When Maxamillian Neubauer’s daughter was born last week, his wife, April, suffered a pair of seizures during labor due to pre-eclampsia that left her unconscious. So, he stepped up to the plate, imitating breastfeeding to help his daughter get the hang of eating.
Using a nipple shield, Neubauer agreed to try feeding his daughter, Rosalía, getting settled as doctors at Door County Medical Center placed the shield on him as he sat in a rocking chair with a syringe of baby formula attached to the nipple shield.
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“With C-section babies, it’s very important to get them used to eating right off the bat,” Neubauer explained to PEOPLE. “It’s like 1:30 in the morning, April was knocked out on drugs. So the [doctors] 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 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 added. “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.”
April regained consciousness about two hours later, explaining that the couple was able to give their daughter skin-to-skin contact like they had planned, though it just wasn’t with her.
“It was with him and that’s fine, it’s her dad,” she said. “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.”
In a post on Love What Matters, Neubauer wrote that he tried breastfeeding in order to help his daughter.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
Photo Credit: Facebook / Maxamillian Kendall Neubauer
