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Surviving Hospital Stays
How to Preserve Your Nursing Relationship
By Amy Carey
It is every mother's worst fear: she or Baby must be hospitalized. And if she's a breastfeeding mother, hospitalization is even more worrisome. How will she maintain her milk supply, what if Baby must fast or she is given medication? Whether Mom is just getting the hang of nursing or is part of an experienced nursing pair, any time spent away from Baby is going to be stressful.
Some doctors may advise you to wean your baby if faced with surgery or other hospital procedure. But in almost every case, whether it is you or your baby who requires hospital care, you need not wean your baby from the breast.
"There may be situations where breastfeeding may not be permitted [for a period of time], but the mother can pump her breasts to maintain her milk supply until the baby and mother can resume breastfeeding at the breast," says Pat Lindsey, an international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) in Orlando, Fla.
For example, when Selina Burt's baby was just 9 days old, Burt was rushed to the hospital with a systemic infection requiring antibiotics. The doctors who saw her insisted she "pump and dump" (express breastmilk using a pump, then throw the milk away) for the next 15 hours while she was being treated. "The next day, I had a follow-up with my [regular doctor] who said that the antibiotics I was given were fine for nursing moms," says the Kirksville, Mo. mother. "We went back to nursing right there in his office."
If your hospitalization is not an emergency like Burt's, you may have time to prepare for the separation from your baby. "If Mother is having elective surgery or some procedure where she has advanced notice, she can begin to pump a little each day and store it for the separation from the baby," says Lindsey.
