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The Truth About Neonatal Nursing
It’s not just cuddling babies, but that’s definitely the best part!
Six years ago, I had a dream of becoming a neonatal nurse. It all began with my brother’s premature birth which included one month of full access to our local Special Care Baby Unit. Now, after two years in neonatal nursing, I realise I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Boobs, nipples, and bumholes
A weird thing about being a nurse is people are often open to talk to you about anything. In fact, it’s important that patients are comfortable talking about the nitty gritty because it is our job to support them in all aspects of health. It’s just part of being a nurse.
I was suprised by the amount of boobs and nipples I see on a day-to-day basis when working in neonatal care. When babies are unable to feed from their mother’s breasts due to prematurity, a cleft palate, respiratory issues or other disorders, it is our job to encourage mothers to express breastmilk regularly, initially by hand, and then by using a breast pump, to stimulate milk production and also provide their baby with breastmilk via syringe, cup, special bottles, or a nasogastric or orogastric tube.
We assess mothers’ breasts for breast pump sizes and assess their nipples post-pumping/post-feeding to…
