The day 4 Pediatrician ambush
Imagine being 4 days post-partum at your first Pedi appt, with your first baby, totally exhausted, haven’t shower (or slept in 98 hours but who’s counting) and the Pediatrician says your baby has lost 10% and needs formula. NOW! As in he pulls out a bottle of formula and doesn’t give you much time to think about what’s happening. The next few days you give a bottle after each feed, like the doctor said, and slowly your milk decreases and the baby prefers the bottle. By 2 weeks the baby just cries and turns away at the breast and you barely pump 1/2 oz total every 3 hours. Later you wonder how it happened. What went wrong?
First you were ambushed! You didn’t hav time to think about the ramifications or if there was another way, there is always another way to quote Dory from Finding Dory ;). How could this have been different??
If you had a prenatal breastfeeding class you would have know that weight is only one factor to consider before starting supplementation, not the only factor. for example- was your milk in? did it just come in that am? Was baby full term? Big baby? How has feeding been going the last 4 days? Good latch? Any assessments by an IBCLC either in the hospital or after discharge? There are so many considerations besides just 10% weight loss. It’s not black and white.
If you had a visit with a IBCLC BEFORE seeing the Pediatrician, but after leaving the hospital, you would have know how much weight the baby was down and could have made a plan. Then you would have walked into that appointment prepared to show you had a plan in place, and support it feeding. This is where a in home visit is wonderful as soon as you get home. The IBCLC you see should also forward the visit information and feeding plan to the Pediatrician so they will know before the visits even starts (and in case you forget to bring any information) that a plan is already in place to address the weight loss. A plan that includes follow-up until weight back into normal range and ending established.
If it was determined baby needed supplementation, where you give other options like a tube at the breast, spoon or by feed or at least a slow flow nipple, like Dr Brown’s preemie nipple and taught paced bottle feeding?
With an IBCLC on your side this Pediatrician visit would have gone so differently. You wouldn’t have felt ambushed. Instead you would have felt prepared and had a solid plan, that was made WITH you and the IBCLC not FOR you without your input. This difference frequently makes the difference between breastfeeding for 2 weeks and feeling sad and frustrated, and a rocky start evolving into a solid, easy and positive breastfeeding experience for both you and baby for a year or more.
Get an IBCLC on your side BEFORE you need one!! Find someone while pregnant if you can and get help set up. Maybe you won’t need any help. Or maybe a prenatal class will teach you how to avoid the pitfalls and it’ll be smooth sailing. Or maybe you will know who to book an appointment with at 3am when your baby keeps crying and you don’t know what to do. Find help now, before you are exhausted and fried.
Here is a video about the Day 4 ambush. Sorry it’s sideway, camera issues!
Day 4 Ambush video