We all know that babies don’t come with a manual, but they can come with the next best thing: a midwife. And they’ll even come to your home.
Many parents will recognize new mom Claire’s refrain: “You cannot prepare for or fathom the learning curve that comes from having a baby and learning to breastfeed. The nights are lonely, and the frustration is real.”
With a midwife providing home-based breastfeeding care, the nights early on after birth can be much less lonely and frustrating.
When we invest in maternal care, midwives at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) can offer added support to new parents. One area of care that is unique to midwifery comes in the form of24/7/365 home-breastfeeding assistance, which can be critical for a newborn’s health as well as parent’s peace of mind.
“The first few days/weeks following the birth of an infant are the most critical as far as establishing a good milk supply, getting a correct latch, and dealing with issues of engorgement, nipple pain, or difficulty with infant weight loss or slow gain,” says Lauren Columbus, Academic Practice Lead with the Department of Midwifery at LHSC.
Having a midwife on-call to help at any hour, any day — even holidays — can make or break a new parent’s experience, Lauren explains. “Many people will stop breastfeeding in those early days if they don’t have the immediate support that they need, especially if they have endured painful latching, or have concerns about their infant’s weight gain. “
That’s exactly the situation Claire found herself in, and that home-based care alleviated.
“Having access to a pager 24 hours every day allowed me to ask essential feeding questions, without having to take my baby to the emergency department out of fear and worry he wasn’t eating enough. I truly do not think I would still be breastfeeding without that support in the first six weeks,” she says.
Many new parents have difficulty leaving the home early on — and more so in winter — so house calls from midwives are a big deal. Even parents who have been through the experience before find home-based care helpful.
“With our first daughter, it was a learning curve for me, and our midwives took the dedicated time, in the comfort of our home, to help us figure it out; with so much patience and kind encouragement, that successful breastfeeding journey lasted until our first was two years old,” says another new mom, Kendra.
“Now with our second daughter, although breastfeeding feels so welcomed and safe and like a familiar comfort, there are new dynamics to learn between me and our latest little love,” she explains. “There is pain, anxiety, stress, peace, comfort and tons of love-filled gratitude and tears of both challenge and joy! Having our midwives (Meg) at home with us, and Beth right after she was born in the delivery room, has provided us with so much validation, peace of mind, guidance and encouragement.”
Lauren notes that the benefits of home-based breastfeeding support go beyond families and help reduce the strain on the health system in general.
“We also know that good infant feeding support helps reduce the chance of developing severe jaundice as well as dehydration, so frequent visits at home by midwives reduces the need for readmission for jaundice treatment and poor weight gain and keeps overall health care system costs low because we are not using hospital or clinic space,” she says.
The regular contact from midwives goes a long way with new moms, too, as the experts can catch issues and correct them before they become more serious problems.
“New parents often have a lot of anxiety over whether their infant is feeding well, or getting enough to eat,” Lauren says. “Having frequent weight checks in the first two weeks after birth can help alleviate a lot of parental anxiety, and it can also help us identify issues early so that we can get a feeding plan in place. Midwives can then advise parents on things like pumping, how to supplement if clinically indicated, and can call in prescriptions immediately for breastfeeding-related concerns such as mastitis, thrush, or low milk supply.”
With home-based care, new parents get to be students as well, soaking up the midwives’ knowledge and experience to become more confident in their ability to care for their new addition.
“I learned a lot about myself, and through the back-and-forth talking, coaching, education, mentorship and support I received from my midwifery team, I was able not only to navigate this learning curve but also to balance the demands of feeding with my mental health needs,” Claire says.
Kendra agrees, saying, “The teamwork between mama and baby in navigating breastfeeding is so dynamic, hard and beautiful in so many ways — and the support that mamas and families receive can make or break the success of that journey.”
“Midwifery is a whole package of knowledge, support, kindness, empathy and compassion,” Claire adds. “Having the same group of midwives come to our house, not having to explain the same thing repeatedly, was truly amazing. This care should be the standard so that all new parents and babies can experience family-centred, optimal care.”
