Breastfeeding

eegeekwife · January 2013

I was just curious as to how nursing is going for you? I have to use a nipple shield because her mouth is small and my well, you know is big. I am pumping and she gets only breast milk. I put her to breast 3x a day and she is now nursing for 15-20 minutes each time.

thishappyhouse · January 2013

sounds like you are doing all the right things. Breastfeeding a preemie is very challenging so dont hesitate to contact a lactation consultant!

PhillyGal34 · January 2013

it sounds like you are doing an awesome job!

My son was born at 31w5d. We started letting him "explore" around 34 weeks and he seemed to want to nurse right away but couldn't. We started to use a shield and he could finally eat. By the time he came home from NICU at 26 days old he was BF'ing only (as opposed to bottles). we got rid of the shield around 2 months I think (I forget exactly when) and he's still going strong at 7.5 months. I'm a FTM so I have no other experience but there is definitely more of a learning curve with bf'ing a preemie from what I've been told. If she's nursing a few times a day that is awesome!

Oh and for us he started to nurse for a really long time at one point and then when we got rid of the shield his bf'ing time was cut drastically.

GREAT JOB!

Brummy14 · January 2013

DD1 JUST started BF yesterday -- we're only letting her try 1-2x per day at most for now, since we're still feeding her 22 cal BM (Neosure fortified), and offering her a bottle afterwards to make sure she's completely satisfied. The good news is, she went for it ... without a shield!

DD1 has been off of her NG feeding tube for nearly two weeks now, and now that we're confident she "gets" it, DH actually suggested we try BFing (I'd been putting it off -- probably out of fear of failure), and so we went for it for the first time in weeks -- and so did she!

We had done lots of nuzzling in the NICU, but stopped about a month ago when DD1 hit a road block in terms of bottling progress, so we started ruling out variables (different bottles, nuzzling, etc) to try to help her along. And, back then, she didn't do much except suck here and there, choke, brady (the whole NICU rigamarole...), so it wasn't really a great experience -- but more for practice for both of us with the assistance of the LCs.

DD2 is still only 50% by mouth bottling, so BFing is a ways off for her, but man -- I had more or less resigned myself to not being able to BF at all with these little ladies, but now it looks like I might get the chance to.

Yay! Small victories = the best.

Mrs. Alice · January 2013

Sounds like things are going well! My boys came home at 38w BFing with nipple shields. They had 1-2 bottles a day to give them BM and Neosure mixed with their vitamins otherwise they were EBF until 12 months old. The first few weeks at home were really hard and at one point I had to EP for a week just to let give my nipples a break. After they really got a hang of it and I got them off nipple shields it was smooth sailing. Keep up the good work!

cbranch89 · January 2013

My LO is still in the NICU but whenever I am there for a feed he nurses unless I have pumped before hand. He started off nursing on one breast for 10 minutes but now he is doing 15 mins per breast or 20 on one (depending on if I have pumped or not). He loves nursing. I am sad I was told I have to supplement once he comes home

wille2b · January 2013

sounds like its going really well for you guys!! my due date was only 2 weeks ago and that is when my LOs figured out nursing. they are kind of lazy but we are working at it!!!

Wally3 · January 2013

Sounds like you are doing perfect. I was able to wean ds off the nipple shield at around 6 weeks (full term). I was able to nurse for over a year. Sounds like you have a good start. My LC told me it will get easier when their head is bigger than your boob - and it did. Good luck to you.

michelleigh24 · January 2013

Those breast shields are life savers when nursing a preemie. You sound like your doing awesome! Keep it up, it only gets better.

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