I was able to help a mom attempt to breast feed night before last; she was downing pretty good she was starting to gain some confidence. The baby was latching on well, although mom had to keep waking the baby up. So they breastfeed five times in a twelve hour shift, I left thinking that she would do ok breast feeding that it would just get better. So last night when I got to work I received report that mom wanted to bottle feed now. I was completely confused because this mom said to me on more than one occasion that she wanted to breastfeed. I went into the patients room mom was holding her infant I asked “How she was doing?” Mom burst in to tears and said that the Nurse and Doctor said that she could not breast feed because the baby was crying and that meant she was hungry. I asked how often she was feeding the infant; Mom said that the day nurse told her to feed the infant every 3-4 hours and that she need to wait to feed her because she would spoil the baby. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!! First of all you cannot spoil a new born they only cry when they need something, hungry, Diaper change, too tired, too much stimulation, or needing to burp.
I was so ANGERY with those nit wits, Breast babies should always be fed on demand. They will cluster feed during the day they should nurse, 15 minutes on the right, 15 minutes on the left, back and forth until the infant falls asleep or is satisfied. In the beginning there is colostrum which is very nutrient rich starter milk. Breast milk is a supply and demand system the more often the baby breast feeds the more breast milk is produced. I explained this to mom and attempted to undo what the day shift had done by bottle feeding the baby. So getting the infant to latch on to the breast was difficult so we would try for five minutes at the begging of every feeding and if the baby would not latch on we would cup feed. So at the end of my twelve hour shift the baby had cup fed four times and breast fed with a good latch twice.
Update: Mom was able to breast feed the infant after about three weeks of working with the infant, cup feeding, when the baby would not latch on.
I was so ANGERY with those nit wits, Breast babies should always be fed on demand. They will cluster feed during the day they should nurse, 15 minutes on the right, 15 minutes on the left, back and forth until the infant falls asleep or is satisfied. In the beginning there is colostrum which is very nutrient rich starter milk. Breast milk is a supply and demand system the more often the baby breast feeds the more breast milk is produced. I explained this to mom and attempted to undo what the day shift had done by bottle feeding the baby. So getting the infant to latch on to the breast was difficult so we would try for five minutes at the begging of every feeding and if the baby would not latch on we would cup feed. So at the end of my twelve hour shift the baby had cup fed four times and breast fed with a good latch twice.
Update: Mom was able to breast feed the infant after about three weeks of working with the infant, cup feeding, when the baby would not latch on.
