#6 Babies born earlier than 38 weeks gestation may not breastfeed well initially.
When I went into labor 3 weeks early with my 5 child (3 baby boy) I thought to myself, "SCORE!" I had just "shaved off" that extremely uncomfortable last few weeks of pregnancy. At that time I'd been an L&D RN for 7 years helping hundreds of mothers begin to breastfeed their newborns, and I'd already breastfed my 4 other children. Because of all of my perceived experience I didn't see anything wrong with delivering my little caboose 3 weeks before his due date! Well, guess what I learned during that next 3-4 weeks? Just how important even those last 3 gestational weeks are to a baby's ability to breastfeed effectively! In fact, I realized I had not been truly preparing my patients who delivered Late preterm infants for supporting the breastfeeding process until their baby was closer to his/her due date. Many times these babies come spontaneously & unexpectedly. Occasionally the mother's labor is induced due to medical complications wit...