This Dad Was First to ‘Breastfeed’ His Newborn Daughter When His Wife Was Unable To, and the Pictures Are Amazing

A dad has been given the amazing opportunity to be the first to ‘breastfeed’ his baby daughter after his wife was recovering from complications following a c-section.

New parents Max and April Neubauer had decided that skin-to-skin contact was one of the most important aspects of bonding with their newborn, and had ensured it was firmly added to their birth plan. Unfortunately though, even the best-laid plans sometimes come unstuck — April suffered two seizures during labour due to pre-eclampsia, leaving her unconscious and unable to hold or breastfeed her newborn daughter, named Rosalía Lupita Valentina, after she was born.

This is where dad Max stepped in!

Nurses at Door County Medical Center, in Wisconsin, US, asked Max if he would like to take over the skin-to-skin contact and breastfeed instead. And of course, the smitten new dad agreed wholeheartedly!

Surprisingly, no other father at the hospital had ever agreed to try the breastfeeding tactic, despite being asked by the nurses. But, Max eagerly sat in a rocking chair in the hospital nursery while nurses placed a small nipple shield — which he calls a “fake nipple” — onto his left nipple and attached a syringe containing baby formula.

He could barely contain his delight when he posted the images to his social media:

Due to complications during Aprils emergency c-section. This super rad nurse made an epically killer offer, and I was fortunate enough to slap on a suction cup fake nipple. Being the first to breastfeed da baby!!!! “I did it for the moms” Eat your heart out!!

“With C-section babies, it’s very important to get them used to eating right off the bat,” Max said. “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!’ ”

“Seeing as I’m not an expert at 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 said.

“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.”

Once April had recovered, about two hours later, Max handed the breastfeeding duties back to his wife.

“He truly is amazing for stepping in the way he did since I couldn’t. Not a lot of men would do what he did,” she said. “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.

“I’m definitely happy and very grateful that he was willing to do that and not opposed to doing it like most other dads would be. He knew how important it would be to me and to us. Knowing my husband and how he is and his personality, it didn’t surprise me. But I didn’t expect it to happen either.

“I couldn’t ask for a better husband or better father for our baby girl and other kids to come.”

Seriously, could these guys get any cuter?

“I never thought I’d go viral for breastfeeding a baby,” Max told People. “It’s a little surreal still. I just did it as a dad, what I thought my dad would do for me. I’m all about that dad life!”

Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful daughter, Max and April!

Source: Facebook/Maxamillian Neubauer