Breastfeeding plan

[belfie]

I recently wrote a breastfeeding plan prior to the birth of my DD. This factored in our history, allergies & my GD + insulin, and obviously there was some medical procedures that we knew would be applied to us/our baby in terms of special care admission etc (bear in mind this was a private hospital and we knew the paed who would be looking after our baby). I thought I'd post it here in case others have a similar plan they wish to add to the thread, or as a resource for others to use/tweak as they wish. I found it useful to have a document for hospital staff that summarised everything that was important to me.

We also placed a sign on her basinet that said

I am learning to breastfeed.
L
Please don’t give me any teats or dummies.
Mummy’s boobies are pretty tricky and I don’t want to get confused.

Breastfeeding Preferences

In our family we have a range of food intolerances, allergies and medical conditions which have influenced how we wish to proceed with our new baby:

• myself – fructose malabsorption, gestational diabetic on insulin (both pregnancies)
• my 2 y.o. son – documented recognisable food allergies (eggs, treenuts, sesame), eczema & query asthma.
• my husband – dairy sensitivity, asthma, eczema.

My son and I struggled to establish a successful breastfeeding relationship with a combination of flat nipples (used nipple shields), and on his side, mouth breathing that didn’t resolve until his allergies were diagnosed. He didn’t ever attach without a nipple shield, nor did he attach prior to my milk coming in.
We fed with great difficulty until he was 2 months old. I exclusively expressed until he was 12 months old.
I am very keen to give our new baby the best chance possible to have exclusive breastmilk and to breastfeed given the contributing factors outlined above. I have expressed and frozen colostrum which we will use if she doesn’t attach or has low BSL’s.
In order to maximise our chances of breastfeeding success, we wish to do the following:

• Maximise skin to skin with myself and baby as much as possible.
• BSL’s and any other injections, measurements to be done whilst baby on me if possible.
• My frozen colostrum is stored in the SCN freezer, labelled with my name, the date and a number (representing the order of freezing, i.e. 1 = first batch frozen, please use first, 2 = use second etc).
• IF she requires any top-ups (my colostrum by first choice), please syringe or cup feed.
• Please do not give my baby a teat or dummy.
• Please do not give my baby formula without my consent. If formula is medically necessary, please use NAN HA or provide us with information as to the best formula to use to minimise allergy risk.
• Following the birth, we plan to allow her time to attach and act like a normal baby. If she doesn’t attach, and/or has low BSL’s (~2.6 or less), myself or my husband will give her stored colostrum (approx 1 ml, 2ml if bigger baby) while she is still skin to skin with me.
• If her first BSL is good (~4) then we hope to see if she will attach to the breast.
• I am aware that baby will be admitted to SCN for at least the first 24 hours, during that time I would like her to room in with me as much as possible, if BSL’s are adequate and there are no other health issues.

[*Beema*]

A fabulous plan hun and to know that you succeeded in achieving it is all the more awesome!!!

I will definitely be printing a copy and speaking with the MW's about it before my C-Sec, they already know what I want to achieve and we have got a few plans in place already

[AJC]

I have never heard of a breastfeeding plan before and I think the idea is absolutely FANTASTIC! Good for you. I wish I had thought about it more before DS was born. I knew I was planning to BF, but I had no idea of the alternatives that the hospital would offer - and how overwhelmed I would feed, especially when DS was born via c/s at 34 weeks. I think your plan is wonderful. BF is such a precious gift, you have made an amazing effort to provide your children with BM.

[MummaSue]

Fabulous plan!

Sue x

[Fleur]

It's awesome Belfie, thanks for sharing

I think this would be beneficial to EVERY woman hoping to BF. I fed my third until 14 months & never expected to have a problem with my fourth. A plan like this might have made a big difference.

PS and more for you!

[dusty]

Belfie thanks for sharing! Really interesting. How did it all go when your DD was born, were your preparations/wishes adhered to/embraced by staff?
BTW she is extremely cute Congratulations

[Mak]

Great idea Belfie! Congrats and well done! xxxx

[boomba]

thanks for sharing. Well done hun

[sloane]

thank you for sharing, that is an excellent idea. i wish i'd had something like that when i'd had DS.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Thanks for sharing hun.. you have done an AMAZING job thus far, keep up the great work and what a great resource for future mothers 'or' fathers to refer to.

[HotI]

Could we make this a sticky?