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06/22/2005: "The Confidence of Mothers"

A little experience, assertiveness, and confidence sure goes a long way.

I met a woman last night, who when she found out what I do, told me how glad she was I was promoting breastfeeding. She told me the story of her youngest child, her third, who had been born 3 months prematurely in 1987. She was still outraged to this day that the nurses were discussing "what to do when she dried up" and "what additives to put in her pumped breast milk as there was less and less of it", because they were so sure she would not be able to pump enough or long enough to support her little premie. Well, she was outraged and got in their faces and told them, "I breastfed my other two children, and I sure as h-e-double-hockey-sticks will breastfeed this one!" (I like assertive mothers.)

In those days, not that long ago, most breast pumps only pumped one breast at a time. Her doctor took her aside and suggested she get a second tube & breast shield, and rig up a "Y" connection to the suction jack coming out of the breastpump machine. He told her double pumping would accomplish pumping twice as fast, and keep her milk-producing hormone level up. (Yeah, get it all with the first let-down, nearly impossible with single-pumpers.)

Now compare that with the experience of another mother, this one a first time mother, with a full term baby who ended up being re-admitted for jaundice. First off, I had been correctly coached: "Feed the baby on demand." That I did. But what do you do if the baby doesn't demand? She was sleeping 7 hours through the night pretty darn quickly that first week, and it didn't occur to me that something was wrong. At four days my milk really came in, but by then I could not wake the baby to feed her. She'd open her eyes, look at me, and fall back asleep. The nurse came that day for our at home check, but the lighting in the house wasn't very good, and it took Grandma, thank heaven she was there, to say, "Doesn't she look a little yellow?" That was when the nurse opened a curtain, held the baby up to the window and said, "You're right!"

When we got to the hospital, we were having even less success getting the baby to open her eyes, and the nurses sat and watched me for a full half hour trying to coax her into latching on. It reached the point, though, that we were all desperate to get fluids into her. It took an awful lot of doing, but at last a nurse got her to swallow some formula. With a full belly, she began her few days under a billi-light.

One of the nurses handed me shoe box sized box that contained a heap of plastic breast pump parts, with no instructions. She was able to plug me into an old Ameda/Egnel (at the time state of the art) single pump machine. It looked like an elegant sewing machine, sitting next to a classic wooden rocking chair. It was in a private room, just for breast pumping. Whaddaya know! (I was impressed.) I was able to pump a little bit, and supposedly I should have been able to pump more at home too, but I had no clue how to assemble the rest of the parts.

I came in the next day very apologetic that I had not been able to figure out how to assemble it. It seems ridiculous now, but you gotta remember, a woman who has just given birth is dealing with both a lack of sleep and a hormonal haze. I think the nurse almost laughed, as she took the parts, and in a split second, handed me back one of these old fangled cylinder jobbies. I used it to get a few ounces out at home, but in reality, I knew my baby was pretty much living on formula until this ordeal was over, and we'd just pick up and breastfeed when she got sprung from that joint.

Now if only I'd been confident enough and assertive enough to get enough breast milk into my baby before her jaundice was out of control.

First time mothers have it very difficult. Besides the bewildering new baby, there is all the luggage they come with, with all kinds of tools and appliences you've never seen before.

That's why BreastPump.Com really tries to lay it out for mothers, and demystify at least all this breast pump stuff.

All the Breast,

Suzanne.