Reflective Practice in Postnatal Care: Application of Gibbs' Cycle to Twin Infant Feeding Management
Overview
This reflection documents a clinical placement experience at a postnatal ward involving care for a mother and her late-preterm twins with feeding difficulties. Using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle, the author analyzes their anxiety management, successful implementation of woman-centered care aligned with cultural safety principles, and identifies early hand-expression teaching as a key area for improvement to prevent excessive neonatal weight loss.
What this reflection paper covers
- Description of clinical scenario: late-preterm twins with weight loss and feeding difficulties
- Reflection on personal feelings, anxieties, and sense of professional satisfaction during care delivery
- Evaluation and analysis of successful care aspects including woman-centered approach and cultural safety
- Identification of improvement area: timing of hand-expression teaching intervention
- Conclusion linking theory to practice with reference to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and partnership principles
Preview
Reflection
This reflective exercise employed the Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, a framework developed to help people learn from their experiences. I chose the model because it encourages systematic reflection by guiding the description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and an action plan (McCarthy et al., 2021). While on placement at Waterford postnatal ward, I was assigned to take care of a woman who had delivered dichorionic diamniotic twins at 36 weeks and 3 days of gestation. Twin B had lost 9 percent of birth weight and was also extremely drowsy and had a weak and ineffective latch. The mother was extremely committed to exclusive breastfeeding and was very stressed when the issue of supplementing with formula was raised. Therefore, she became very emotional and restless, expressing deep concerns about the issue. Under the direct supervision of a registered midwife, I helped with the positioning and attaching Twin A, teaching hand expression, and used syringe finger-feeding to transfer the expressed colostrum to Twin B. I also conducted the metabolic screening tests of the newborn and applied anti-D immunoglobulin. The two babies were closely monitored in the postnatal ward during the entire period of care and were given milk from their mother.
At the start, I had much anxiety about the issue. This was my initial experience with late-preterm twins with high-weight loss, and I was acutely aware of the clinical risks of excessive weight loss.