advice for scbu and bf please

[soliloquise]

been reading through these threads on here and they are very inspirational so thank you and you are all doing bloody great


my baby is due july 10th and due to my disability and use of pain meds ( morphine ) may end up in special care for a few weeks ( then again may not.. lets hope it is the latter )...

they will observe the baby for 3 days for signs of withdrawal and if no probs i can go home. the baby will have increased risk of cot death tho so will have to be v careful. i plan to sleep next to the baby with it in a carry cot next to me so i can respond better and faster due to my disability.

my question is.. if my baby exhibits withdrawal ( fetal abstinance syndrome ) and is in special care ( which can be 3 weeks or more if they have to give it meds and then withdraw it ) it will be in special care and there are no facilities to stay wit hthe baby

i will have to find a way to get back and forth to the baby.

everyone ( after much battling and provision of info on opiates and bf ) now supports me bf ( so we are thank god on the same page ) including the paediatricians and head of midwives ( my consultant doesn't tho but that is not important ) - i will have to feed while there and do the kangaroo care thing, as well as pump at home.

i have been told they will provide me wit hpump and sterile bottles etc .

does anyone here have any tips for me? i do not believe in formula and pray i do not need to use it. i will not be bullied into stopping bf either and know it can take a while to get established. there is a chance if my baby is really sick it will be tube fed but i believe they can use breast milk for that too?

my baby is likely to be either very sleepy or very agitated ( possibly both ) IF it is having probs.. but there is a 45% chance the baby will not need special care. it has done great so far and there are no abnormalities and growth is great. i did stop the morphine for 5 days, i cold turkeyed like hell but the baby was monitored and was fine

since then i am on basically a methadone protocol.. taking a small amount each day as they say to withdraw in tri 3 is very dangerous. i am still reducing it v v slowly tho but cannot say i will not need to take any due to my pain issues.

any advice, tips, suggestions gratefully rcieved at this stage because i want to be mega informed so i am not told a load of shite at the birth

also if anyone has ever been in this situation ( special care or opiates ) i would really value some mentoring.

ty x

ps i am down for a natural birth unless otherwise needed and am going for minimum interevention in a midwife unit, but will be trying to do most at home.

 

[Mervs Mum]

Hi

Sounds like you are going in with your eyes wide open which I think is great.

I dont have direct SCBU experience other than donating my spare milk but what I would suggest is to ask what they will lend you in the way of a pump. They might not have many decent double pumps so renting a hospital grade one might be an option?

 

[soliloquise]

Hi

Sounds like you are going in with your eyes wide open which I think is great.

I dont have direct SCBU experience other than donating my spare milk but what I would suggest is to ask what they will lend you in the way of a pump. They might not have many decent double pumps so renting a hospital grade one might be an option?

my midwife assures me they will lend a pump and bottles. i am hoping it will be a good one esp for special care but you never know do you. what pump do you suggest if theirs is crap? i will hire one lol.. and where is best to hire from?

so many questions !!

at one point i was told i could no way bf because of morphine and was looking into donor milk ( anything rather than formula lol ) but luckily my health team ( bar the ob consultant ) are now great about it and informed themselves so i am supported in bf. i would have done it anyway lol.. but would have been difficult if the baby was in special care.

 

[Mervs Mum]

I remember you talking about it before.

Just ask them EXACTLY what pumps they lend. At the SCBU I donate to they only have a few big double pumps and the rest are single and manual pumps. Now that could be different if your baby is on SBCU but I was suprised just how busy it is up there and there must a queue for the decent pumps!

Obviously there is a chance your LO wont need SBCU and you could go home BFing away merrily. If you think you might like to pump anyway, then a great little electric pump is the Medela Mini. That was my first one and it served me well. It's noisey though. The next one up is the Swing and thats excellent, much quieter and has a twin action for a better mimic.

 

[Foogirl]

I'm currently expressing milk for our daughter who is in NNICU (until today when she graduated to SCBU!!)

They started me almost immeditely. The minute she was ready for food in her tummy they called the ward to see if I had any clostrum for her and then hounded me on a daily basis whenever they needed milk.

