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Multiples
Those of you who had babies in the NICU
Last night I was talking to the nurse. She mentioned that in order for the boys to have their feeding tubes removed they need to take all of their feedings in a 24 hour period by bottle. So, pretty much, breastfeeding is not taken into consideration (they do record the length of time they boys latch on though). Therefore, what did you do? Did you continue to nurse and alternate between bottles, or did you just switch to bottles? We have been nursing for a little bit, then switchin to their tubes and/or bottle, but the boys have been working so hard at nursing that they aren't finishing their bottles then.
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Re: Those of you who had babies in the NICU
The NICU was able to measure how much my girls took at the breast by weighing before and after the feed. That gave them how much the girls took in during the feed and they were able to 'credit' them the ML's from the breast. It meant having the scale close, but it was important to me to get them to the breast when possible. Weight differences from before/after feeds is a much more accurate guage of their intake than minutes spent at the breast IMO.
I am having the same issue. For right now we are only BF each girl 1x a day for about 5 minutes. Even that exhausts them and after that they usually don't take the entire bottle. Our nicu also records the length of latch and estimated length of sucking (my girls latch and just sit there sometimes).
I think for now we will only work on BF 1x a day, and hope that in the next few days they can take a full bottle after each mini BF session. We won't increase BF sessions until they are taking all 8 bottles each day.
I figure it is more important to me that they get breast milk than how they get it. I will gladly give them the bottles if it means they will be released earlier. We can always work on BF at home and after they have mastered 8 bottles in a day.
Also, for my girls, the latching is not the issue. They are both great at latching on and seem to enjoy being latched on. They just get lazy once latched. The nurses have said that the latch is the hardest part, so they have assured me that they think both girls will progress quickly with BF once they have enough energy and stamina to take in all feeds by bottle.
Good luck (and let me know what you decided to do)!
Our babies were in the NICU for 3 weeks before they were taking all their feedings from the bottle. I would say the breastfeeding support I got there was...mixed. A lot of the nurses talked about how breastfeeding made them more tired & burn more calories. I was recently talking to a friend who is a NICU pediatrician & is a passionate advocate of breastfeeding. She said that's a crock. She said the energy saved from the baby being close & not having to maintain its body temp while BF cancels out any of the extra effort from BF.
That said, having babies in the NICU is hard enough. Go easy on yourself with the BF. Be forgiving & don't put a lot of pressure on yourself.
We tried with L a couple of times and everytime we did try she would sleep and not want to wake up for the next couple of feedings so we decided that it was taking to much out of her. I would wait on BF and just work on getting them home then start doing it at home once they have feeding down. If you only pump for months there is nothing wrong with that. I ended up pumping for 4 months and did a little nursing but we had latching problems.