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One of the biggest things that can be a hinderance to inital bf-ing with a scheduled cesarean is a spinal. Many hospitals use spinals instead of epidurals for scheduled cesareans (or even labors that end in cesarean and mom has not already had a epidural). If a mom has a spinal instead of an epidural she will be on her back for several hours afterward to prevent a spinal headache. Lying flat on your back is not a great way to learn to breastfeed you newborn baby. Talk with mom about this before hand and have her discuss anesthesia options with the anesthesiologist days before the birth. She has the right to choose an epidural over a spinal.
Other policies that hinder breastfeeding are separation during recovery time and baby having intial "monitoring" in the isolette in the nursery. Once again mom needs to talk with her DR and the nurses at the hospital days before her birth. Can she nurse while still in the OR while being cleaned/stitched? It has been done. If not, instead of baby being in the isolette then dad needs to hold the baby, skin to skin, during the observation time. This will help initiate the oxytocin rush baby also needs to get started bf-ing. Instead of separation have dad take baby to mom's recovery room. Even if mom can't hold baby yet (if she ahs real bad shaking or whatever), dad can be holding baby (skin to skin) in mom's presence where she can see and hear and touch baby which will, once again, get her oxytocin rush going because she will miss out on that not experiencing labor. If she and baby are separated for a long time she will stress and worry and experience an adrenaline rush which will hinder the flow of oxytocin adn prolactin which she needs for breastfeeding.
Once again, all these things require the family to take matters into their own hands. They must take action and be very vocal about their wants. (But positive) If they experieince dificulty with the hospital staff they can talk to the patient advocate (every hospital has one - or more)
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Laura, AAHCC, CLD, CLD-T
CAPPA Labor Doula and Labor Doula Trainer, Bradley teacher
but my favorite job is...
Homeschooling Mother to my wonderful, crazy kids!
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