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Infant feeding

bfing before hernia op tomorrow

9 replies

deleting · 02/09/2009 16:25

hi can someone advise me, can't get hold of anyone at hospital. ds2 (11 months, 7 months corrected) is having hernia op tomorrow. we've been told to bring him in at 7.30 am and not to feed him after 4.30 am. he is exclusively bf and still feeds often as he was low birthweight and seems to want to catch up! i can't imagine we will walk through the door into theatre so he will be in a state if he hasn't been fed for so long. any advice? i know breast milk is absorbed quicker so perhaps the 3 hours they've said is for ff babies (although they know he's bf). can't get hold of anyone to find out actual time of op.

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deleting · 02/09/2009 16:33

just got to go out, so can't reply for a bit.

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deleting · 02/09/2009 16:35

he's not 11 months, he's 11 WEEKS !!! 7 weeks corrected.

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allaboutme · 02/09/2009 16:39

If you cant get hold of anyone today then definitely at least wake him up at 4.30am and give him a good feed then if you can.
Hope all goes ok. x

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mawbroon · 02/09/2009 16:45

I am sure it is 2hrs for breastmilk. Hang on, will see if I can find it on Kellymom...

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mawbroon · 02/09/2009 16:47

Hmm, the links at the bottom all vary a bit

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LackaDAISYcal · 02/09/2009 16:50

I would call one of the support organisations; The Breastfeeding Network may be your best bet.

but bumping this for tiktok or one of the other BFCs

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deleting · 02/09/2009 18:28

are bfc's around? thanks for the replies and the link. Have read the kellymom stuff and it does say 4 hours on that, so I suppose we will have to go with it. It won't be much fun though, hopefully he will fall asleep in the car on the way to hospital.

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Tambajam · 02/09/2009 18:53

There isn't really a definitive answer on this one. The LLL answer book explains that different hospitals put breastmilk into different categories. For some hospitals it's seen as a 'clear liquid' (2 hours) and in others it's the same as formula (6 hours) and in other cases they plump for something in the middle and end up with 4 hours.

Studies on rate of gastric emptying (Litman 1994, Schreiner 1994) indicate 3 hours is about right for breastmilk.

There is some talk of it being permissable for a mother to offer a pre-pumped breast for comfort (Lawrence and Lawrence Breastfeeding: A guide for the medical profession 1999) though that seems a bit risky to me as some mums will get a new letdown and produce quite a bit of milk directly after a feed.

I would probably go with the 3 hr rule but as you say it could be awful if you have to wait for ages. Feel free to be a right pain in the arse if they have you hanging around.

Do you have a sling? Is someone coming with you who could walk up and down the corridor with him in a sling?

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deleting · 02/09/2009 20:07

thanks tambajam, hopefully being so young, he will be done first, think they start at 8.30 am. dp is coming as well and he can be a right pain in the arse, so could come in useful tomorrow.