The midwifes will likely start you off with hand expressing for a day or so and although you will only produce a teeny tiny amount, every little helps. Abby started on 1ml every hour so I was well able to keep up.

The ward you are in will have pumps you can use when you are in. Unless they are ultra busy (as they were when Abby was first born) they will have pumps you can borrow when you go home. We knew we were planning on expressing milk for emergencies so we went out and bought a pump (we got the Medela swing and I find it is much better and more comfortable (and portable!!) than the hospital one)

They will ask you to try to express 6-8 times a day. That is roughly once every 3 hours, including getting up in the middle of the night to do it too. The middle of the night one is important so try to do it if you can. This should help increase your supply. It can get to feel like a bit of a grind, but it is important to stick with it.

Any milk going to the unit is marked name date and time and is kept in the fridge if it will be used in 24 hours or freezer if your supply is more than the demand at first.

If they run out of milk, they will use formula. They did this twice with Abby and she threw up! If I was to give you one tip, it is to make it clear that they must not use formula without talking to you first. We told them to phone if they *think* they have run out. (She actually has gallons of ebm in the freezer so they shouldn't ever run out) That said, it may be that your baby requires extra nutrition and they have a formula for that. But again, they should explain to you this is what they are going to do.

They will encourage you to start breastfeeding as soon as your baby is able.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bec L]

Hi
I think Foogirl has probably told you everything you need to know, but for what it's worth, our daughter was also in SCBU as she was 6 weeks prem. Within a couple of hours of her birth she was able to suckle on me, but basically I was just also in the position of expressing every 3 hours and bringing in the bottles to put in the fridge/freezer for her to be tube fed with.

The worst bit for me was that the first time I got to take her out of her incubator and hold her properly I had a midwife saying to me 'Now we are going to have to formula feed her until your milk comes in..It's the only option, OK!!' and basically left me no choice in the matter. TBH I was a bit of a wreck at that point having not long given birth etc and I just went along with it. Afterwards my mum said how disgusted she was that they didn't really discuss it with me, I was just 'told' what would be done.

Anyway, fortunately I expressed like a demon and very quickly had enough for her to be on purely EBM for her feeds from then on. If Poppy was alert enough at feed times I was able to breastfeed her but she didn't always manage it for long before getting tired. I am glad we persevered though as she has been exclusivley b'fed ever since and loves it

The hospital had a couple of electric pumps for use within SCBU (and forutnately there weren't many other mothers in there choosing to breastfeed so it was always available when I needed it). They also gave me one to take home when I was discharged after 2 days. Can't remember the make but it was an electric double pump and I could usually express a decent amount from both sides within about 10 minutes. They also gave me the expressing 'kit' that you need and provided me with my own steriliser on the ward so I could sterilise it between pumps.

They only ever gave me one kit though, so there was a frustrating night when I left all the stuff behind at the hospital, made the 20 minute journey home and then realised I couldn't express without it so had to drive back and get it. So perhaps it wouldn't hurt to get your own pump at home, just in case. I had to buy one eventually anyway as I gave the hospital one back once Poppy was discharged.

Well done for getting so prepared in advance. Hope everything goes really well when the time comes

 

[Dottie]

Hi My baby was in SCBU for 3 weeks as she was six weeks prem

I was lucky enough to be given a flat on the SCBU unit so I could be near my baby and establish breast feeding

My daughter was given some formular shortly after birth as I was told it would be dangerous to let her dyhydrate. Wasn't long before I was expressing enough milk to feed her through the tube without the formula.

Had to express every three hours including during the night and used the double pump in the scbu unit. I pumped from both sides at the same time as it saved loads of time.
I was pretty much able to care for my daughter myself once she was out of the incubator she was able to move into the flat with me and I was able to tube feed her and do all her care.
It took 3 weeks and alot of patience to get her to breast feed and I am so glad now that I never gave in and let her have a bottle

Good luck with your little one xxx

 

[soliloquise]

ty v much for this all of you xx