Breastfeeding scoring system?
What is this? Someone please explain. The nurses are currently doing weighted feeds. DD gives me all the cues she's getting fed when I BF, but then weighing her says she got nothing or very little (2-5ccs), and then she takes a full tube feed and none of it comes up. I then pump and get milk, so I know it may be accurate enough, but I am curious about this scoring system.
Her pedi is pushing bottles so we can take her home, and the nurses are pushing EBF (one is an LC) and I am frustrated with the timed feeds. If she was at home, I'd be allowed to feed her whenever she was hungry, but in the NICU, it's every three hours like clockwork and if she's not "fast enough" with the bottle, she gets the tube. It's not fair! Not all babies take less than 30 minutes to eat!
I just started taking Domperidone, blessed thistle and fenugreek to try and increase my supply to help her feed better and build up a supply. Here's hoping it works quickly.
Re: Breastfeeding scoring system?
They do the 30 min limit because after that point they are burning more calories than they are taking in. That's how it was explained to me, at least.
Also, pumping milk and breastfeeding aren't the same. How much you pump is no indication of how much your LO is eating (as you are seeing from the weighted feeds).
Your LO is still young. 35 weeks is young and many babies struggle with latching and milk transfer until they are full term (or beyond). For my guy, it seemed like once he hit 42-43 weeks he finally "got it"
You can do what you want, but I think if I were you I would either ask to feed ad lib (talk to your neo about this) or do bottles to get her home and then try to BF at home. Since it looks like milk transfer is an issue, I'd rent a hospital grade scale when you get home so you can do weighted feeds to be sure she is getting enough.
As far as a scoring system, I think you may be interpreting that wrong. It isn't screwing per se. They just have to make sure your LO is getting enough. You should ask your neo to set a minimum amount of milk your LO should have each day and then do ad lib feeds the entire time you are there.
I'm going to look Urbanflowerpot into this post as well. She went through hell and back to get her LO to breastfeed. He too did everything he was supposed to, but didn't actually take more than a couple ccs of milk. He's now turning one and she EBFs and plan to until he weans on his own. She'll tell you the full story though.
We'll miss you sweet Debbie Girl (4.21.12) and sweet Cindy Girl (8.9.12)
Four months ago, I could have written this post. The nurses in my NICU were very much against weighted feeds because it isn't accurate. I put breast feeding on the back burner and focused on EPing for a while because of the inaccuracies around weighted feeds, I knew if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.
Bottle and gavage feeds are measurable. Breast feeing is not.My DD was kept in the NICU because she wasn't taking in the full 55cc's per feed by bottle. I pretty much had to beg and negotiate to get her to come home, which in hindsight I am not sure was the best thing.
I breastfed a bit when we got home, but stopped because my LO was getting a tooth in (at 2 months). She still barely gets to 55cc's in one feeding, though she is finally catching on to the suck, swallow and breathe and her suck has gotten stronger.
The domperidone should help really boost up your supply. i saw a good 5 oz bump with it. Good luck. Listen to your mommy instincts and go with them.
considering NICU scales can track very small gains, I'm not sure how weighted feeds aren't accurate. Can you tell us how they explained this to you? Sure, you might not know the exact mls. But, it could certainly tell you if your LO is taking in a significant amount.
We'll miss you sweet Debbie Girl (4.21.12) and sweet Cindy Girl (8.9.12)
Hi there! I'm sorry this response is going to be kinda rushed but feel free to ask me any questions if I leave something out. I agree with Katie on all counts - do what you need to get discharged because NICU isn't really the place to accomplish EBF. Once you're home you can tackle that.
Is there a reason why they put you on meds to increase your supply? are you not producing enough milk when you pump?
This might not be your problem - it might be LO's but together you can fix it. For months I thought I was doing something wrong, but it turned out he wasn't really BF'ing in NICU. He just looked the part - faker, faker, faker. I was friends with the LCs and saw them every day. He began his performance by making a *perfect latch* on his first try and then drinking an entire ounce!!!! The whole floor was astounded and boy was I proud of him. Then, for weeks, every weighed feed he never ever took more than 10 ccs. what.the.heck. I got all sorts of frustrated and depressed and confused...but whatever, can't be there for every feed so =/ Oh, I should include we were on the shield at first do to his size/too small to latch but I stuck with it for consistency until he tossed it off at home. I thought he might be tongue tied so got that checked - nope. Then it dawned on me - he wasn't doing something right. By then he'd gotten bigger and we were home so I could poke around and issues were more visible. You really can tell more as they get bigger.
She might not really be latching - she might be doing a great job faking like DS. This is a road you should at least explore. You hear "when they're bigger" so much that you might get that line again so just tuck this in your pocket. We were readmitted after two weeks home (so 40 w GA) - his issue was choke/bradys so they were focused on swallowing. He passed the whole suck/breathe/swallow stethescope tests with flying colors! He was analyzed. Why didn't anyone think of this?? I don't know. He wasn't really latched
I'd been home for almost two months when I took him to a specialist - this was it for me. I was a mental wreck. I'll post a link to my blog entry where I explain - but please hang in there. As my specialist told me - it sounds like you *both* want it and that is key. If LO wasn't interested I'd say maybe start thinking that it might not work (to tell you the truth, after a year of preemie talk I've learned that is def something every preemie parent should think about - BF'ing doesn't work for everyone sometimes, no matter how hard you try). Anyway, if she is working and wants it and you do too - it's highly, highly possible.
I will check in later - let me know how things are going! I hope this helps a little.
https://preemiemomblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/nipple-confusion-and-how-i-transitioned.html
It really depended on the nurse, but most of our nurses had found that they could weigh a baby, feed him or her and then weigh them and not see any change at all. So, most of our nurses didn't think this was a reliable approach.