I'm writing a letter to the hospital where I had DD, with both thanks for good care and comments about some aspects of the care which I think could be improved. I could use an expert opinion.
DD was born at 36 weeks exactly, 5lb10. She was well, but so sleepy that I struggled to get her to open her mouth enough to latch on properly and didn't wake to feed very often. I was told to feed her three hourly, and that if she didn't feed well she would have to have formula through an NG (I think), and that was about it. I knew the latch wasn't very good, having already breastfed DS, but I couldn't seem to get any further help with breastfeeding on the ward and ended up with cracked and bleeding nipples. I wanted to go home and use Mumsnet, would have been more useful than the midwives! Anyway, before I criticise them for what I thought was pretty poor breastfeeding support, I just wondered if there was actually any better advice they could have given me? I kept asking to see the breastfeeding counsellor, but would that actually have been useful or did I just have to wait until DD woke up a bit?