One man in the US has taken dad duty to the next level after his wife, who is now well and recovering, 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 complications during the birth of their first child.
After his wife April had a 𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑧𝑢𝑟𝑒 due to complications from 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑠𝑖𝑎 after a C-section, Maxamillian Neubauer knew he needed to step up to the plate and care for his baby while his wife was 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. While most fathers would be content with a little skin-to-skin contact, Max went a step further by “breastfeeding” his infant daughter with a 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒.
With the help of nurses, Maxamillian was able to slap on a 𝑓𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 suction cup which used a cord attached to a 𝑠𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒 to feed milk through to the hungry newborn.
Rather than using a bottle, Max taped a 𝑛𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 shield to his chest and attached a 𝑠𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒 loaded with baby formula to it to imitate a breast, ensuring Rosala had the most realistic 𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 experience possible.
While Max was eager to help in any way possible, he admits he definitely needed a little help getting situated from the nursing staff.
“I needed a lot of guidance and helping hands since I’m not an expert on the matter. It was great in the end and as close as you can get to natural breastfeeding.”
Max told POPSUGAR that he went into full-on dad mode as soon as he laid eyes on his newborn daughter, Rosalía Lupita Valentina Neubauer.
“I was so emotionally wrecked at that point. I saw my wife have a 𝑠𝑒𝑖𝑧𝑢𝑟𝑒 and knew she had another one behind closed doors,” he said. “Then to see this beautiful ball of joy come out those doors that I helped create and am now responsible for.”
“April and I decided early on that we were going to do immediate skin-to-skin with our baby,” explained Max. “After her surgery, she was 𝚜𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎d and unable to feed or have contact with her, so I had to step up and get shirtless to make up some ground seeing as mama wasn’t there.”
Interestingly enough, Max is considered to be a pioneer of the whole process, according to Door County Medical. He was the first man to ever give this new form of bonding a try at the hospital: “I guess they have asked a few fathers but nobody said yes until me.”
At the end of the day, Max admits that he was just trying to do what’s best for his family. “I was really just doing what my dad would have done for me. I was doing what my wife would have wanted.”
Thankfully, April is finally home and recovering.
The proud father posted photos of the event to 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘 which garnered over 44,000 reactions from people everywhere and over 30,000 shares.
Thousands of social media users sung praises for Maxamillian.
“What a star he is. well done dad!!!:)” one commenter wrote.
“How adorable and what a fantastic Dad. Wishing his wife a speedy recovery,” another said.
“1 million dad points to you sir!” another said.
