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Preemies
AlwaysSunny925
member
**jenmikw**
AlwaysSunny925
member
in Preemies
In a post below, you mention your LO had trouble feeding. Would you mind elaborating? Ryan is having trouble taking bottle feedings and he is 37 weeks GA. They started offering the bottle about a week ago at every other feeding but have since decided to take a break because he had a severe choking spell last night.
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Re: **jenmikw**
Owen had trouble coordinating his suck, swallow, breathe. Mainly he didn't swallow and forget to breathe. He would suck, suck, suck and once he had too much in his mouth it would start to dribble down the back on his throat causing his to freak out.
It took a few weeks to figure this out. At our NICU they try to get breastfeeding established prior to introducing the bottle. We tried breastfeeding for two and half weeks and got nowhere with it. He would suck a few times and pull off and cry. At that time they thought it was in relation to his GERD. Once we wasn't progressing the OT got involved and we eventually figured out his SSB incooridation issue. We ceased breastfeeding (I still pumped) because they were afraid that he would aspirate. We started to introduce the bottle thinking that if we could control the flow more that it would solve the problem - but this didn't work either. Eventually we started to thicken his feeds. We started off with rice cereal but Owen ended up having an intolerance to rice, then switched to oatmeal (which caused us to switch to formula to properly mix). Owen tolerated the Oatmeal for a week or so but then stopped taking bottles. For whatever reason he decided that oatmeal wasn't for him and in the end we ended up using "Quick Thick." Once we started the Quick Thick it still took about 10 days for him to be able to take all of his feeds by bottle.
All of his feeding related issues started at 35w2d (when he was taken off of TPN and CPAP), and continued until 40w5d when he was discharged.
Since we've been home we've had OT for the first month come weekly and then after that come every ten days to monitor his feedings (in addition to some of his other issues). We worked on weaning him off of the thickener by gradually reducing it. Two weeks ago today Owen took his first full bottle of unthickened breastmilk and right now we're participating in our own version on breastfeeding bootcamp (hence my lack of activity here :-().
BPF May 12, 2013 :: EDD Janaury 22, 2013 :: MC Began On July 14, 2013 at 12W4D
Born at 34w2d:
::butting in::
How is Ryan's resp. rate? Is he completely off oxygen?
Hilyer had trouble with SSB, but it's all related to his lung issues. We worked with OT and Speech a LOT when he was still in the NICU.
What nipple is he using?
Is his BM being thickened at all?
Is it still fortified? With what?
Sorry for so many questions, but feeding is so frustrating and I've learned more than I care to know
We are actually having a family meeting with his doctor on Thursday morning so I will get all my BF and bottle feeding questions answered.
Here's my thinking - demand that he go back to the slow-flow nipple. If he was doing well, why mess with it until he gets more practice. You can buy slow flow nipples for most any bottle. And you can buy the NICU Similac nipples in bulk if he needs them at home.
I would ask about thickening his feeds. It will go in slower and he can control how much he swallows better. If they thicken, then the regular nipple will probably work.
Good luck at your meeting!
Thanks. I will definitely ask about thickening the feeds and continuing to use the slow flow nipple.