NewBorn Concepts | Inspiring Positive Preganancies, Births, and Breastfeeding Babies TM

What If I Have Complications from Delivery But I Still Want To Breastfeed My Baby?

Robin Frees FAQs on Nursing Breast Feeding After Complications of Delivery

Robin Frees FAQs on Nursing Breast Feeding After Complications of Delivery

What if…
Sometimes due to complications during delivery
your baby may not feel up to latching on,
nursing,  and learning a new skill right away.  Medications
can make the baby sleepy and forceps
or vacuum deliveries can cause bruises that make feeding
uncomfortable.
If your baby has to be separated from you or has not successfully
latched on the hospital staff may want to feed him another way.
Finger feeding with a tube, cup feeding or bottle feeding are options
you may have to consider. In this case you can ask the staff to get you
a breast pump so that you can begin to stimulate your milk supply.

Even if your baby has not latched on or breastfeeding is temporarily interrupted, if you can pump
your milk and maintain a full milk supply your baby will eventually breastfeed.
Skin to skin contact with your infant in those early days will encourage his interest in breastfeeding
even if he is not interested in latching on yet. When he can see, feel and smell the breast many times a
day, he will eventually figure out what to do with it.
Forcing your baby to do something he or she is not ready to do will not work. It only discourages a
positive attitude about breastfeeding. Once you settle in at home, continue to pump your milk with

a double electric pump to build your supply and contact a lactation consultant for a full evaluation
of your situation. Usually, the sooner a problem is addressed the easier it is to solve.
Some babies begin to latch better in a few days and others take a few weeks! When a mother is
committed to breastfeeding, can continue to pump a full supply of milk and create a calm relaxed
skin to skin experience for her baby at the breast, her baby will one day choose to breastfeed and never look back.

Robin B. Frees, HBCE, IBCLC is a Chester County and Montgomery County based lactation consultant.
She has a private practice in the MainLine/Chester County area with offices in Malvern and Wayne.
Her business, NewBornConcepts also offers home visits for new mothers. She can be reached at 610-644-1379 or rbfibclc@aol.com.
Do you have a newborn baby?  Are you interested in nursing or breastfeeding?
Has your physician referred you to us for a breastfeeding consultation?

Call 610-644-1379 for a home visit or an office visit with Robin Frees or one of her lactation consultants.

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