United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Is there anyone who is breastfeeding a bpi baby? When I feed my daughter on her bpi side, it seems to hurt her every now and then. Is anyone else having or did have this problem? What did you do about it?

Tracey

Hi, about 15 minutes ago I replied to this question and my answer never showed up. Do I have to log in or something everytime I want to answer? Help...Louise H. Beaulieu ... I used the reply form...and I know I "posted the message"

I think I am writing to myself...I pressed "reply" about 15 minutes ago and gave a response...It has not come up yet...When I examined the board I think that if I want to respond I need to press "reply to this topic"...is the "reply" button only if I want to email someone at home? Could someone please explain? Thanks...Peace and blessings...Louise

Hi. I am still breastfeeding my 10 month old OBPI daughter. The first few weeks I didn't put her on the injured side because they had told me at the hospital not to lay her on that side. But that was because they thought she had a fractured clavicle. It wasn't easy to feed her on the same side for both breasts because you have to use a "football style" hold on the one side. When they get bigger that hold is nearly impossible. I found laying in bed with her and propping her up with pillows helped. The hardest time breastfeeding her was at TCH when she had primary surgery at 5 1/2 months of age. With all the wires and tubes it was very intimidating, but we worked through it and I think it made her and me feel closer.

I breastfed my baby from exclusively from about 3 weeks (she had head trauma so I couldn't even hold her until day 5!) to 8 months, when she just stopped. I was always concerned about her arm until I fed her at the physical therapists and she showed me how her arm should be positioned while I fed her. You might want to talk to your baby's therapist about your concern.

Seems like I remember laying my baby's head in my lap and letting her legs lay on the couch when i changed sides. I sorta slid her from one breast to the other one. and didnt turn her around. It worked.

Hi!

I did have this problem with my daughter at first, and I was only able to nurse her with her injured right side up. You can do this by using the 'cross cradle' which is just letting the baby nurse on the comfortable side then just sliding her over to the other breast without changing her position. You may need to slide your other hand under her to be comfortable, or if you start in the 'football' hold you should be fine. If you like to nurse lying down you can nurse the baby upside down, with her feet at your head instead of turning her onto her injured side if that works for you. Remember to use lots of pillows to support your back and arms while you figure out what works, and feel free to e-mail me if you want to talk more about it. Also, you might consider calling La Leche League, they can send you info or help you with more positioning ideas, any search engine should turn up their website.

I also had the OT/PT's help with positioning when my daughter was only two weeks old. Its important to protect the shoulder joint by keeping that little arm tucked across the baby's chest and not letting it dangle at your side as is often recommended for non-injured babies- I would second that suggestion to talk to your OT/PT about this if you havent yet.
Good luck!

Nissa

I remember using those receiving blankets that I would roll up and support her neck or I would keep a soft bed pillow around to support her head.

If I remember correctly we breastfed on both sides with the idea that the different positioning would help her torticollis - we were told we had to try to use both sides so that her neck would not get too tight on the one side.

hope things work out,
francine

I breastfed my BPI baby for 14 months. When he was very small and I breastfed him on his injured side, I would make sure his arm was tucked in at his side instead of dangling behind my back like the other side. (If that makes any sense. It's hard to explain) It was a little bit awkward, but it seemed to work just fine. There were times when I thought maybe his arm bothered him a little bit while breastfeeding, but it never seemed to be a big problem. Good luck.
Connie

I had trouble brestfeeding my son. The midwives said it was because his face & jaw were very sore from the forceps delivery. His face was badly bruised. He was also in the Special care nursery for 2 days and they gave him supplimentary feeds (bottle). I was also told that babies need to work harder for breastmilk than they do for bottle feeds.

I tried to perservere but it upset me that he was in pain so I opted for the bottle (expressed & formula).

Julianne