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1st March 2017
10:37pm GMT

"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 his first 52 hours, Landon lost 9.72 percent of his birth weight, which isn't terribly uncommon (but then babies normally start to gain the weight back). Baby Landon was discharged from the hospital on his third day while doctors told Johnson to keep breastfeeding.
"Did you know that newborns aren't supposed to cry all the time," Johnson wrote. "They're supposed to eat and sleep and dirty their diapers. I had no idea that he was inconsolable because he was starving—literally." The first-time mum didn't realize her baby simply wasn't getting enough milk when he was on her breast.
The first night Jill and her husband were back home from hospital, Landon fell asleep while cluster-feeding. He then went into cardiac arrest – caused by dehydration and was sent to the hospital. After 15 days in the NICU, Landon was taken off life support and passed away.
When her son was on life-support, Johnson says one of his doctors told her that if you are worried about your baby not getting enough milk, especially if he has dry nappies, following up with a bottle is a clever way to know he is at least getting enough.
"If only I could go back in time."
Dr. Christie del Castillo-Hegyi, a GP with a background in newborn brain injury research at Brown University, explained as part of Jillian's post 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," Castillo-Hegyi wrote. "Which is why they will cry inconsolably and breastfeed continuously when it is the only source of calories and fluid they are offered."
Tragically, Johnson or her husband never knew something like this could happen to a newborn, and now the bereaved mum 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."Explore more on these topics: