When new mum, April Neubauer was rushed to intensive care after complications during the birth of her first child, Rosalía, her husband Maxamillian Neubauer knew that the care for his new baby daughter was up to him for a while.
The 29-year-old Wisconsin father was prepared to do whatever it took, and for his new baby girl that meant getting the feeding right in a most unusual way. With the help of medical staff, Neubauer was set up with a syringe full of formula, tubes and a nipple shield to attempt mock ‘breastfeeding’. The idea being to get his baby girl in the habit of feeing from a nipple until mum was ready to come back to her.
Taking to Facebook to share Neubauer posted images of the special moment, writing: “Due to complications during Aprils 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!!”
Image: Maxamillian Neubauer Facebook
Image: Maxamillian Neubauer Facebook
Hospital staff say that prior to Neubauer no dad had ever agreed to try this breastfeeding tactic, making the moment even more special.
Speaking with PEOPLE, super-dad Neubauer says he’ll try anything once: “With C-section babies, it’s very important to get them used to eating right off the bat,”
“It’s like 1:30 in the morning, April was knocked out on drugs. So the [nurses] said we could use this nipple shield and imitate breastfeeding. This is probably the best way to do it, much more natural for the baby. I said, ‘I’m willing to do just about anything once. Let’s do it!'”
Image: Maxamillian Neubauer Facebook
“It was awkwardly magical”
Breastfeeding is can be difficult for the best of us, so how does a dad who had no idea he’d be attempting it go? Speaking with People, Neubauer explains that it didn’t exactly come naturally.
“Seeing as I’m not an expert breastfeeding, it was a little bit awkward at first. I’m really happy a had a couple of nurses there who knew what they were doing,” he tells PEOPLE. “I never thought in a million years that I would ever be breastfeeding a baby. The minute they brought her out, it was hard to hold back the tears. It was instant love, it’s my baby. I was just really happy I could be there for her. It was awkwardly magical.”
As for mum, she regained consciousness just two hours later and was proud to know during that time, that her baby had been looked after so remarkably well by her daddy.
The 24-year-old new mum spoke with PEOPLE, saying: “We still did what we wanted to do. We did the skin-to-skin and we did the breastfeeding like we had planned, it just wasn’t with me,”
