Did your preemie BF?

DocWatkins

Hi everyone!
Our daughter is now 5 wks old and was born at 35 weeks and was in NICU 7 days. She was bottle fed and has continued to bottle feed with breastmilk and supplemental formula and is doing well. She always had trouble latching and continues to have trouble. The nipple shield helps but she just seems frustrated and cries. Did anyone with a preemie ever successfully breastfeed if you were in a similar situation? Thank you for reading and responding : it's been wonderful to read all of the posts on here. Thanks again!

Kadyra

Ds was 36 weeks with no NICU time. We expected issues, but he was like a little BFing champ. I had to suddenly and unexpectedly wean at 5 months or it would have been longer.

Divashrink1982

DS was born at 36 w 0 d with just an overnight NICU stay. We had issues with feeding at the beginning (DS didn't know how to suck, I had flat nipples, mastitis, thrush, etc) but were able to persevere. I used a shield for about 6 weeks. Before that, we did finger feedings with a syringe. Definitely meet with a LC if you haven't already. We met with one twice in the hospital and then again a few days later - they were able to help with figuring out supplementing and helping DS to learn to suck and latch. We now EBF and he is 5 months old. I know it is not possible for everyone by any means, but it does happen. Good luck!

ktrkate

My DD was born at 32 weeks, and spent 24 days in the NICU. She breastfed with a shield until she was 4 or 5 months, then without until she weaned at one year.  It wasn't always easy, but it was really important to me, so thankfully we figured it out. 

coastalmaine

I tried and tried and DS never got the hang of it....I also have a slow let down, so that is part of it. The bottle is just so easy for them...I think all the work of breastfeeding just frustrates him...so I have been express feeding. It stinks but I have finally come to peace with it and am thankful my supply is so good and he is able to get breast milk.

AndBabyWouldMake5

Thanks for posting this, I came on specifically to ask the same questions.  Looks like our daughters are in the almost exact same situation.

CTbride79

My DS (born at 32 weeks) was bottle fed with fortified breast milk while in the NICU, and continued to do so once he came home...I tried to BF for about 6 weeks after he came home, and was only successful with a nipple shield, and even then, he still needed a bottle to satisfy him.  So I eventually decided it was not worth the stress of trying to force it, and just EP til he was about 3 months and then switched to formula.  A good LC may be able to help you with the transition though...I did not have a good one at my hospital. 

TriciaandSean

My son was born at 34.5 weeks and was in the NICU for 3 weeks.  While in the NICU I BF and either followed up with a bottle or tube feeding.  When he came home I nursed and then followed up with a bottle for probably a week or so.  Eventually he just figured it out.

I used a nipple shield until probably 10 weeks or so.  I was so glad to get rid of that thing!

Keep up the good work and continue to BF and try following up with a bottle after if s/he is still hungry.  It takes preemies longer to learn, but they can figure it out!

jteneback

Yes, we had success with the nipple shield once we were home and weaned off it at about 6 weeks. It was frustrating to get her on the breast, though. Good luck.

PhillyGal34

We are successfully bf'ing. DS was born at 31w5d and spent 26 days in nicu. He was bottle and breast fed as soon as he was able. We used s nipple shield and he self weaned from the shield after a few weeks. He prefers the breast to bottle by far but has to get bottles while I'm at work. It can be done if the baby wants to!

LnR70707

Never exclusively.  We tried our best around supplementing and pumping for the first 6 weeks and then I went to EPing until about 11 weeks, when he dropped a night feeding and my supply could catch up (I had low supply and couldn't produce enough in 2-3hrs).  We successfully nursed every morning until he weaned at 13 months...if I had wanted to I probably could have moved to EBFing around 7 months but by that time our routine worked for us.

mrsbnlmel

My son was a 35 weeker who also spent 7 days in the NICU. He had to be fortified in the beginning because of low birth weight so he only attempted to nurse once a day. Then I struggled with PPD and had to pump and dump while he was formula fed due to some medications. I also struggled a lot with supply issues because of our rough start and my PCOS. At any rate, between 2-3 months, I finally got my son transitioned to EBF. It is possible, but not always easy. Keeping my supply up was probably the hardest part. Find a good LC and that will help a lot. We were able to BF until my son weaned himself at 14 months. Good luck!

iloveu4ever

No the nurses pretty much took and shoved my son's face into my boob.

urbanflowerpot

We sure have and at 18 mo are still going strong! It was the hardest thing I've ever had to work for, though, and I know in Preemieland no matter how hard I worked it just as easily not worked out. DS was born at 30.6 and was in NICU for 50 days, home two weeks, then back in NICU for 8. He always had swallow/suck/choke/brady issues so he was tried on tons of bottles/nipples and never got a proper latch with me. Even though we had great LC's it wasn't until he was home for a month (3+ mo act) that I took him back to see another LC. She worked really hard with us and it took another month before he flew solo. So 4 mo EP, then EBF until present day Advice for the moment: either pick the shield or ditch it - don't keep switching it around, then stick with your choice, plow forward and make a LC appt explaining your circumstance. I'm sure you can be seen soon. GL and keep us posted