Special Care Babies
Welcome to Breastfeeding Experiences!
This category was suggested by Ingrid, who is a breastfeeding peer supporter and trainee breastfeeding counsellor. Breastfeeding a baby who needs special care after birth is an extra challenge. Very often it is necessary to feed via a tube, and this of course means a mother will have to express her milk. On top of the already unbearable strain of worry about an early or ill baby, this can be very difficult. If you would like to share your experience of breastfeeding Special Care Babies, please use this form to send it to us.
Special Care Babies
Name: Kelli
Title: Respiratory Synovical Virus vs Breastfeeding
Story: At 5 months, my daughter was rushed by ambulance in critical condition to the hospital. She was on continued 10L O2, had rapid shallow respiration and a pulse between 200-300. Her O2 levels were becoming dangerously low.
As the pediatrician told me, she was in critical condition for a day, two days, or maybe even a week. She insisted that even though she was a mess of IVs and tubes taped and strung all over, she wanted to nurse, and nurse she did!
Had she been a bottle fed baby, I don't think she would've made it! If she was a bottle fed baby they would've refused to let her eat (IV fluid only) and as it was, at each nursing I had to have supervision in case she were to choke. It was found that she had a respiratory virus that started in her lungs and could not be heard by stethoscope!
Name: Ingrid
Title: Category Suggestion
Story: Breastmilk is the best start for any baby, especially those little ones that have to be in special care. It is a very scary time and it would help other mums who have a baby in scbu to hear how other people managed it.