Feeding question/immature suck

Patedgar

Hi everyone!
My name is Trish and I gave birth to a 32 week little girl on October 26th. She is doing very well but remains in the special care nursery due to ongoing feeding issues. To date she has only finished two bottles (she is currently 6 1/2 weeks old). Today she had a swallow study done which showed that structurally everything is intact and that she is not micro aspirating. However, they dlid say that she "chomps" the nipple instead of sucking it. They told me when feeding her I should offer her "chin support". She also tires out quickly with her feeds and typically will fall asleep after about 20 cc's. If anyone can offer any advise or strategies that have helped your little ones it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you~

Eshirley26

Ditto on holding LO away from your body. We would even unswaddle or unwrap any blanket to wake him up. Will your hospital allow you to bring in different bottles? I did that before DS was discharged, trying to figure out which ones would work for him. It would cause more work for you with cleaning & sanitizing but could be worth a shot to try some different nipples. We also slowly twisted the bottle while he fed (still do sometimes- he is 9 wks) and/or lightly tap the bottom of the bottle. The nurses said those techniques stimulate them. Good luck, I know that is so frustrating.

LaciJaxx

Agree with all PP's. Also, it helped for us to hold our LO more upright than lying down. This makes him do the work to get milk instead of it dripping out the nipple. It really helped since he tended to choke a lot. We also kept him out away from us to keep him cooler and not quite so comfortable. Also try rubbing your LO's tummy, foot or hand when she starts getting sleepy. Don't rub otherwise, or it won't work as stimulation. As far as nipples go, our NICU had different ones to try and it was the orthodontic one that worked best.

Patedgar

Thank ladies for taking the time to respond to my post and all of your suggestions. I will start to apply some of these techniques tomorrow morning!!!!