Breastfeeding a baby with jaundice – Hayley

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When my son was just a few days old he was admitted to the paediatric ward at Hospital U. I had already spent several days in hospital before the birth of my son due to PROM [prolonged rupture of membranes]. The hospital midwife had tried to help him to latch on by roughly grabbing my breast and forcing it into his mouth. This clearly didn't work, and was distressing for both me and my baby. I was exhausted and keen to leave the hospital. I thought I would have a better chance of encouraging him to feed once we were out of the noise and bustle and relaxing at home.

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Unfortunately at home he seemed to be excessively drowsy and it was becoming increasingly difficult to get him to feed. The visiting midwife had said that he was jaundiced and that I needed to try and feed him at least every 3 hours to clear it. However, he just wouldn't wake up enough to latch on. I was actually relieved to be readmitted to hospital because I was becoming frantic trying to get him to breastfeed through the night. The few times I could get him to feed he would only use from one breast, so the other breast was rock hard, hot and really sore by this point.

 

In the hospital there was a wonderful night nurse who was trained in breastfeeding support. I wish I could remember her name. She came and helped me to wake him every few hours through the night. She recommended that I pump the hard sore breast to relieve the pressure. She also helped me with my latch, showed me different holds and let me just talk. After a few days my son was much improved, brighter and feeding well from both breasts. Things were much improved by this point, my baby was more alert, far less orange and feeding well.

 

I will never forget that nurse. I am not sure I would have succeeded in continuing to breastfeed without her support. Thanks to her help in those crucial first few days, I was able to breastfeed my son for over 2 years.