At what GA did LO latch?

damabo80

Seems like I'm a PW tonight...forgive me

The drs want LO to conserve energy, so she's only taking half of her feedings orally, and of those oral feedings, only about 50% are successful in actually getting the milk from the bottle to her mouth, and from her mouth to her stomach (and staying there).

She's 35w GA today. I'm anxious for her to move from bottle to breast. I have the nipple shield, but she only gets about 2 sucks in before she loses interest.

At what GA did you LO start being able to feed off the breast?

kck329

Our neos said this skill comes anytime between 34 and 36 weeks so you may have another week or so on this one.

Have you asked about doing non-nutrative breastfeeding? I talked with the doctors and the nutritionist about how much I wanted to breastfeed so they let me do non-nutrative at least once a day by your LO's age. Basically you just let her play with the idea of breatfeeding, no pressure on either of you in terms of consuming calories, and then give her the whole feed through the tube. I think this helped a lot.

Also keep in mind a lot of women here had much more success with breastfeeding at home than in the NICU so if its slow going, don't get frustrated-you can do it!

sucrets4

Hmm, she had 1 great latch when she was in the hospital but most times it was hit or miss.  She came home doing both - I'd bf and guess at how much she got and then DH would supplement with a bottle.  I'd say that she became much better at BFing by 37w, about 2 weeks after she came home.  I'd have to look at our records (we wrote everything down), but she was definitely all about the boob by her EDD.

katie4253

Latch?  34ish weeks. 

Suck to really get anything?  After about 4 days when we added a nipple shield.  Pretty sure he was only getting a few ml, though.

That said, I gave up while in the hospital.  We switched and he is doing 100% bottle feeding.  He is taking every other feed by bottle and now they moved him to every feed if he is awake (so far is a sleeping machine lol).  

I just want him home, we'll work on bfing once I get him home.  

ShannonSky

I think she latched for the first time around 35 weeks, but it wasn't until she was around her due date before she was really able to BF full time. Getting her to that point was a long process.

schenkertobe

He latched around 34 weeks. It was non-nutritive sucking though. We did pre/post weights and he never got more than a few mls of breastmilk. He just got good at breastfeeding last week, which was our first week bottle free. It takes a long time. 

MrsDink

LO was showing feeding ques at (rooting, licking lips) just under 32 weeks.  Emotionally I'd had a very rough few days and knew that I NEEDED to try and get him to latch on. 

The day I planned to "ask" (really I wasn't going to stop until they let me...) he had a new nurse that I was unfamiliar with.  I walked in and said, I want to hold him and I want to try and let him nuzzle/latch on.  This nurse was VERY hesitant. I told her basically that I wasn't asking, I was telling her that I wanted to try.  She, as much as she didn't want to, got a LC to sit with me, and instantly LO latched on, even before we had tried bottle feeding. 

If you want to try and let LO nuzzle or latch on, it can't hurt to try.  You have to be your own advocate and you need that bonding time.  Even if it's two sucks once a day, she's still learning, and even letting LO try helped me emotionally.  

I say continue to use your nipple shield and see if they will let you try once a day, practice makes perfect! GL  

shanlubey

Latch? Never without a shield, but he did super well and was EBF by 39 weeks. One of DS' greatest hurdles was feeding. He couldn't take bottle feedings no matter how hard he tried. He thought bottle feeding sucked, pun intended. 

adrielegorburu

Were at 36 weeks today and she hasnt tried yet - my NICU wants her to be better at bottle feeding before we try the breast - she is taking anywhere from 10-40 mls of her 40 ml feeds by bottle every other feeding but its really hit or miss and she gets sooooo tired.  This morning was an epic 8 ml only (fail!) and I thought she was really doing well - they changed her to every third feeding by bottle to give her some rest.  I'm hoping she catches on soon because I really want to BF -

acheyees19

We brought Rylen home when he was 35weeks and I began TRYING to breastfeed. He latched on almost right away, it was just a matter of keeping him awake after 5 minutes. I talked to the LC and she said he should get A LOT better about it as his EDD gets closer. I try a couple times a day, but he won't stay awake so he's getting breast milk... just out of a bottle.