Nursing a Sick Baby

• My 4 year old Mica had a staph infection at 7 months. He caught it through an ear infection, so we believe. There's no sure way of knowing how he really got it. His neck kept getting bigger, so my parents who were taking care of him rushed him to the doctor. His white blood cell count was super high.
  
• My almost 2 year old Isaak had meningitis when he was 2 months. It felt like deja vu for us. Oh...the worst was when he got a spinal tap done! I was told to wait in the waiting room. I filled up with milk because I could hear him crying. To this day we don't know if what Isaak had was viral or bacterial. Bacteria never grew in the samples, but antibiotics seemed to help when they'd only help the bacterial meningitis.
  
• With both kids, we were asked by the infectious disease doctors if we had illegal immigrants in the basement of our home? Plus other crazy questions that they just have to ask to get to the bottom of what they have.
  
• I got free meals in the hospital with Isaak because I was a nursing mom. They figured I was helping him to get better with my antibodies.
  
• I think the key thing to do if your baby gets sick is to pump, pump, pump. You are going to loose your supply otherwise. My supply went down, but the key thing is, is that it didn't go away! Both kids were not too into nursing when they were sick, but when they were on their upswing that's all they wanted to do.
• Doctors and nurses just love to walk right in without knocking, someone will walk in while you are pumping. Don't expect the doctors and nurses to shut the door while you are pumping. Oh...privacy is what I longed for! They had a drape that went across the doorway. Shut that! It seemed like they always left the door wide open when I had it shut.
  
• Another thing I learned through the experience...find a way to take your pumped milk home. The hospital only kept it for 24 hours. Some of my "liquid gold" as Lactation Consultants call it, got thrown away.
  
• When Isaak got sick I learned. I kept only what I had to at the hospital. When someone else was watching him, I took my milk home to freeze. The hospital has disposable bottles on hand that work with any pump. So...ask for them. There is less clean-up, and you can write dates right on the bottle.
  
• If you have a sick baby that's hooked up to all kinds of wires like Mica was at 7 months, if they are old enough try and sit them up to nurse. Remember he had a staph infection in his neck, so it hurt to turn his head. This is the only way we could nurse. This way they don't get tangled up in wires that can be set off if they become disconnected.