Reese will be 2 weeks old tomorrow...

GTJess

and she's still in the hospital. Grrr. Its getting so frustrating. She has to take 3 bottles in 24 hours before they'll move her to 4 a day. Well she has taken 4 out of the last 5 attempts with her one miss only being by 10 cc or so. I begged the doctor to go ahead and try 4 but he refused since she had missed the one bottle and had been a little slow on the others. I hate to argue with a doctor because I'd like to think they know what's best, but we just wish they'd be more aggressive. She obviously knows how to do it, she just gets sleepy and won't finish it sometimes.

 Has anyone else gone through this? I just wonder if there is anything we can do to get them to be more agressive. 

Daisygirl613

i can't offer advice...but i know this has to be so hard for you.  i'll send out more t&p for you guys.

i'm glad to hear she's starting to do better tho!  i hope it hurries up and she gets out SOON!!! 

MrsKLB

I'm so sorry.  I know this has to be incredibly frustrating and I would be so impatient if I were you!  Like I said before, I have a friend who went through this same thing last summer.  I can ask her if they had similar issues with the doctors not pushing it if the baby was falling asleep during bottles, etc.  My gut instinct is that you just have to trust the doctors and be patient, though.  I know it must be so hard.  Maybe you can ask the doctors/nurses if there is anything you can do to help her stay away while taking the bottle to ensure that she doesn't fall asleep before she is finished?  That might help.  I wish I had better advice, but just wanted you to know we're thinking about you and hope your little girl gets to go home soon!  

Just think... it isn't even her due date yet, so every minute you get to look at her or hold her is just *bonus* time!  I know it's not as good as having her at home, but it's still precious time with her.  Good luck!

maykat

Both of my kids were very sleepy and would hardly eat.  Both ended up being jaundiced and the doctors at Northside did not catch it.

With Alec, it was the lactation consultant that had me ask the pedi to check his bilirubin levels. 

With Aerin, I spotted it and had the pedi then test.

If she looks a little yellow, I would defnitely have them test her.  Jaundiced babies get so sleepy and don't really want to eat, but it's so important to get the bottle through them in order to get all the jaundice stuff out.

We did wet wash cloths and would undress both kids during feeding.

I hope you get to take your baby girl home soon!!!

momof2inatl

I know you are ready to have that sweet baby girl home! As badly as I wanted the twins to be home, I also knew I could not rush things. Definitely speak your concerns to the doctors and nurses, but remember...they see things like this every day, and we(as the parents) do not. What seems like common sense to us, may actually be more complex in the grand scheme of things. Also...one thing I had to keep telling myself....they are in GREAT hands right now, and if we were to take the twins home too early and for some reason they needed help again....no more NICU....they would then have to go to CHOA....and I was much more comfortable having them in the NICU where they had been and people knew what was going on with them. Mine were very similar to Reese in that they needed to learn how to eat. It will happen soon. and before you know it....she will be throwing food off of her tray saying, "All Done!" Stay strong!!

ebearwife

Isaac was full term (not sure if that makes a difference) so even though we had issues with feeding that delayed his homecoming, it only took a couple days for him to "get it".  Are you pumping or BFing at all?  Isaac really took to the breast after a couple days and the dr was so impressed we got to go home a day early (we reported minutes nursing vs. oz given).  When we went to see him we would spend several hours at the hospital and the nurses let us take him in the visiting room and we did all his care while we were there - holding him, nursing him, changing him, etc.  During nursing if he got sleepy I would tickle his feet or change breasts to wake him up.  Sometimes DH would offer a bottle while I pumped if he was being particularly stubborn.  He was awfully sleepy at first though, sometimes we would have to wait to see him bc he would sleep on through his scheduled feeding.  Even now he is way sleepier than P ever was at first.  Reese will get it soon, she may even surprise you! 

GTJess

yeah we try to not get frustrated since we know she is in good hands. and we do the tickling, etc to wake her up which usually works, but honestly i think she just gets full. She's up to almost 6 lbs already after dropping to 4 lbs 15 oz (I think she is officially at 5 lbs 13.8 oz). She's completely on my breastmilk as I am pumping every three hours or so. We haven't even gotten to try to physically breast feed her yet, which is so sad to me. I'm afraid she's going to get so used to a bottle she's never going to want to breast feed. 

I guess we just need to continue to be patient. I mean she's just now at 37 weeks. 

ebearwife

GTJess:

She's completely on my breastmilk as I am pumping every three hours or so. We haven't even gotten to try to physically breast feed her yet, which is so sad to me. I'm afraid she's going to get so used to a bottle she's never going to want to breast feed. 

I guess we just need to continue to be patient. I mean she's just now at 37 weeks. 

  Awesome weight gain!  Good job, momma!!

