If You’ve Ever Breastfed (9 Questions) 7
ABC news recently wrote an article about how hospitals are not giving enough breastfeeding support. If you’ve ever breastfed, even if just for one day, I’d like to know your experiences.
I think it’s very important for all readers to note that hospitals vary WIDELY across the country, and not to think that your hospital experience is exactly the same or even anywhere close to someone else’s. Even within the same hospital, your experience will vary based on who the nurses are on rotation and who your OB is. That being said, I’m curious…
- How would you rate your hospital’s ability to help facilitate breastfeeding successfully?
- Were you aware in the hospital that it was normal for your baby to take just a little longer to figure out how to latch if you had an epidural and not to give up?
- Were you aware that it was normal for your milk not to come in for 3-5 days, and the little bit of colostrum your baby got with each feed would be enough by itself?
- Did they tell you a pacifier SOMETIMES interferes with breastfeeding or makes a baby content to skip an early feeding that helps your milk come in, and ask if you wanted to use it or skip it?
- Do you think your baby was given formula or sugar water for medically unnecessary reasons?
- Did they let you know it was perfectly normal to have trouble latching once you got home after your milk came in? And did they give you contact information for how you could get help if problems came up?
- Did they warn you of the most common obstacles moms face when first breastfeeding and how to avoid or overcome them?
- If you were given antibiotics during labor (very common for Group B strep mothers), were you told that this also greatly increases you and your babies risk of getting thrush, and given ways to help avoid thrush or deal with it quickly before it gets out of hand?
- Is there anything else your hospital experience included that helped make breastfeeding successful or helped lead to you ultimately choosing to formula feed?
WIC spends a lot of money and time educating low income mothers on breastfeeding. I really wonder how much more success they would have if they spent more time and money advocating for low income mothers by educating OBGYN’s and hospitals.
Sadly many OB’s know very little about how the labor and delivery may have an impact on the baby’s ability to latch. They don’t stop to inform their patients of the pros and cons of different birth control choices as they relate to milk supply. Many hospital nurses act like it is perfectly normal for both the formula fed and breastfed babies to go the same amount of time between feedings, even though the formula fed ones are given a larger amount of food during those first few feedings, and it’s a food that’s harder to digest, so it stays in their tummies longer.
What’s your experience? Did your hospital give you ample support in attempting to breastfeed?
I was very lucky that my son was a good nurser from the start! I had taken a couple nursing classes while I was pregnant and rented many books on nursing from the library so I felt very ready to breastfeed. Right after having my son I did skin to skin contact with him and he actually started rooting so I let him latch and he nursed very shortly after I had him! I was very impressed! The nurse told me she wanted to get him cleaned up and that he could nurse again later since my milk hadn’t even came in yet so it “didn’t matter if he nrused now or not” but I told her my son could wait to get his first bath and that I would rather him nurse than get a bath. The nurse was annoyed but let me continue to breastfeed my newborn. He is now over a year and still nursing which bothers some people, but it works for us. When he is two I will start the weaning process.
I’m a WIC recipient, and I feel as though my local WIC office has staff members who are trained to find “improvements” to receive funding. Does that make sense? For example, my then 7mo baby was considered “at risk for underweight.” I had a BF Consultant ask me to log my feedings. She told me that I may need to offer more baby food, as told her that he eats baby food, but not as much as the checks offer. I don’t use all the checks. I don’t know why, but I felt as though my admission of not getting all the food on the checks was disappointing info.
Also, as far as hospitals are concerned, I was always pushed into BF, but I got extremely little useful advice on how to handle work schedules with BF. I was clueless that I could maintain a supply, even if I couldn’t nurse every 2 hours! I feel that the “off you go” mentality is geared more toward the upper middle class women who might have longer maternity leaves and better nursing environments at work. I worked 12 hour shifts in the Navy where I was considered to be ON WATCH. I couldn’t leave! Then, years later, I worked at a small nonprofit in FL. I had to use my lunch hour and my 15 min break to sneak into the storage room and hope no one needed to get a file or I’d have to wrap up what I was doing!
Also, looking back, (Portsmouth Naval Hospital), the hospital where I had my first also pushed formula when my daughter kept crying and seemed hungry. I expected real milk to come out and felt like I wasn’t feeding her. I got formula, and she ate a LOT of it.
I had women coming in and pinching my nipples and doing all sorts of abrupt weird stuff to get me to produce milk. I wish I had some lactation consultants with the patience to see me through the process.
If I could tell low-income moms anything it would be:
1. It hurts in the beginning for some of us. …for like, 2 weeks. It’s not always a bad latch.
2. Nurse as often as you can, and do what you can at work. Don’t be afraid to ask for breaks, Etc. If you can’t get them, do what you can in 5 or 10 minutes. some babies will eat more when they can. Don’t freak out thinking that you’ll lose your supply!
I also wanted to comment on divrie’s comment about not getting help on how to BF after maternity leave is up. I did not have to worry about that with y first 2 since I was a stay-at-home mom/student and I was always with them. However, I worked full time with my 3rd and I had to pump. It was a completely different experience and I have to say that I hated every minute of pumping. If I hadn’t already nursed two babies before this I’m not sure I would have stuck with it. It’s hard to find time and space in order to pump. Storage of the milk is an issue. And, buying a high enough quality pump can cost hundreds of dollars. Then, at 4 months your supply naturally goes down and if you do not know this it can mess with your supply and how you pump as you prepare for that slow down in milk production. And, finally, I don’t think peds are trained for BF babies either. BF babies don’t gain weight as fast and they platue at different months than formula fed babies. With all my babies I got lectured by my ped for slow weight gain which is actually normal weight gain for BF babies. They catch up.
