Recently I received this email from one of my mom's who was having concerns about breastfeeding:
This was my response to her:
No worries, it is absolutely still possible. Many women go through similar experiences and
are still able to convince baby to breastfeed.
Baby’s who end up in NICU, Moms who have difficulties and are not immediately able to breast feed, even adoptive parents are sometimes able to breastfeed. The reality of it is you may have a little
struggle but you can do it. Here are a
couple of things to keep in mind:
1. First of
all, stay calm. It may be a little
stressful latching baby on because he does not realize milk comes from breasts, he believes that we eat from bottles.
But your breast milk should just be coming in and you will be able to feed
him when he figures it out.
2. Bottles work
because gravity pulls the milk out for baby.
Breasts work because baby massages them with his tongue and milk ejects
from the breast so it may take him a few tries before he figures out to work
his tongue differently than he has been.
3. It is
important to keep up your milk supply while we are waiting for baby to come
around. If you have an electric pump, this is a great time to use it. This will allow baby to eat breast milk, instead of formula, from the bottle if he does not latch right away. Also, it will tell your body that you need to
make milk. Whatever you remove from the
breasts, your body will put that much milk back plus just a little bit
more. If we don’t remove milk then
the milk supply goes away,so keep pumping.
4. Don’t give
up. Keep offering the breast first at
every feeding. Baby may fight you at
first and there will be tears but he is learning right now and if we give up
and give him a bottle when he cries, then he has learned that crying changes
things. He will fight for the bottle and
now you have a fussy baby because he believes that he has to be in a fit to get
what he wants. However, if you can
endure and keep trying through the crying, he will figure out how to remove
milk from the breast and then you won’t have to work so hard to convince him to
breast feed at the next feeding.
5. Don’t be
afraid to ask for help. Jill (IBCLC) and I are here every day. Feel free to come by the office
around feeding times and we will help you get baby latched on and hopefully
help you feel less stressed as you go through this. Also, you can call me 24 hours a day on the
breastfeeding helpline 417-315-2135.
