Sick babies are often too weak to suck much—and this is true even if the baby isn’t sick enough to require a nicu stay. If a baby has to be in the hospital—it can be difficult logistically to breastfeed them, and of course if women aren’t dedicated to it, they won’t maintain milk. My son was required to stay in the nicu for 4 days (for ridiculous reasons—he was fine). I was only allowed to stay in the hospital 2 nights, and I was exhausted and needed to sleep. I ended up allowing them to feed him formula since my milk was slow to come in—no one strongly encouraged me to stay there and breastfeed in the night. I got a 5 minute tutorial on how to use a pump, which was briefly suggested. It’s great that some hospitals are encouraging breastfeeding and providing donor milk to premature babies. I don’t know how universal this is. I know other women who have complained of similar problems I faced.
Sick babies are often too weak to suck much—and this is true even if the baby isn’t sick enough to require a nicu stay. If a baby has to be in the hospital—it can be difficult logistically to breastfeed them, and of course if women aren’t dedicated to it, they won’t maintain milk. My son was required to stay in the nicu for 4 days (for ridiculous reasons—he was fine). I was only allowed to stay in the hospital 2 nights, and I was exhausted and needed to sleep.
I ended up allowing them to feed him formula since my milk was slow to come in—no one strongly encouraged me to stay there and breastfeed in the night. I got a 5 minute tutorial on how to use a pump, which was briefly suggested. It’s great that some hospitals are encouraging breastfeeding and providing donor milk to premature babies. I don’t know how universal this is. I know other women who have complained of similar problems I faced.