Happy 2ND Day Of World Breastfeeding Week!
The second day of celebration and I want to talk to all of those mommies in their third trimester getting ready to nest and get that hospital recovery plan together.
Now, by this time you're pretty sure what you're feeling on the subject of caring for baby. You've been practicing this whole time you've been pregnant whether it's exercising and watching everything that goes into your mouth or maybe you've been scrap booking every photo of your growing belly to the ultrasound photos they hand you. Whatever you've been doing to take care of yourself and the details of your pregnancy, you've been connecting with that baby growing in your womb. You know what time is the most active time of day for your baby. You know what triggers activity from your little one, maybe after eating or right after exercising. You know when they may get their daily bat of the hiccups and you know just how to get them to move in you...maybe pushing down on your belly in a specific location to get them to kick. You may love to talk or sing to your little one and about now you're starting to know exactly what you want your birth plan to be but what about your recovery plan while in the hospital. You have an idea that you may want to breastfeed although you may know that it may be a challenge but you're going to give it your best. So let me suggest not only a birth plan but also a recovery plan for you to succeed at your breastfeeding goal.
A birth plan is the plan for your labor. Usually the rules you want the hospital staff to carry out during your labor. It is a plan communicated to your birthing team prior to labor because once there and in labor let's just say it's an experience we've never experienced and never will forget. Discussing the plan with your partner is a must. Some will decide to go natural as long as they can, some may decide only natural no matter what and have their partner there working hard through each contraction. Some women have decided that as soon as the first contraction hits they have to get right to the hospital and be medicated yet others may have no choice and have a cesarean planned due to positioning of their baby or complications. Whatever your plan may be remember that the plan does not stop there. What is your recovery pan? A recovery plan is when your recovering post partum. Have you thought out if you will breastfeed once baby is delivered or will you wait until you have privacy in your recovery room? Will you allow your baby to be taken to the nursery so that you can rest or will the baby be right by your side while you recover? Will your partner stay with you in your room to transition through it all with you plus be there when you have to go to the bathroom, shower or if you're unable to get up right away to attend to the baby? Will your baby be circumcised and if he is will your partner be accompanying him? This is what goes into the recovery plan. It may be a lot to think about but they are little details that will help you to succeed at breastfeeding and transitioning.
You may have your mind set on breastfeeding but so much changes when other factors set in like a screaming baby that freaks you out. Yes, that's what happened with me. A screaming baby that needs some sort of consoling but you have no idea what to do. Yes, that also happened to me. A screaming baby that causes your nurse to ask if she can take the baby for an hour or so into the nursery so that you can get some rest. Yes, that also happened to me. So I got some rest and 8 hours later I woke up rested with my baby still in the nursery on a full belly of formula. This takes me to my next point, your recovery plan will allow all staff to know exactly what your intend for your baby. Practices unfriendly to breastfeeding are a fact and it happens everyday. Unfriendly practices means hospital staff feeding babies formula, sugar water and water supplements while in their care just to calm the baby down occurs everyday without consent from the new mother. According to the article written by the CDC (centered for disease control and prevention) on U.S. hospitals, most of them don't do very well when it comes to promoting breastfeeding.
Shameless Plug: This happened to me too. I had my plan. I was a first time mother but I knew that I was going to breastfeed. Once the baby was here though, I was very uncertain of what to do that first night in the hospital. I took advice from my nurse to have my baby placed in the nursery so that I could get rest after a 24 hour labor and woke up 8 hours later to a baby away in the nursery, very deep in sleep with a full belly of formula. I could post another blog entry on how that made me feel so I'll share what that inspired me to create, The Note to Nurse set.
Recovery Suggestion:
1.Get both plans ready
2.Be well prepared
3.Have your knowledge ready and take advantage of the Lactation consultant available for you. 4.Be prepared to tell your visitors to exit your room if you have to nurse and practice latching on and off those first few nursings in the hospital.
5.Take some books with you to read on postnatal care and especially breastfeeding.
6.Be prepared to rest with your baby and accept the pampering you'll receive from all who love you.
