The father's job is to earn the money and the mother's job is to take care of the baby, right? Wrong. Those stereotypes are dusty. Today, fathers should share parenting duties with the mother, changing diapers, giving baths and breastfeeding the baby.
"Wait, what?" you're probably thinking. "Is that possible? Does that mean Ben Stiller's character could have milked Robert De Niro's character in Meet The Parents?" No, it's not really possible. But it is possible for dads simulate the breastfeeding experience with a Supplemental Nursing System. A pipe welder from Iowa did it, and broke the Internet.
Maxamillian and April Neubauer recently welcomed their first child, a miracle baby named Rosalia. Why miracle baby? April thought she was unable to have kids, because she suffered from a hormonal disorder that causes infrequent periods. But to quote Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way." April got knocked up, and told ABC7 she made a birth plan that included "immediate" skin to skin contact.
However, there were complications with the birth and Rosalia had to be brought out via emergency c-section. April was taken to the ICU to recover, leaving Maxamillian in the nursery with the baby. In an article for Love What Matters, he describes how he got convinced by a nurse to "throw a nipple on."
"I sat down and took off my shirt for some skin to skin time. [The nurse] said we needed to get her a little formula and do some finger feeding; other options and such. Just something to get her started. Then she asked if maybe I would like to throw a nipple on and do some ‘real breastfeeding.’ Me being a big joker and the ability to try just about anything once. I said sure, why not.
"I got a nipple shield with a syringe tube and hit the road running. Nurse helped a lot. I mean I’ve never breastfed or even thought in a thousand years I would. I was the first to breast feed da baby!"
Maxamillian strapped on the nipple shield, which connected to a bag of breastmilk through a thin tube. The concept behind SNS is simple: The baby latches on the nipple to feed, and the parent gets to simulate the experience of breastfeeding. For adoptive parents, fathers and mothers struggling with milk supply, this is about as close you can get to the real thing. Maxamillian raved about the experience.
"I felt a connection the minute I saw my little girl. I got to hold her and help her get use to breastfeeding I hope. I really did it just to be a good dad and be a hero for the nursing staff because they are superheroes. You couldn’t ask for anyone better. Don’t forget those moms though I did it for them too."
After posting the photos on Facebook, they went viral, getting over 40,000 likes and 30,000 shares. Maxamillian never expected doing something like this, but in the end, he's glad he stepped outside the box. Maybe now more dads will do the same.
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