i just wanted to share something that happened to me when i had my ds and see what people think. After a 30 hour labour and an emergency caesarean at midnight, i was taken to the observation ward. I asked for some helo to breast feed my little ds, and the midwife tutted, yanked his head onto my breast, and he started to scream, he had previously been quiet. She gave up after a few yanks [she bruised his ear quite badly] and i asked if i could try later on, hoping someone nicer might be around. I spent half an hour with my babe, struggling to keep awake after all the drugs, my body was still completely numb, and he just rubbed his nose at my boob and was quiet. I had promised my dh i wouldn't fall asleep with ds in the bed as i was so drugged up [wish i had kept him with me now] and i was so worried i'd fall asleep on him i asked the midwife to put him in his cot, at which point he started to cry. She took him out straight away, saying she was going to walk him around. I wanted her to put him into my bed again but she was gone. Five minutes passed, i was listening for his cries, i couldn't hear him. I felt terrified. I rang the buzzer. She came back, without my baby. I asked for him back. She tutted and went off. I waited again, and then buzzed again.
Another midwife came, and i asked where my baby was. She said 'oh, he's having a good feed.' I couldn't believe my ears. What do you mean, i said, what is he having? She looked shocked. 'I thought you knew' she said. He's having some donated breast milk. I started to cry. My baby had been out of my body for half an hour and she had taken him from me and given him someone else's milk. When my baby was brought back, he was fast asleep, and slept for the next 24hours. It was a big struggle to breastfeed for the next week but finally we managed it. I still have terrible separation anxiety with my ds, and have nightmares about him being taken from me. Also, he developed an allergic gut problem, bleeding and mucus in his gut, which i was told by a NCT bfeeding counsellor may have been triggered by him not having my colostrum as his first feed. He is 8 months now, and i still feel down about it, tho he is wonderful, despite his health probs. I wrote a letter of complaint to the hospital, but got a halfhearted apology. the DBM shouldn't even have been in the Observation ward, but it had been signed out [with parental permission] for another baby. Just wondering what others thought about this. I'm finding it hard to get over.