How to Prepare for Breastfeeding: 5 Ways the Hospital Might Sabotage your Breastfeeding Efforts

If you’re pregnant and planning to breastfeed, chances are you’re researching everything you can to help yourself prepare ahead of time.

(Good for you for doing your research, mama! It’s so important!) You may be looking into:

• How to prepare for breastfeeding
• Common breastfeeding problems
• How to prepare for breastfeeding while still pregnant
• Or, common breastfeeding struggles most moms have

When I went to the hospital to have my first baby, I didn’t do any research on the facility itself.

I had a regular OB/GYN that I had gone to for years, so I just stuck with that practice.

They didn’t give me any choice for where I could deliver, they just said, “This hospital is where you will have your baby.”

For some reason, I never questioned it, I just went along with the flow.

While pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I read several books and didn’t do much more than that.

I didn’t take a class because I mean how hard can it be, right?! (Haha, big mistake!)

After a long and difficult labor, ultimately ending in a c-section, my hospital did everything in its power to sabotage breastfeeding for me.

After talking with tons of moms, I found that my experience was quite common.

Unfortunately, many moms have had the exact same experience I did…which left the moms hurt, confused, and at a crossroads with breastfeeding.

Now, let me say this. My experience (and the experience of countless other moms I’ve talked to) is not unusual.

BUT there are plenty of wonderful hospitals, doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants out there.

When my second baby was born, I had a wonderful experience with no difficulties.

The good guys do exist!

I simply want moms to know what to expect and educate themselves before they go in for delivery so they will be equipped with the information they need to advocate for themselves and their baby.

So let’s dive in!

UPDATE March 2018: I have received a lot of feedback from this post, both positive and negative.

I’ve especially received some nasty comments (which I deleted) from hospital doctors and nurses who were apparently triggered by this post.

Please, before you say something ugly, read the whole post.

Notice that I am accepting responsibility for not being fully informed prior to my baby’s birth.

That is the point of this article.

To empower and encourage expecting moms to do their research and be prepared to advocate for themselves in case they wind up in a not-so-breastfeeding-friendly hospital.

Also note that I’m not some “anti-breastfeeding quitter.” I’m very much pro-breastfeeding. I did not “quit” because of my negative hospital experience.

I exclusively pumped for 13 months for my daughter. Okay, now that’s out of the way…let’s proceed! 🙂

Here are 5 things the hospital might do to sabotage breastfeeding

1. They separate mom and baby right after delivery

Sometimes if baby is unwell, it’s necessary to take him to the NICU for treatment or evaluation.

But the vast majority of the time there is absolutely no need to take baby away from his mother. “Routine” stuff like weight checks and such can wait.

Immediate skin-to-skin and uninterrupted bonding for at least the first hour of life is crucial.

Introducing baby to the breast within the first hour of birth has been shown to improve breastfeeding success rates.

Breastfeeding right away will also trigger hormones to help your milk come in sooner rather than later.

When my daughter was born, I was taken to recovery and my baby was taken to the newborn nursery.

She wasn’t in distress, but we were separated for THREE hours. (Crazy, right?!)

The hospital staff didn’t tell me anything about her, whether she was healthy or not, and it was incredibly stressful for me.

I wasn’t able to initiate breastfeeding with her until she was about 6 hours old.

Related reading: 6 Tips for a Gentle Cesarean: Practical Advice for Achieving the Birth You Want

Tip to keep this from happening to you:

Talk with your doctor about your wishes for immediate skin-to-skin and breastfeeding within the first hour.

Stand firm and tell him or her that you do not consent to have your baby taken away unless in case of an emergency.

If your doctor pushes back, it may be time to switch to someone who will be respectful of your wishes.

You may also consider hiring a doula to be with you and advocate for you.

Some of the essentials you’re gonna need to pack before going to the hospital:

2. The lactation consultant may be rude or unhelpful

There are some really amazing lactation consultants out there!

However, there are some that may be having a bad day.

The hospital where I delivered my daughter had several lactation consultants on staff. Some were helpful and others…not so much.

One of them literally yelled at me, “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!” She was so frustrated with how I was trying to get my baby to latch.

I was a newbie and had no idea what I was doing.

A little patience and compassion would have gone a long way, rather than a scolding.

I lost all confidence and was SO humiliated.

