breast feeding – JRM Nurse Consultants

Betty Neuman’s theory will work well with visiting post-partum moms in their homes after they have had their babies. One of the things that I have seen while working in labor and delivery, is that the mothers come in with preconceived ideas on what breastfeeding is or is not, based on what their mothers and grandmothers know. The family will say that back in the day, there was not any teaching on breastfeeding, you just did it. This can cause stress with the newly delivered mother and the family. However, I most recently read an article and it spoke about a 17-year-old girl that came in with a complicated pregnancy and she delivered early sending her baby to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She was from Mexico but spoke a language called Mixtec. This would make explaining about breastfeeding difficult and frustrating to the family and the nurse (Peterson-Iyer, 2008).

However through Betty Neuman’s model, if the nurse takes out a book that talks about breastfeeding, even if it is not in her language, she can point to the pictures and demonstrate what she needs to do. Initially, this mother will be pumping her milk, since the baby may be too sick to drink at the breast, however, once the discharge is planned, she will need assistance breastfeeding and bonding with the baby. It is through home visiting nurses, that these cases of mothers that are learning and have language barriers can have support for proper breastfeeding.

Betty Neuman believes that nursing should be approached from a holistic standpoint; physical, psychological, mental, social, cultural, developmental, and spiritual well-being. As a person, Neuman’s theory considers the patient as an individual family member, community or society. The environment that the patient lives in can be external or internal. Stressors that Jean Watson speaks of in her theory, produces tension in a person’s life (Alligood, 2013).

References

Alligood, M. (2013). Systems model. In Nursing theorists and their work (8th ed., pp. 281-301). [Vital Source Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://campus.capella.edu/web/library/home

Peterson-Iyer, K. (2008). A difficult birth: Language and cultural differences. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/medical/culturally-competent-care/difficult-birth.html

One of the most exciting moments for a parent of a NICU baby is when you can start feeding the baby from the bottle. Most are not able to do the breast feeding due to the difficulty latching on, but what a joy to feed your baby even if by bottle whether it is your breast milk or specialized formula. There are different opinions in the medical community around feeding readiness. My passion for the neonatal intensive care unit arose from having a premature infant myself. My son was given breast milk initially via NG Tube until he was ready to try a bottle. Initially the bottle feeding was started once per day and increased and they would leave the bottle feeding for when the parents were there to feed the baby to create that bonding experience. One day I arrived at the NICU on a weekend ready to spend the entire day with my son. I was excited to feed him several times per day, but I was greeted by the shift nurse telling me that I was doing it wrong. She took over the feeding entirely and when the rest of the feedings occurred that day, she took over stating that I was making the baby aspirate due to my inexperience. I was only allowed to hold him. When change of shift occurred she said okay time to go, I stated that we were in a private room and the nurses close the door so that we do not have to leave during change of shift. We were in a private room because at one point the baby had developed a hospital borne infection called serratia and would remain in a private room until discharge. Staying in the room was an arrangement that I made with upper management due to the fact that I worked full-time as did my husband and we did not have much visit time with him during the week. She proceeded about her business and ripped the baby right out of my arms.

I cried for days until Monday came and I made a complaint to my head nurse who assured me that this was documented in my chart right on the front that I was allowed to stay whenever I needed to. She showed me the chart and stated that she would speak to the nurse about her abruptness. The weekend nurse apologized to us a few days later, but by then my feelings were already crushed. It was later discovered that the baby was aspirating even when he was fed via g-tube it had nothing to do with how I was holding or feeding him. It was inevitable. In the end, it was decided that the baby would have a Mickey G-tube inserted surgically for feedings to expedite his discharge to home.

As nursing professionals we need to be sensitive to the needs of our patients and their families. We should always read the chart prior to walking in the baby’s room and talking with the family to see if there are any new changes since last you saw the baby. How could the nurse that was in charge of my baby rip him right out of my hands and ask us to leave.? When you look at how he was being fed here vs those those nurses that truly cared about bonding .

These nurses were Kaleb’s primary day and night nurses…sheer joy to watch nurses caring about their patients….

Written by Rosie Moore, RN, BSN, LNC

Years of experience in Work Comp, Case Management, Disease Management, Utilization Review and Prior Authorization.

Tag Archives: breast feeding

A Theory for Post Partum Moms

Feeding Readiness for Preemies