Fighting for my Rights

As I've said in my earlier blogs, I'm quite an easy going person, and since young I've been eager to please. I had to set this part of my personality aside when my youngest was born though.

About 24 hours after my baby Stephanie was born, she was observed to have turned a 'dusky' colour and was put under observation. As such, she was not allowed any food, ie no milk and definitely no breastfeeding and was given glucose (I think) through a tube. I went in to see her and not being allowed to breastfeed her nearly broke my heart.

It was determined later through an x-ray that she had developed an infection in her upper node of her left lung and was put on antibiotics intravenously. The next morning, she had a feeding tube down her throat and it was explained to me that Stephanie cried non-stop in hunger in the middle of the night and the doctor allowed her to be fed with formula milk. As the paediatrician was there, I took the opportunity to inform her that I wanted to breastfeed Stephanie and thankfully her reply was a definite yes.

However, when the doctor left, the nurses told me that I had to choose the brand of milk powder for her so that they could continue to feed her. I stood there in a dazed, confused. I told the nurse, I want to breastfeed. The charge nurse patiently explained the whole situation to me again but I did not give consent because it didn't make sense to me that I had to give formula from then on just because they gave her formula once!

A second nurse again asked me the same question about which brand of formula I wanted for my baby, but this time I was more prepared and said, "I want to breastfeed." She was not happy with my answer and repeated the question, I looked her in the eye (thank God I was much older than her and already a 4th time mother) and said firmly, "No, I want to breastfeed." She hesitated but finally said in resignation, "Ok lah" and wrapped the baby up and handed her to me!

I cannot describe the relief I felt when Stephanie began feeding from my breast after 24 hours! But I knew the battle was not over; after all, due to baby's illness, she had to be in the nursery full time and was at the mercy of the nurses.

When my ob-gyn popped in to have a chat (he charged me RM30 each time he came to 'chat'!), I took the opportunity to complain to him and being pro breastfeeding, he promised to look into the matter. From then on, I knew everything will be alright.

When the nurses called me 3 hours later to feed Stephanie, I was greeted with sour and impatient faces. I beared with their bad attitude cos I knew I was doing the right thing and giving my baby the best. I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible and helped in setting up the screen etc. From then on, I smiled each time I went in, greeted them cheerfully and things improved greatly.

Going into the nursery and staying there for a substantial amount of time helped me to understand why the nurses were not keen for me to breastfeed my baby. For each time I went, they had to wrap the baby up, making sure the tubes and wires weren't in the way, bring a chair, screen and even a pillow for me. Breastfed babies also feed more often and need more frequent diaper changes. By insisting on breastfeeding, I'm actually giving them a lot more work.

As I sat there feeding my baby, I also observed that the nurses were on their feet all the time, they even filled reports while standing up as they had to jot down the readings on the machines. I have new found respect for them.

However, what and how I feed my baby is something I will not compromise. Stephanie was only allowed to go home after 4 days. I'm happy to report that she's now 3 months and 10 days and weighs 7kgs!