In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed that babies should be exclusively breastfed…read morefor the first 6 months of life, & stated that preterm infants especially should be exclusively fed breast milk, whether a mother's own milk or pasteurized human donor milk. Yet because several generations of mothers were discouraged from nursing, & because nursing is so incredibly stigmatizing, many mothers have never even seen another woman nurse, let alone learned any of the tricks of the trade. And whereas prematurely-born babies, inc those born by scheduled c-sections, benefit esp from breast milk, their mothers do not always produce milk right away.
Thanks goodness for TC's Lactation & Milk Bank Services. The women who work there are absolute Godsends. They're not just board-certified lactation consultants (LCs), they're also RNs & trained peer-counselors, so not only are TC's LCs qualified to help you learn how to nurse & the pump breast milk, they can also advise you on whether any meds you're taking are unsafe for your baby. Moreover, they are qualified to provide encouragement & compassion. And they do so.
My twin daughters were delivered at the Pavilion after a short & easy labor that ended in a thoroughly unsympathetic & medically-unnecessary c-section when I was fully dilated, & I didn't even see my babies until they were 13 1/2 hours old. The deliveries set me up for failure as a mother. I didn't even feel like a woman, let alone a Mother. I was unsure I was woman enough to provide milk for 2 babies. And though my son had thrived, the LCs who'd helped when I was nursing him had insisted I'd done it badly. Moreover, as my daughters were to be hospitalized at TCH, I would be trying to provide for them very publicly--every oz I pumped would be accounted for. Unsurprisingly, I suffered from performance anxiety, just after the deliveries, & I needed to get over it fast, in order to try to provide for my babies.
Happily, my nurse arrived in my room soon after I did & established that I wished to provide milk for my girls. Within 1/2 an hour or so, she'd brought me all the kit I needed to pump & bottles to pump into, & had shown me how to use the hospital-grade pump in my room. She also contacted Lactation Services. Consultations are free-of-charge for mothers who are themselves inpatients, or who's babies are inpatients at TCH; & the lactation consultants also answer questions by phone or email, for FREE, regardless of whether you or your baby have any affiliation w TCH. LC Adris arrived promptly & explained the protocol for cleaning & sterilizing the pumping kit, & storing & transporting my milk. She also took the time to answer my questions. Her manner was incredibly soothing. This steadied me. I kept pumping.
Each day, an LC stopped by my room to answer any questions I might have, & to cheer me on. On the day I was discharged, I asked my nurse to arrange a final meeting w an LC. LC Cathy taught me to hand-express breast milk, which I used to be sure that my milk had let down, once I started nursing my girls. A week later, when anxious to boost my production, I obtained another consultation w the ever-capable Cathy. Cathy gave me a number of tips, & 1 of these worked.
At first, I just couldn't produce enough. I was shocked to learn that Neonatology initially wanted 13 ml of colostrum every 3 hours, for just 1 of the girls. Thank goodness TCH also has a milk bank that provides for babies housed at TCH, pasteurized breast milk mixed from carefully-screened donors. An NNP visited me before our daughters' first feeds to determine whether I'd like my colostrum to be topped-up w formula or human milk. I chose the latter. My daughters drank this for several days, after which time one daughter received 1 of her 8 bottles/day from donors.
But once my milk was fully in, at ~2 weeks, I found I had no trouble providing for my babies, & in fact we began to accumulate a surplus. This I ultimately gave back to the milk bank, which accepts one-time donations, & also became an ongoing donor. I love giving back to TCH itself, & providing for the babies there & helping their moms, as others did for us. And there are practical benefits too: the milk bank was able to lend me a hospital-grade pump free-of-charge, regular use of which seems to keep me from getting blocked ducts, & I have routine contact w warm, sweet, supportive Donations Coordinator, Laurel, w whom I can speak if any nursing-related problems arise.
This is inexpressibly comforting to me--nursing forged the bond between my babies & I, & was the only thing that gave me real peace & well-being during the dark months following their hospitalizations. Nearly a year on, nursing sustains the strong maternal bond it created.
The Lactation Consultants of TC's Lactation & Milk Bank Services give nursing mothers the peace-of-mind that they need to nurse, which in turn enables them to feel at peace, & to bring peacefulness to their babies. Thanks all.
