Question re development

orienae

So, my LO who is a little more than a month old is due this week.  She has made amazing progress, she was born under 5 pounds and is now 7 pounds! I guess it's all that breast milk I've pumped as she still has not gotten the hang of breastfeeding. 

 Anyhow, a few questions for you ladies, were any of you successful in getting a baby who had been bottle fed for a while back on the breast? LO just can't get the hang of latching and even when she does nurse it's with a nipple shield and my milk really doesn't let down with it.  The fact is LO doesn't even do very well with a bottle, I basically have to plug/push it into her mouth.

The other question I have is regarding wakefulness.  LO seems to still just eat andd sleep,her period of wakefullness is about 15 minutes at a time, maybe 30.  Other one monthers are experiencing much longer periods so I'm just wondering if I should be going by her gestational age still even though size wise she is really starting to catch up quite well.

witt0198

I can't speak to the BF question, .....I ended up pumping for 17months.

As for wakefulness. Evan slept a TON, until just after his due date. Then it was like a light switched and he was a normal newborn, actually went to being a high maintenence one for awhile. I think they're just putting so much energy into growing they need all that sleep for awhile.

rhabel

We had trouble getting Hannah to latch before we left the hospital (she was just over 2 months old then but still 38 weeks gestational age).  The LC gave me a nipple shield and we used it once but it didn't make much of a difference and I just decided to give her more time until she was ready to latch on her own.  No sense in adding another nipple to wean off of in the mix.  We use Dr. Brown's bottles and have good success with those.  We also use medela bottles with a slow flow nipple sometimes and those nipples always seem to collapse due to the vacuum (although now I'm thinking about it- she may need the level 1 nipple now in the medela bottles instead of the slow flow).  Anyway...we only nurse a few times a day b/c I still want to keep track of how much she's eating, and it's still work when I do get her to latch, but she's slowly getting the hang of it.  Are you holding your breast like a "sandwich" with your hand when you get LO to latch? That works for us.  I usually will hold my breast in a U shape (in the cross cradle hold- that's most comfy for her) for several minutes until she's going strong, then I'll use my thumb to keep my breast away from her nose and support  my breast with my other fingers.  Hang in there and you'll get it. 

As for the sleeping, she still sleeps a lot.  I'd say she spends anywhere from 2-4 hours a day awake and that's a generous estimate.  I think preemies are just sleepier because they have so much more growing to do.

ETA: Try not to compare your LO to other one monthers too much.  Preemies develop differently and based on their corrected age, rather than their actual age.  She may be one month old, but she's not even supposed to be here until this week.  For isntance, my LO will be 3 months old on Sunday but she's really like a one week old based on her adjusted age.   

adelepickle

My DS got the hang of latching but didn't have the stamina to keep sucking. So I've been pumping....He does well with the bottle and it gaining weight.

DS's due date was a few days ago and he is still sleeping most of the time. We have periods of 15-30 minutes of being awake.

Kimmy08

Hang in there with the breastfeeding! I was so frustrated with trying to get my girls to breastfeed, I almost quit!

They were in the NICU for a month, so they were used to bottles and not having to work for the milk. We were recommended nipple shields since they were used to the plastic feel and it is easier for them to keep a latch. (With your nipple, once they unlatch, it takes them a little while to get the correct latch again.)

Anyway, after getting frustrated, I pretty much said I am done with it. I would breastfeed one with the shield (which usually would take 30-45min and lots of repositioning of the shield because my girls liked to hit it with their hands), burp, repeat with other baby, then pump. I was going crazy because it was a never ending cycle and it seemed like I either had a baby or pump attached to me!

Then one morning around their due date, I was feeling tired and lazy and didn't want to make bottles, so I put one of my girls to breast, and it just clicked! Like she had been breastfeeding the entire time! Same with my other twin. My LC told me that preemies will usually do that around their due date. Now they only breastfeed for 10-15 min and are satisfied.

Sorry so long, just wanted to give you some inspiration that you can do it.