Monday, January 26, 2009
Breast Pumps Coming to Nurtured
When BananaMuffin was born at 35 weeks gestation, she hadn't yet developed a sucking reflex. I would hold her to my breast as often as possible, try to breastfeed, she wouldn't suck. The nurses would hold her head tightly to my breast in an effort to "force" her to nurse, I would cry in frustration, put down my new baby, and pump. Every 3 hours, day in and day out. 17 days in the NICU, in a parent room, setting my alarm for 3 am to pump, 6 am, and repeat throughout the day. I remember my mother-in-law questioning one of the NICU nurses about when we would be released, "not until the baby is breastfeeding, right?" and the nurse saying "well, we always have a feeding PLAN in place"...not quite the answer we were hoping for.
When we were finally discharged, we called around looking for a breast pump to rent, as our "feeding plan" still didn't include breastfeeding. It was incredibly difficult to find one at the time. We finally did, thankfully, and for a full five weeks, I continued my 3 hour date with the pump, while socializing with my family, eating dinner, reading a book, or, most often, dozing in the middle of the night, wanting to be anywhere but hooked up to that contraption. Finally, the day came that my little baby breastfed. I remember shortly after her actual due date sitting down at noon hour, vowing that I was not getting out of my chair until we learned to breastfeed. I held BananaMuffin in my arms while she slept, and when she woke, put her immediately to my breast. I continued my vigil until 11 pm, when she FINALLY latched and started nursing. I cried so hard with such relief. We had finally learned how to do it!
Because of this experience, I have always felt that it is important that moms have access to good breast pumps when they need it. One of my first orders of business once we determined that we were opening a Nurtured store, was to find a fleet of breast pumps that will be available for rent. We did, and I am so excited.
We will have 3 Ameda double electric breast pumps available for rent, and will be adding more as demand increases. Unique to the Ameda breast pumps are adjustable flanges (the 'horn' that goes over your breast), I had no idea, that every 3 hours for 5 weeks, I was using a flange that was too small for me, sucking my nipple in and rubbing it against the walls of the flange every single time, causing sore nipples and less volume of milk. When you come to Nurtured as a nursing mom, you will actually be fitted for the correct size flange. This is a hugely important piece of information. I was never told this by any nurse, pharmacist, doctor, or otherwise. I'm so proud that we will be given the training to fit moms properly and provide a more comfortable pumping experience while mom and baby learn to be a breastfeeding team.
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