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3rd Trimester
AutumnLeaves2
member
Making Sure You Have Uninterrupted "Skin-to Skin" Time...
AutumnLeaves2
member
Hi all!
So I just took my first prenatal class and it was on breastfeeding. The LC who was teaching the class said that one of the most important things you can do for your baby to encourage a heathy breastfeeding relationship right from the start is having skin-to-skin time with your LO immediately after birth. Did any STMs do this? How did you make sure that no one came into the room for that first hour that you were bonding/feeding your LO? I'm worried about people walking in while I'm trying to bond.
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Re: Making Sure You Have Uninterrupted "Skin-to Skin" Time...
I didn't have this opportunity in my last delivery since DD wasn't breathing and my placenta was still attached so they were working on me for at least 15 minutes. So DD got swaddled.
I would start by talking w/ your Dr at your next appt about this and see what they say. They may mention you writing up a birth plan to include this request.
They have signs they give you at the hospital you can put on the door that say that you are BFing or sleeping, but everytime we put those on the door, a nurse or doctor came in. They see that stuff all the time so it doesn't phase them and they were constantly in and out checking on everything (stitches - ouch! supplies, etc.) yet they tell you to rest up. (Which is hard to do with ppl in and out, ignoring the sign on the door!haha)
Sorry I should have clarified! I just meant "visitors" like MIL, siblings, etc. Doctors are completely fine/expected.
visitors aren't permitted in the l&d room and the staff likes to keep you there about an hour before moving you to recovery. So we don't have to worry about being interrupted and just told our families the policies.
~Fitness Blog~
I didn't have the opportunity to do this last time. My son had aspirated meconium and had a low heartrate so neonatology was working on him for quite a while. It took about 30 minutes before I even got to see him even though he was in the same room. My husband went back and forth bringing pictures over for me to look at. I finally got to hold him for a couple minutes, but he was heavily swaddled. Then I had a blood pressure crash and was out of it for quite a while. I didn't get any skin-to-skin time or an opportunity to breastfeed until he was a couple hours old, but we still successfully breastfed for 22 months.
I'm really hoping to immediately get to see and hold my daughter this time around and enjoy the skin-to-skin time, but I know we will be okay if circumstances prevent this again. I think you will need to talk to your doctor about having a full hour of uninterrupted skin-to-skin time immediately following birth. I could be wrong, but I think a lot of hospitals probably want the nursery staff to check out the baby before then.
I spent a lot of time in the hospital doing skin-to-skin time with him, but it wasn't immediately following birth.
IVF #1 - BFP (6dt)
Unassisted Pregnancy #2 - lost at 15w6d due to T21, severe heart defects, and fetal hydrops
At my hospital, this happens in the L&D room. When DD was born, they handed her to me for a few seconds (she was VERY slippery!) and then took her to the bassinet in the same room to get her cleaned up and check her vitals. She was then swaddled and handed to DH while the Dr finished with me (delivering placenta, stitching, etc) and then everyone left and it was just the three of us.
They kept me in L&D for monitoring, to make sure my vitals remained stable and that was the time we had to do skin to skin time. DD was not interested in BF'ing at all then, so we just snuggled. The nurse would come in and check on us, but that's about it.
After about an hour, or more in our case, they took her to the nursery and took me to the pp floor and to my room. It seemed like AGES before they finally brought her to my room though!
Sorry, I hate comments like this. I think it sets people up to fail at BFing and is just a lovely way to make mothers feel somehow inadequate if circumstances dictate that they can't have immediate skin to skin.
If you can have it great, if not, you can still BF and bond with your baby. This is not the the end all be all that is going to magically instill your milk supply and baby bond.
Just let the nurses and family know that you don't want visitors for the first hour, or no visitors until you've moved to your recovery room. There's nothing wrong with that.
NO !
There is no reason your LO should have formula in the 1st 24 hours. Or at all if you so choose to BF.
DD had 1 oz of formula her first night. I was an absolute wreck and couldnt get her to latch. Big deal. I still breastfed. I hate when people say things like this... it just freaks FTMS out.
My hospital encourages skin to skin contact and breast feeding right away. So once he came out he went right on my chest. My memory is a pretty foggy but I think we tried to BF then too... but not long after we had visitors coming in.
That was my fault though, I didn't make it clear that I wanted a set amount of time before anyone was allowed in. I assumed they would ask me before they let people in but I guess not...
Now I know for next time.
DS2 8/21/12
DD 9/26/14
Baby #4 edd 2/11/19
Ugh don't listen to people like this. Trust me, my refusal to give formula at first landed us back in the hospital. With a preemie, jaundice, poor latch etc, DD just lost too much weight and her jaundice numbers when out of control. We continued to work with an LC, supplemented for a few weeks and then moved to EBFing.
The all or nothing approach to BFing just leads too many people to quit when they don't need to. I also switched to only doing morning/evening only BF at 7 months and I loved it.
Trying to get privacy in those first couple hours will be nearly impossible. They are monitoring you and the baby. There will be a ton of people in and out.
I just did skin to skin and whoever needed to be in the room was in the room. I didn't have visitorss though.
I agree
There are no hard and fast rules. Everything can be overcome. I also think the ideals set up for a mom to BF are hard to reach.If we were more relaxed about our "rules" more woman would think they could actually do it. Just my opinion