Onto the transition to the breast issue.  What is the dr's opinion on letting her "try"?  Ask every time you see him if you aren't already.  The nanosecond he gives you the green light, let her.  It can be a process, even without the bottle issue.  Sometimes its just hard to get them to latch.  It took a couple days for Isaac.  When the time comes, enlist the help of the LC provided at the hospital and keep trying, use lanolin ALL.THE.TIME to prevent cracking bc the first few days can be ROUGH.  It helps to be dogmatic.  Give it several days to "take".  When she gets it do not offer bottles for a while unless you absolutely have to be away.  OTOH, you might be "lucky" bc now you know she will take a bottle and that battle will not have to be fought when you are ready to return to work.

smynings_bride

I don't have any advice but just wanted to say I hope she gets to come home soon--once she does, I bet the hospital stay will be nothing but a distant memory.

savannah_bride

My DD was about a month early and for the first 9 months of her life, the pedi was ALWAYS on us because she didn't drink enough. Your gut feeling that Reese is full is probably right and it's irritating that the dr's are going to keep her until she drinks as much as they require I know that dr's know the right things to do and that we need to follow their advice, but my DD had a small appetite and she's just fine now. I finally had to make myself ignore the pedi's advice of pumping more into her because she just didn't want/need it. I hope that Reese starts eating as much as they require so that you can take her home soon!

rara855

GTJess:

yeah we try to not get frustrated since we know she is in good hands. and we do the tickling, etc to wake her up which usually works, but honestly i think she just gets full. She's up to almost 6 lbs already after dropping to 4 lbs 15 oz (I think she is officially at 5 lbs 13.8 oz). She's completely on my breastmilk as I am pumping every three hours or so. We haven't even gotten to try to physically breast feed her yet, which is so sad to me. I'm afraid she's going to get so used to a bottle she's never going to want to breast feed. 

I guess we just need to continue to be patient. I mean she's just now at 37 weeks. 

That is an amazing weight gain. Yayy for both if you. I know it must be hard and I have no advice just wanted to send T&P and hugs. 

seasidebride05

I know it must be so hard to not have Reese home with you.  Hope she keeps progressing and is home soon!

julienandy

You are doing a great job keep it up.  I know how hard the NICU can be, keep in mind also your have that post baby hormone thing going on.  Just write down your questions/concerns to your docs and aks them why you can't try BF or whatever you want to know.  Are you at Piedmont?  Those docs are AWESOME.  I had a very sad experience with my first but I have to say I have nothing to say but rave reviews of the docs and nurses at Piedmont in the NICU.  I also found the nurses are helpful when you have ?s and also the chaplain was a great person to talk to about things....they can't serve as the doctor, but often they can direct you to the questions you need to be asking.

I am so sorry your baby isn't home yet and she has reached a great weight.  Hang in there, sounds like she will be home soon.

hthomas02

hugs mommacita!

scarlet115

No advice, but I'm so sorry you are going through this and I can't  imagine how hard it is. She is in good hands and is making really good progress!! I hope she can come home soon.

slwprincess

HUGS MAMA!  You are both doing great- hang in there a little longer!  Yes we had some feeding issues in the beginning too.  Gavin was taking formula in the NICU as well as me trying to BF as much as possible.  Gavin was a VERY sleepy baby in the beginning and just didn't want to stay awake long enough to finish a feeding- either bottle or breast.  There was a fantastic LC at Kennestone (Ms. Mary) and she really helped me learn how to tell when he was full... let me see if I can remember it all:

A baby comes with a built in gas guage- their arms.  When they are really full, their arms will become totally limp and you will be able to lift one and she will let it drop.  There were a series of "annoyances" that she had me do while he was feeding and he would nod off.  First, count to 5 and make sure that she's really not going to start again on her own.  Then say "Reese, eat." Firmly- don't beg or plead with her.  You are the Mama and she needs to listen to you!  If that doesn't work, start at the top of her head and work your way down.  First, nudge her ear and say "Reese, eat."  If that doesn't get her to start eating, nudge her jaw/chin and say "Reese, eat."  Move on down to her shoulder- "Reese, eat."  Nudge her arm and say "Reese, eat."  And the last one is to lift her arm and let it flop.  If it flops, she's full.  Give up and try again later- don't sit their and cuddle her though- put her down in her bed to sleep.  Cuddling doesn't subsitute eating so if she doesn't eat, she doesn't cuddle (this one was hard for me to follow!)  But if she's not really full, she will tense up and start eating again at one of these points.  Don't get discouraged.  Follow this series of steps in order each time she stops.  It could take us an hour to get through a full feeding in the beginning, but he eventually learned that he wasn't going to get any snuggles until he finished eating! 

I know it sounds crazy, but honestly, it gave me such confidence to have a plan of what to do when he wouldn't eat.  I was beginning to panic everytime I went to feed him and this put me back in control a little.  Good luck sweetie.  Keep us posted!

keg

GTJess:

yeah we try to not get frustrated since we know she is in good hands. and we do the tickling, etc to wake her up which usually works, but honestly i think she just gets full. She's up to almost 6 lbs already after dropping to 4 lbs 15 oz (I think she is officially at 5 lbs 13.8 oz). She's completely on my breastmilk as I am pumping every three hours or so. We haven't even gotten to try to physically breast feed her yet, which is so sad to me. I'm afraid she's going to get so used to a bottle she's never going to want to breast feed. 

I guess we just need to continue to be patient. I mean she's just now at 37 weeks. 

Hang in there!  Sounds like she's growing great!  Don't stress too much about the breastfeeding part.  My DDs were born at 35w6d and started off on bottles in the NICU (one DD had a feeding tube for a couple days).  We started trying to BF in the NICU and the LC said they were doing great, but they really didn't "get" breastfeeding until they were about 39 weeks and we had to use nipple shields to get to that point.  They were able to switch from breast to bottle and back with no problem.  I was the BF problem in that my supply sucked but they were breastfed some until they were 9 months old.  ((((Hugs)))).  I know it's hard, but try and get some rest while she's in the NICU, because when she's home, it will be go, go, go!  :-) 

care99

Great job on the pumping!  I hope that you are able to BF soon and she continues to gain weight like a champ.  Hang in there!