A Guiding Hand for Families in Special Care Nurseries - Digital - Book - Page 35
Special Care Nursery (SCN)
breast milk. Decisions to use fortifier are usually based on how small or how
early your baby is. Once your baby is growing well and getting closer to going
home, the fortifier will be stopped.
What you can do to support your breastfeeding journey:
• Ask the nurses on the unit for advice on breastfeeding. You can also ask if
there is a breastfeeding specialist available to support you.
• Kangaroo Care, this means holding your baby against your chest, skin-toskin. Kangaroo Care can make breastfeeding more successful.
• If your baby is not ready to take the breast yet, you could express (pump)
breast milk. Hand expressing is best for the first few days and then you can
move on to using a pump. Your baby can have this milk if they are getting
tube feeds. Expressing milk helps maintain your milk supply.
• Stress can reduce your flow of breast milk. So when you are a
breastfeeding mum, looking after yourself helps your baby too.
Mum’s Health
Breastfeeding is really good for a mum’s health. It can help you feel more like
yourself again, as your body utilises the extra fat stored during pregnancy
to produce breast milk. There is also good evidence that breastfeeding
reduces your risk of breast and ovarian cancer. You may eventually decide
that long-term breastfeeding is not for you, but providing breast milk in the
early weeks after birth gives your baby a unique health boost.
Get support from the nurses in your unit or a lactation consultant, and
remember, even a small amount of breast milk is very beneficial.
Bottle Feeding
If you or your baby are unable to breastfeed, you may choose to use
formula milk. Your baby will have to be mature enough to co-ordinate
sucking with swallowing and breathing before they can feed effectively
from the bottle. If your baby is having trouble with bottle feeding, it might
help to try different positions, teats and bottles. Nurses in the unit will advise
you on what kind of formula to use, how to prepare feeds and sterilise
equipment. They can also show you how to feed your baby with a bottle and
how to pace feed your baby.
Source: © Copyright Bliss 2011
Life’s Little Treasures Foundation | Supporting Families of Premature & Sick Babies
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