7. Last but not least, have a Note to Nurse set ready to place on baby after their first bath :-)
Now, by this time you're pretty sure what you're feeling on the subject of caring for baby. You've been practicing this whole time you've been pregnant whether it's exercising and watching everything that goes into your mouth or maybe you've been scrap booking every photo of your growing belly to the ultrasound photos they hand you. Whatever you've been doing to take care of yourself and the details of your pregnancy, you've been connecting with that baby growing in your womb. You know what time is the most active time of day for your baby. You know what triggers activity from your little one, maybe after eating or right after exercising. You know when they may get their daily bat of the hiccups and you know just how to get them to move in you...maybe pushing down on your belly in a specific location to get them to kick. You may love to talk or sing to your little one and about now you're starting to know exactly what you want your birth plan to be but what about your recovery plan while in the hospital. You have an idea that you may want to breastfeed although you may know that it may be a challenge but you're going to give it your best. So let me suggest not only a birth plan but also a recovery plan for you to succeed at your breastfeeding goal.
A birth plan is the plan for your labor. Usually the rules you want the hospital staff to carry out during your labor. It is a plan communicated to your birthing team prior to labor because once there and in labor let's just say it's an experience we've never experienced and never will forget. Discussing the plan with your partner is a must. Some will decide to go natural as long as they can, some may decide only natural no matter what and have their partner there working hard through each contraction. Some women have decided that as soon as the first contraction hits they have to get right to the hospital and be medicated yet others may have no choice and have a cesarean planned due to positioning of their baby or complications. Whatever your plan may be remember that the plan does not stop there. What is your recovery pan? A recovery plan is when your recovering post partum. Have you thought out if you will breastfeed once baby is delivered or will you wait until you have privacy in your recovery room? Will you allow your baby to be taken to the nursery so that you can rest or will the baby be right by your side while you recover? Will your partner stay with you in your room to transition through it all with you plus be there when you have to go to the bathroom, shower or if you're unable to get up right away to attend to the baby? Will your baby be circumcised and if he is will your partner be accompanying him? This is what goes into the recovery plan. It may be a lot to think about but they are little details that will help you to succeed at breastfeeding and transitioning.
You may have your mind set on breastfeeding but so much changes when other factors set in like a screaming baby that freaks you out. Yes, that's what happened with me. A screaming baby that needs some sort of consoling but you have no idea what to do. Yes, that also happened to me. A screaming baby that causes your nurse to ask if she can take the baby for an hour or so into the nursery so that you can get some rest. Yes, that also happened to me. So I got some rest and 8 hours later I woke up rested with my baby still in the nursery on a full belly of formula. This takes me to my next point, your recovery plan will allow all staff to know exactly what your intend for your baby. Practices unfriendly to breastfeeding are a fact and it happens everyday. Unfriendly practices means hospital staff feeding babies formula, sugar water and water supplements while in their care just to calm the baby down occurs everyday without consent from the new mother. According to the article written by the CDC (centered for disease control and prevention) on U.S. hospitals, most of them don't do very well when it comes to promoting breastfeeding.
Shameless Plug: This happened to me too. I had my plan. I was a first time mother but I knew that I was going to breastfeed. Once the baby was here though, I was very uncertain of what to do that first night in the hospital. I took advice from my nurse to have my baby placed in the nursery so that I could get rest after a 24 hour labor and woke up 8 hours later to a baby away in the nursery, very deep in sleep with a full belly of formula. I could post another blog entry on how that made me feel so I'll share what that inspired me to create, The Note to Nurse set.
Recovery Suggestion:
1.Get both plans ready
2.Be well prepared
3.Have your knowledge ready and take advantage of the Lactation consultant available for you. 4.Be prepared to tell your visitors to exit your room if you have to nurse and practice latching on and off those first few nursings in the hospital.
5.Take some books with you to read on postnatal care and especially breastfeeding.
6.Be prepared to rest with your baby and accept the pampering you'll receive from all who love you.
7. Last but not least, have a Note to Nurse set ready to place on baby after their first bath :-)
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