Breastfeeding a Baby with Special Needs

Having a baby with special needs can seriously dent your image of yourself as a mother and as a woman, and to know that you are able to feed your baby from your breast is an enormously affirming and reassuring experience. Emotion aside, the health benefits of breastfeeding are magnified for your baby, who will generally be more vulnerable due to her condition. Even so, it is essential that you seek advice as, although breastfeeding is usually less stressful for babies than bottle feeding, for some babies it takes an immense amount of effort -especially at the beginning. If you want to feed her yourself you may need to engage in some lateral thinking.

Your baby may find it hard to coordinate the actions of sucking, swallowing, and breathing all at the same time. Some are simply too weak to breastfeed successfully and fall asleep before they come to the richer, more nutritious hind-milk. It is possible to express some of the foremilk before you start to feed, stimulating the let-down reflex so that your baby reaches the hind milk straight away. You can store your milk in the fridge. Expressing has the added advantage of stimulating your milk supply to an extent that your baby may not yet be able to do. Don't wait until your baby is ravenous before feeding her, as by this time she may already be weak with hunger. Look out for other signs that she is starting to get hungry (smacking her lips or rooting are dead giveaways), and feed her while she is alert when possible.

Exercises to encourage the sucking reflex are useful, such as rubbing your baby's gums with a clean finger or popping your finger in and out of her mouth. Drawing your finger firmly over her top lip in the direction you want her to turn helps her to latch on. Having your baby in a good position and keeping her well supported means that she does not have to work too hard, and will make sure that you don't get sore. You will need to be prepared to spend longer feeding your baby, especially at first. Undressing your baby and placing her next to your skin, tickling her feet, or gently rubbing her ear will help to keep her awake while she feeds.

If your baby has medical problems that make breastfeeding impossible, then expressing your milk so that you can still feed her yourself (even if she is being tube-fed) is certainly a viable option. Seek medical advice and work out a regime that works for you and your baby.

Remember, your baby will not always be as weak as she is in the first few weeks, or even months. Do not despair; all your hard work will be repaid in terms of the health benefits for your baby, the confidence it gives you, and the close bond that will be forged between the two of you through your shared experience.

Breastfeeding counselors are excellent in providing Information and support for you when you are breastfeeding. Books and the Internet can also be good sources of information, but the most important person in supporting you is your partner. If the going gets tough it can be very easy to throw in the towel, so to have two of you believing you are doing the right thing, working together, and supporting each other is invaluable. It is possible to breastfeed a baby with special needs and, when everything else feels as if it is upside down; it can be a welcome injection of normality into a crazy world.