"Malam Kedua Bayi", nasihat indah dari Rumah Sakit

Untuk kali ini, cerita datang dari mba Heny, tentang lembar kertas yang diterimanya dari perawat/bidan, pagi hari setelah malam kedua bersama baby Queen.  Tepatnya ketika melahirkan di Royal Brisbane Women Hospital (RBWH), RSUD nya Brisbane yang letaknya tidak jauh dr tempat saya tinggal. Di RBWH, baby akan selalu bersama ibu, semenjak dilahirkan sampai pulang kerumah (alias rawat gabung). Yang luar biasa, ketika malam hari ibu tidak boleh ditemani siapapun, termasuk suami (apalagi gelar tikar diluar ruangan J). Ibu hanya akan bersama dengan bayi dan perawat/bidan jaga yang siap dipanggil kapanpun diperlukan. 

Lembar kertas yang dengan kata kata indah menceritakan kenapa sejak malam kedua dan beberapa minggu kemudian si bayi tidak bisa lepas dari ibu nya. Bayi yang akan menangis jika sedikit saja dilepas. Betapa air susu tidak lancar diawal itu normal bagi sang ibu. Nasihat ..yang jika saya baca jadi haru. Berfikir, betapa kasihan si bayi jika harus dirawat pisah dengan sang ibu, dia menangis sendirian di malam hari. Atau mungkin jika dia bisa berkata, ingin dipeluk ibu nya bukan orang lain ketika melalui hari hari pertama nya di dunia ini. 

Saya berdoa dan berharap semoga kelak RSUD di Indonesia bisa memberikan itu juga. Perawat/bidan menanyakan kabar ibu nya dipagi hari kemudian memberikan kertas yang bertuliskan kata kata indah itu. Memberi semangat, percaya diri, kasih sayang dan ketenangan. (translate nya menyusul) 

Letter love for a new mom from hospital

You've made it through your first 24 hours as a new mom. Maybe you have other children, but you are a new mom all over again.. and now it is your baby's second night.

All of a sudden, your little one discovers that he/she is no longer back in the warm and comfortable -albeit a bit crowded- womb where he/she has spent the last 8 1/2-9 months- and it is SCARY out here! He/she isn't hearing your familiar heartbeat, the swooshing of your placental arteries, the soothing sound of your lungs or the comforting gurgling if your intestines. Instead, he/she is in a crib, swaddled in a diaper, a tee-shirt, a hat and a blanket. All sorts of people have been handling him/her, and he/she not yet become accustomed to the new noises, lights, sounds and smells. He/she has found one thing though, and that's his/her voice.. and you find that each time you take him/her off the breast where he/she comfortably drifted off to sleep, and put him in the bassinet - he/she protests, loudly!

In fact, each time you put him/her back on the breast he/she nurses for a little bit and than goes to sleep. As you take him/her off and put him/her back to bed - he cries again... and starts rooting around, looking for you. This goes on - seemingly for hours. A lot of moms are convinced it is because their milk isn't "in" yet, and the baby is starving. However, it isn't that, but the baby's sudden awaking to the fact that the most comforting and comfortable place for him/her to be is at the breast. It's the closest to "home" he/she can get. It seems that this is pretty universal amoung babies - lacation consulatants all over the world have noticed the same thing.

So what do you do? When he/she drifts off to sleep at the breast after a good feed, break the suction and slide your nipple out of his.her mouth. Don't move him/her except to pillow his/her head more comfortably on your breast. Don't try and burp him/her - just snuggle with him/her until he/she falls into a deep sleep where he/she won't be disturbed by being moved. Babies go into a light sleep state (REM) at first, and then cycle in and out of REM and deep sleep about every 1/2 hour or so. If he/she starts to root and act as though he/she wants to go back to the breast, that's fine... then is his/her way of settling and comforting.

Another helpful hint... his/her hands were his/her best friends in utero... he could suck on his/her thumb or his/her fingers anytime he/she was the slightest bit distrubed or uncomfortable. And all of a suddent he/she has had them taken away from him/her and someone has put mittens on him/her! He/she has no way of soothing himself/herself with those mittens on. Babies need to touch - to feel- and even touch his/her way on your breast will increase your oxytocin levels which will help boost your milk supply! So take the mittens off and loosen his/her blanket so he/she can get to his/her hands. He/she might scratch himself/herself, but it will heal very rapidly -  after all, he/she had fingernails when he/she was inside you, and no one put mittens on him/her then!

By the way - this might happen every once in a while at home too, particularly if you've changed his/her environment such as going to th doctor, to church, to the mall, or to the grandparents! don't let it throw you - sometimes babies just need some extra snuggling at the breast, because for the baby, the breast is "home."