Does WIC provide assistance in purchasing pumps if you plan on BF after retuning to work?
My hospital was pretty great with support and since I delivered at the hospital consults with the lactation consultant were FREE! I went in once so she could critique our latch and she let me use a hospital grade scale to see how much he was eating. I have compiled a concise post with ALOT of great resources on how to breastfeed sucessfully:
http://www.ourgrowinggarden.com/2011/06/breastfeeding-mothers-top-5-tips-for.html
I just used my first WIC voucher ever and it was a trying experience. I got the wrong bag of cereal even though the bag I grabbed said “WIC approved” on it… So, here I am reading about WIC tips. This is a great blog. Thinks for keeping it up. I wanted to share my breast feeding experiences. I have breastfed all three of my children each for a year or just a little over. My children are currently 5, 3, and 21 months – so I was either pregnant or nursing for 5 1/2 years. I chose to breastfeed (bf) because it saved money. At the time I had my children I was a student and my husband worked and made just enough to not qualify for WIC. So, I committed to trying BF (as well as cloth diapering, but that is another topic) to save us money. I have to admit, I was not excited about it at all. I was the first person in my extended family to BF and everyone looked at me weird. I also did not think I would enjoy it, I thought it was going to hurt… I told my husband that I would give it 6 weeks and if I hated it we would have to find the money for formula. Well, I wouldn’t say it was an easy start with any of my children, but I did end up loving it. Each experience was so different as each child is different. And, I delivered in 2 different hospitals that provided different support. So, to answer your questions:
How would you rate your hospital’s ability to help facilitate breastfeeding successfully?
The hospital I delivered my first two children did not do well at all. It was a level 4 labor and delivery trauma hospital and they dealt with a lot of preemies and high risk labors/deliveries. I did not have this at all – my labor and delivery was very “normal”. At this hospital I was given a formula pack and diaper bag right after delivery, my babies were taken into the nursery and I had to ask to keep them with me, I was encouraged to give formula because it was taking too long for my milk to come in (even though it takes 3 days on average and it was only 12 hours since delivery). When I asked for assistance I was just given a breast shield and told that it should help with out being shown how to use it or encourage the baby to latch. The one good thing is that my babies were given right to me after delivery for a nursing session.
The other hospital I chose because I wanted to have an un-medicated birth with midwives. My post delivery experience was night and day! I was left alone to nurse. If I needed help a lactation consultant was there to encourage and help, I was never given a pacifier, and I was given over 30 minutes with my baby after delivery for nursing before shew as even cleaned up.
Were you aware in the hospital that it was normal for your baby to take just a little longer to figure out how to latch if you had an epidural and not to give up?
No, I never learned that. However, I only had an epidural with my first (even though it was heavily pushed for my 2nd) and she was the only one that latched on right away. THe other two non-epidural births, both babies took over 12 hours before they really ate anything. In the first hospital (baby 2) I was encouraged to give formula because it was obvious he did not want to breast feed. With my 3rd in the midwife hospital they were patient and said it could take some time for her to get hungry enough to latch.
Were you aware that it was normal for your milk not to come in for 3-5 days, and the little bit of colostrum your baby got with each feed would be enough by itself?
I was, but because I read a BF book before hand, not because a nurse at hospital #1 told me. By hospital #2 I was considered a pro because I BF two over babies for over a year before.
Did they tell you a pacifier SOMETIMES interferes with breastfeeding or makes a baby content to skip an early feeding that helps your milk come in, and ask if you wanted to use it or skip it?
Not hospital #1, I was never even offered one at hospital #2
Do you think your baby was given formula or sugar water for medically unnecessary reasons?
no, not at either hospital.
Did they let you know it was perfectly normal to have trouble latching once you got home after your milk came in? And did they give you contact information for how you could get help if problems came up?
No, I was not told this. I was told about engorgement and told it would hurt but I was not told of ways to relieve it or that it would be hard for the baby to latch on when it happened. I believe I was given a number for a lactation consultant – but I can’t remember.
Did they warn you of the most common obstacles moms face when first breastfeeding and how to avoid or overcome them?
No. I don’t think I was ever told this by any one ever. Not in Lamaze class, or the BF class I took at the hospital before delivery, or by the nurses in recovery. I also did not have family that knew what to expect. I had to rely on books and a few friends that BF.
If you were given antibiotics during labor (very common for Group B strep mothers), were you told that this also greatly increases you and your babies risk of getting thrush, and given ways to help avoid thrush or deal with it quickly before it gets out of hand?
No, never had antibiotics
Is there anything else your hospital experience included that helped make breastfeeding successful or helped lead to you ultimately choosing to formula feed?
Not that I can think of. My experiences at two different hospitals with two different models for delivery were very different.
I tried it once in hospital after literally being forced and brow beaten by a nip,ple nazi nurse/lc. Who refused to take no for an answer, pulled by gown down and put my son on the breasts, not removing her hands. Because well I was large breasted and needed her to hold them, until I could learn myself. Nevermind my pleas for her to stop and not touch me, I went into a full blown flashback of my rape. I had told them that I was going to FF for that reason. So for me BF my son was being raped all over again. I felt stripped of my humanity and dignity as a human being.