So I breastfed my son for 2 weeks out of a whole year or more that I planned on breastfeeding for.…
So I breastfed my son for 2 weeks out of a whole year or more that I planned on breastfeeding for. The reason? Because my sons jaundice levels were SO high his dr office on call pediatrician called me one night and told me to take my 2 week old to the emergency room of the hospital he was born at to have light therapy done the very next morning. We did that and he was admitted to the emergency room and all the nurses were crazy about him lol and they couldn’t believe how orange he was(he was so yellow that he was orange and looked like an umpa loompa) I could hear them in the halls talking about him and how bad they felt for him saying “he definitely should get light therapy done...poor baby”. We were there for HOURS all for the on call emergency room pediatrician to tell me we aren’t going to do light therapy but stop breastfeeding him, give him formula until his dr appointment on Monday(3 days)” I was a first time mom so I listened to him. I stopped breastfeeding my son and I was SO upset. I had sample cans of formula and that was it. I quickly found out how sensitive his stomach was as well. He never breastfed again I couldn’t even pump and bottle feed him, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. I would try and he would pull back making a face then SCREAM. I’m due in August and I DONT want the same thing to happen. What do I do if this does happen again? I don’t want to just give In and stop breastfeeding again and have a dr tell me my baby is fine(his levels were over 18 and before I took him home his levels kept rising quickly and they said “just put him in the sun”.
Alyssa·
Research for a good lactation consultant in your area and work closely with them in the event of any issues. And research! Join breastfeeding groups on fb, even if you just read through the posts. You learn so much from that. And simply know that your journey with your little one will be what it will be and that needs to be what works for you guys. If breastfeeding is important, make it important! You’ve got this, momma.
M. P. ··
Thank you! 😭
Deleted·
I have a low milk supply so I nurse and supplement. With my daughter I started around 2 weeks because she wasn’t gaining enough weight and still had jaundice. With my son, I started supplementing when he was 3 days old.
M. P. ··
I didn’t and still don’t know anything about supplementing. That dr told me to just quit breastfeeding all together to see if it would help(never told me what to do after if it didn’t help) we had absolutely no problems breastfeeding the only problem was when he was born I had no idea what I was doing but I quickly caught on and he never had problems latching and I had great supply. Just for some reason after those 3 days of formula he never wanted me again. I tried directly breastfeeding, pace bottle feeding, pumping then bottoms feeding it to him. I gave up cause it hurt me whenever he screamed because he wasn’t getting his way trying to breastfeed and I didn’t want to force him to do something he didn’t want to do and be hungry... 😔 I just don’t want the same thing to happen again because unfortunately my insurance is the same and I have to have this baby at the same hospital. At least I know now to enforce that they do light therapy if her levels keep going up, I kept my mouth shut though with my son.
Deleted··
@bubbys.mommy, aw yeah. I can imagine it was an emotional and stressful situation. The pediatrician suggested I supplement since he knew I was trying to breastfeed. How discouraging to just be told to stop. Neither of my kids needed the bili light so I wonder why your son had it so extreme.
M. P. ··
@flamingomom, yeah we never found out anything but his levels were dangerous and my pedi said do a light therapy session and all the nurses in the er said the same thing and this old man comes in and says something different. I walked out so frustrated I started crying..