Along with the 3 hour feeding ?

Macy628

Starting today my little guy is now allowed to nurse before each 35 cc tube fortified BM feeding and he's done pretty well!  He ate for 10 minutes straight, had a burp, and was off and on for another 10 min at 11:00 and at 2:00 he ate for about 12 min, burped, and switched sides for another 5.  After he eats he falls asleep.  Our nurse was shocked that he did that well for his size (3 lbs. 11.5 oz).  I'm kind of shocked too since my first son wouldn't even try to latch.

 What I noticed today (and yesterday) is that he wakes up anywhere from 30-40 minutes before it's his scheduled time to eat and he's chewing on his hands, arms, tubes, anything he can find.  Today he started to fuss, arch his back, kick, etc...  My mama instincts are saying "he's hungry feed him!" but the NICU won't let him eat before his scheduled time.  Is there a reason for this?  To me, if we want him to gain weight and he's showing signs of wanting to eat, why stop him?  Anyone have experience with this?

rslhmg

A few of the nurses in our our nicu said they kept the babies on a schedule because they had so many they had to keep them on the schedule so everybody ate. If my DD was hungry sooner we were there the nurses were more then happy to let us go ahead with feeding. Is there something going on with your lo that requires a schedule like maybe meds? I'd talk to the Dr or nurse and find out what the deal is.

Macy628

Thanks for your response!  I ended up asking the Dr. yesterday and he said that I could now nurse before each feeding every 3 hours.  Today he said that since he gained 3 oz yesterday (yay!) that he could nurse on demand starting today.  Now I'm living at the hospital in an extra room until he can go home.  The dr. said if he keeps growing, he may get to go home as early as Wednesday.  I'm shocked that he may be discharged so soon.  I know the likelihood of Wednesday is not high but it's nice to hear the word discharge this early.