After Her Baby's Death, This Mom Is Speaking Out About Why Breast Isn't Always Best
Ever since her newborn son passed away five years ago, Jillian Johnson always worried that others would judge her if she shared the details about her son Landon's death, but on what would have been his fifth birthday, she decided to tell his story in an effort to warn other parents.
Jillian gave birth to Landon through an emergency C-section on Feb. 25, 2012, in a "baby-friendly hospital, which was geared towards breastfeeding," she wrote in a post for The Fed Is Best Foundation's website. In fact, the hospital only allowed formula to be given to newborns if a pediatrician wrote a prescription for it. Lactation consultants, nurses, and physicians told Jillian that Landon's latch was great, but only one of them warned her that she may have trouble producing milk due to the polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) she endured. Despite this red flag, the experts told her she should only breastfeed.
During the first 24 hours at the hospital, Landon wouldn't stop breastfeeding. He nursed for more than nine hours, but produced zero wet diapers and only four dirty diapers. The hospital staff told the worried mother that he was just cluster-feeding, when really, there was something wrong with her milk production. "I trusted my doctors and nurses to help me through this-even more so since I was pretty heavily medicated from my emergency C-section and this was my first baby," she wrote.
In 52 hours, Landon lost 9.72 percent of his birth weight, but he was discharged from the hospital on his third day while doctors told Jillian to keep breastfeeding. "Did you know that newborns aren't supposed to cry all the time? They're supposed to eat and sleep and dirty their diapers," Jillian wrote. "I had no idea that he was inconsolable because he was starving-literally." Jillian didn't realize he simply wasn't getting enough milk when he was on her breast.
Jillian and her husband brought their son home on the third day and in less than 12 hours, Landon fell asleep while cluster-feeding. He then went into cardiac arrest caused by dehydration and was sent to the hospital. After being in the NICU for 15 days, Landon was taken off life support and passed away.
"The best advice I was given by one of his NICU doctors while he was on life support is 'Sure, breast is best, but follow with the bottle,'" she wrote. "This way you know your baby has eaten enough. If only I could go back in time."
Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, a physician with a background in newborn brain injury research at Brown University, explained that Landon experienced two signs of newborn starvation that her doctors should have noticed. "If a child is receiving a fraction of their caloric requirement through early exclusive breastfeeding, they can experience severe hunger and thirst, which is why they will cry inconsolably and breastfeed continuously when it is the only source of calories and fluid they are offered," the doctor wrote in Jillian's post.
Jillian never knew something like this could happen to a newborn, and now she wants to make sure other parents know the warning signs. "We took all of the classes, bought and read all of the books. We were ready! Or so we thought," she wrote. "I've learned I have to be my child's number one advocate."
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