Hi folks, hoping you can help bear with me, it long! My first baby joshua was born on 28th Feb. it was a pretty traumatic birth, i was induced due to my bp being 180/120, it was back to back contractions, then he got distressed, was being prepped for theatre when the consultant decided he was coming out by ventouse (no local anasthetic or episiotomy). i had a 2nd degree tear and lost 800mls blood. joshua was dark blue/purple when he was born due to the cord being wrapped 3 times VERY tightly round his neck so he was taken away for about 1/2 hour - this was ok cos i knew he needed help.
i tried bf as soonas i got him back, but he wasn't having any of it, mw said to try later, as many newborns didnt immediatly latch on (i knew that so wasnt bothered)
when i went to the postnatal ward, i couldnt get joshua to latch on and he wouldnt stop screaming. when i buzzed for help, 15 mins later auxiliary came. i explained problem (this was approx 6hrs after giveing birth) and she grabbed my boob and joshuas head and shoved them together - obviously ths made him cry even more, but he sort of latched on. within 5 mins, he had let go and was howling again, so i buzzed again. this time a mw came and seemed really dismissive and hacked off because i was struggling her words were "are you trying to feed AGAIN?" i ended up ff cos i got virtually no help from staff, auxiliarys didnt seem to have the right training to help with bf struggles. the ward sister made me ad hubby watch 20 year old tape about ff which was very patronising - i mean me and hubby re both uni grads and i have worked as a nursery nurse in a baby room so am fully aware of ff practices. the same sister was also very supercilious towards us tellin pediatrician "oh they are ff" her tone made it out to be that i didnt want to bf - which is not true.
i am very angry about the lack of support and help i received from the staff - i found out from my HV that there is a bf counsellor at the hosp every day 8-5, but no-one told me when i was in! joshua is doing fine on sma gold, but i really wanted to bf and it was constantly pushed on me that it was best for baby right from my booking in appt! i want to make a complaint about this but am not sure how to go about it. i was also told that expressing would be a waste of time!! i have never been a mum before so i trusted these people.
can anyone tell me how to go about complaining (especially since joshua is now 11.5 weeks old)?
thanks for reading this novel