Supporting a Jaundice Baby
I gave birth to Momo, my 2nd born in May 2019. Thankfully, my labour and delivery were both a breeze. We stayed a night in hospital and were discharged the next day. From the very beginning he was breastfeeding fine, but on day 3 we attended A&E with another issue and then ended up being admitted into SCBU due to jaundice which was normal for newborns at this age.
With it being day 3, my milk had just come in and I had loads of it and my baby was feeding well. With it being normal jaundice, I knew it would’ve resolved in a few days with regular breastfeeding. However, from the moment I stepped into SCBU, I was being pressured to top- up with supplements without any of them checking how my breastfeeding was going and to express to ‘prove’ I had enough milk and to visually see what the baby was taking. I was already under a lot of anxiety from the moment I stepped into SCBU due to past experiences with my 1st son who was premature and had a difficult start to breastfeeding, so the last thing I needed was the extra added pressure.
With Momo, I was really determined to breastfeed. I knew he didn’t need top-ups and SCBU were really making me doubt my decision. This is when I met Shaheda and she was a god send. She was extremely helpful, supportive, calm and determined to get me and my baby home with the jaundice resolved through breastfeeding. Shaheda did an assessment on my feeding, gave me confidence that my breastfeeding would be enough for him, regularly checked on me and my baby and continuously reminded me to have full conviction in my decision. With her support, I had full confidence in what was right for me and my baby.
As clinically there was no indication that he needed top ups, I persevered with breastfeeding. I did pump as the nurses made me doubt my supply but didn’t end up using my expressed milk! With breastfeeding, my son’s jaundice had dropped and we were thankfully discharged after a short stay. Now he’s nearly 2, we’ve had a successful and lovely breastfeeding journey up until he was 20m with no top up and supplements. Thanks to Shaheda I was able to stand by and have confidence in my decision and I’m so glad that I came across her during that time, if I hadn’t I know I would’ve been pressured into doing something I didn’t want to.
