Merella's breastfeeding Story
When our baby girl was born...9/18/97...she began her breastfeeding
experience 20 minutes after her birth :) However, during our 2-day stay at
the hospital the nurses had to give her sugar water, because her blood
sugar was low. We were sent home with no problems only to return the
following day. Our baby did not have a wet diaper from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00
a.m. This concerned us enough to go back to the hospital where they found
her blood sugar level to be at 30 (which is low). Her doctor decided to
admit her into intensive care...it was scary! We determined that she was
not nursing properly, so I stayed with her, was woke every 2 hours to
nurse, and was assisted by a lactation specialist. She was not nursing
properly and therefore, not getting enough breast milk. They decided to try
the "SNS"....Supplemental Nursing System, which is like a small 2 ounce IV
bottle with a very thin tube that you would align next to your nipple and
when the baby suck it gets that along with the nipple to receive more
breast milk. We were released the following day and was told the nursing
was now successful. We brought her in for a one-week follow-up check and
found that she had lost 9 percent of her birth weight...a week after that
she had not gained any weight at all. Although she was getting enough
breast milk to function properly, have healthy skin, and 6-8 wet diapers per
day, she was not getting enough to grow. The doctor knew that it was very
important to me to breastfeed my baby and asked if I would do the SNS for a
while. I was willing to do anything to get my baby on the right track to
breastfeed, since I feel this is the only way to feed your child. I did
the SNS for approximately 4 weeks (2 ounces every other feed, then 1 1/2
ounces every other feed, and finally 1 ounce every other feed) until she
was nursing properly and getting plenty of milk to grow. Now that she is 3
1/2 months old, and still nursing, she is growing every day and is very
healthy. Funny, I have been commended by several for sticking with nursing
and have been told that a lot of moms would have given it up. The thought
of not nursing my child never even crossed my mind. You can use the
following e-mail with this submission. merle33@hotmail.com
Merella
