. And a baby who will not nurse from his mother's breast but will take a bottle definitely has nipple preference whether or not a lactation consultant believes in it. We dealt with nipple preference and it was really scary. I am glad I didn't end up EPing.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by Devaskyla

Just because some babies don't get it doesn't mean it's a myth. I know too many [eople who've had it happen to ever consider it a myth.

OP, any update?

ITA, my dd was given bottles against my wishes when she was born and after that she refused to nurse for the next 2 months and it was hell and all becasue of some idiot nurse who thought it was her right to feed my child. Some kids can not go back and forth and my oldest was one of them.