Can Dads Breastfeed?

Dad goes viral for ‘breastfeeding’ while Mom recovered from C-section

The mother of this child had two seizures and was suffering from pre-eclampsia right after her water broke. She was not able to have immediate skin-to-skin contact with the child, so the nursing staff offered the father the opportunity to breastfeed using a suction cup nipple and a tube containing formula from a syringe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Due to complications during @aprillynn416 emergency c-section. This super rad nurse made a epically killer offer, and I was fortunate enough to slap on a suction cup fake nipple. Being the first to breast feed da baby!!!! “I did it for the moms” Eat your heart out!! ☺️??? #ididitforthemoms #breastfeeding #breast #mrmom #dadlife #fakenipple #babygirl #emergencycsection #steppingup #steppingupmygame #breastfeed #breastfedbaby #breastfeedingmama #whosyourdaddy #doorcounty #doorcountymedicalcenter #eatyourheartout #latinabeauty #realmomsbreastfeed #radnurse #radnurses #suctioncup

A post shared by Maxamillian Neubauer (@carbon_arc_kid_madmax) on Jun 26, 2018 at 11:30am PDT

“Nurse Cybil Martin-Dennehy told Motherly she’s “suggested this to dads before when I’ve had an unstable mom, but they usually respond with a big ‘hard pass’ on it.” She was thrilled when Maxamillian, who was already doing skin-to-skin with his baby girl, said yes.” “I mean I’ve never breastfed or even thought in a thousand years I would,” he tells Love What Matters of the plot twist. “I got to hold her and help her get use to breastfeeding, I hope.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  I have the most amazing husband ever!! Unfortunately I had 2 seizures and had to do an emergency C-Section. So I was completely out of it when Rosalia was born and didn’t get to do the immediate skin on skin like I had planned. But leave it up to Daddy to step in! He has been absolutely awesome and amazing. Since I wasn’t able to breastfeed right away due to recovering from my seizures and c-section, papi was given the opportunity to breastfeed himself! Nurses hooked him up with a suction cup nipple and there she went ? I’m so thankful for my husband and couldn’t have picked a better man to start this wonderful family with ♥️ #daddy #dad #dilf #papi #parent #parenting #parenthood #dadlife #hubby #husband #bestfriend #lover #baby #babygirl #rosalia #daddysgirl #daddydaughter #daddydaughtertime #papi #breastfeeding #fakenipple #mrmom #hesamazing #myheart #myloves #daughter #world_best_dad @carbon_arc_kid_madmax A post shared by April Neubauer (@aprillynn416) on Jun 26, 2018 at 1:47pm PDT

 

Emily Glover with Motherly reports that “Since then, April has been able to take over the breastfeeding duties. But the role Maxamillian played during the early moments is not to be understated: According to the World Health Organization, research shows skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her baby quickly after birth “helps to initiate early breastfeeding and increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding for one to four months of life as well as the overall duration of breastfeeding. Infants placed in early skin-to-skin contact with their mother also appear to interact more with their mothers and cry less.” You can read more that Emily Glover wrote here.

Fathers Give up Time with their Baby During Breastfeeding Years

Fathers complain that family courts are still bias towards women during the breastfeeding years. Mothers complain to the court that because they are breastfeeding the father should not have overnights. Some mothers would pump their breast milk so that the father could feed the baby from a bottle during their time with the baby. But the mothers worried that this bottle feeding time would risk the baby refusing to nurse from the breast after a while. And some baby’s will reject a bottle nipple when they are being breastfed. Because of this some fathers were also voluntarily foregoing their overnights based on what they felt was best for their child at that time, but not with the intention of forfeiting their equal time later down the road. However, many fathers have had difficulty getting equal time with their child after the breastfeeding years have past with the mother’s agreement, or from the courts, after they set this precedent with mom having the bulk of the time raising the child.

Used to be that father’s didn’t even qualify to have their child for overnights during the breastfeeding years. Since the Tender Years Doctrine has been debunked, fathers still get challenged when they want their child equal time and the child is breastfed, as well many states still treat children under 3 different in their parenting plan statutes than older children.

So perhaps this is an alternative solution for fathers now when faced with this dilemma. Although Nurse Dennehy did tell Motherly that Maxamillian was the first father to accept this offer. She said all of the other fathers did not want to breastfeed and told her to pass it on.