My boss had a difficult time breastfeeding her firstborn and was determined to do better with her second baby. So, in the months leading up to the birth, I shared a lot of resources with her and we talked at length about what happened last time--emergency c-section (legit), no support at hospital or home, bad latch, baby refused breast, NO DOULA. So, we talked about latch, positioning, the nipple problems she experienced, nursing strikes, birth trauma, guilt, and getting things off to a good start. Well, she internalized everything but the good start discussions. She came back to work this week and told me about her experience at the hospital:
She had a second c-section because she didn't go into labor by the dr's cut off (I'm not even going to go there). They took the baby away for HOURS after the surgery and fed him formula in the nursery. When she got him back, he latched immediately and sucked like there was no tomorrow! She was amazed and said the difference in latch was obvious immediately. Then, they took him to the nursery "so she could sleep" and fed him more formula. She didn't think anything of it because they said everybody does it and it WON'T INTERFERE WITH BREASTFEEDING.
At the end of the second day, an LC stopped by (we don't know where the LCs on previous shifts were), learned what was going on, flipped out, and brought the baby immediately back to Mom. He never went back to the nursery and hasn't had a drop of formula since!
I feel so sorry for that LC, working in a hospital like that. I hope she knows how to throw her weight around! After talking with this LC, my boss was horrified that the nurses were so disingenuous. Although the first week was pretty hard, she said that because of my prenatal support, she breastfed through the cracked, bleeding nipples (eesh) and feels great about exclusively breastfeeding!
I'm so proud of her!
Then, she said that she's going to ask the pediatrician at the two month checkup (today) if she can start adding cereal to his bottles of EBM.
So now we're addressing when to add solid foods and pumping at work. We're taking it one step at a time.