In hindsight, I should have been way more prepared for breastfeeding. BUT, there was no need for her to be unprofessional about it.

Tip to keep this from happening to you:

If the lactation consultant is particularly unhelpful, don’t hesitate to ask for someone else.

You may even consider researching lactation consultants in your area before birth and interviewing someone you feel would be a good fit for you.

This way you know you have someone you can trust to help you navigate those first few days/weeks.

3. The doctors freak out about normal newborn weight loss

When my daughter was 2 days old, the doctor came in and said she was losing too much weight and we needed to start giving her formula.

Since I didn’t do much any research on this ahead of time, I had no idea that it’s completely normal for babies to lose up to 10% of their birth weight.

Since I had been on IV fluids for nearly 24 hours prior to her delivery, her birth weight was skewed since she was so swollen.

A healthy, average baby will be back to birth weight in 10-14 days.

Tip to keep this from happening to you:

Keep good records of how often your baby poops and pees.

Keep a record of how your baby is acting. Is she alert when awake? Moving arms and legs around?

Having this evidence will help you present a good case to your doctor that your baby doesn’t need formula.

If baby has lost too much weight and is dehydrated, consider using pumped milk or donor breast milk instead of formula.

In fact, the World Health Organization does not recommend formula if baby can’t nurse directly.

According to WHO guidelines, if baby cannot nurse directly from the mother, the next best alternative is expressed (pumped) breast milk, breast milk from a healthy wet-nurse of a human milk bank, or a breast-milk substitute fed with a cup. (Formula only used as a last resort.)

4. Doctors or nurses convince you that baby NEEDS formula

This goes hand-in-hand with the weight loss point.

If hospital staff feel that your baby isn’t gaining weight “fast enough” or they feel baby is hungry and needs to be “topped off” after nursing, doctors can scare you into giving your baby formula unnecessarily.

I totally understand that sometimes supplementing is completely necessary but much of time it is not.

When you “top off” a baby with formula after they nurse, it can start a cascade effect causing your milk supply to suffer. (And no mama wants to be singin’ the low milk supply blues! Am I right?!)

Tip to keep this from happening to you:

Consider choosing a hospital that has the “baby-friendly” designation.

Hospitals that are “baby-friendly” are required to have policies in place related to breastfeeding.

I lived over an hour away from the nearest baby-friendly hospital, but I made the drive when I had my second and third babies. Let me tell you, it was TOTALLY worth it.

They never mentioned formula once and the support I received was outstanding.

RELATED: 10 Little-Known Tricks to Pump More Breast Milk

5. They take the baby away for “routine” procedures

When my oldest daughter was born, a nurse came in every morning at about 7 a.m. to take her to the newborn nursery for her routine exam and monitoring.

When I questioned the reasoning for this, I was dismissed and given vague answers.

I was told she was just being weighed and having her temperature taken.

The problem? She was gone for hours!

I knew she had to be hungry. What were they doing to her? Was she crying? Sleeping? Missing her mama?

I’d beg the nurse to bring her back to me but they always made excuses and promised she’d come back as soon as possible.

The nurses refused to let me go to the nursery to see her or get her.

Looking back, this was extremely shady. Who knows what they were doing to her?!

Having my healthy baby taken away for hours at the time was NOT something that helped my milk supply.

A baby needs to be with their mother so that they can nurse on demand and help get a good milk supply going.

Tip to keep this from happening to you:

Consider “rooming in” with your baby.

(Not allowing baby to be taken to the nursery at night or at any other time unless absolutely necessary.) Don’t let that baby out of your sight!

Be sure to research all “routine” procedures ahead of time. Many of these are not necessary and you can skip them altogether.

If your baby needs to be separated from you because he is premature, sick, or some other medically necessary reason, ask the hospital to supply you with a breast pump and be sure to pump both sides every 2 hours around the clock.

Speaking of pumping…

If you’re pregnant and planning on breastfeeding, you’ll also want to learn about pumping!

A recent study showed that 85% of breastfeeding moms have used a breast pump.

There you have it! I hope this info was helpful for you! Please feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions!

READ NEXT:

• Breastfeeding Essentials: 8 Lifesavers For New Moms
• Breastfeeding Hacks: 8 Things Every New Mom Needs To Know

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