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Andrew - born at 29 weeks!

Fingers crossed his auditory nerves are still developing, he is still young and his body is still developing...big hugs. x
 
Oh dear, there's always something with our wee ones isn't there! It is frustrating that "only time will tell" line we get all the time. But at least if you are aware there may be an issue, you can begin to look into solutions. It is a good sign that some sound is getting through. Things can only get better huh?

We're going to be doing baby signing even though there is no issue with Abby's hearing, I like the idea she will be able to communicate before she can speak so I reckon it's worthwhile doing anyway.
 
Still waiting to hear about whether the baby signing is going to be worthwhile (and whether we can get any help towards the cost, think I'm going to try The Family Fund again!).

Woohoo for this week - Andrew weighed a stonking 6lb :happydance: He's growing more long and less chubby, so babygros are now either tight on his legs & feet or really baggy around his chest.

As regards the hearing, we had men drilling the house walls yesterday for cavity wall insulation, and Andrew definitely heard that!
 
That's great news. What a wee bruiser!
 
Wow he growing fast...he will be in 0-3 clothes before u know it...bless him...x
 
Wow, I am such a bad correspondent, I haven't updated this thread since the start of December!

Andrew continues to grow a-pace, at his last weigh-in just before Christmas he was 6lb 11oz. He has now been discharged by the Outreach Midwife team (part of NICU), and is under the care of the HVs. I have yet to see one of them, but hopefully someone is phoning me on Thursday to sort out a visit. Luckily I only live three streets away from the clinic and they have a Thursday drop-in, so hopefully I can take him over there weekly or fortnightly for regular weigh-ins to monitor his progress.

He had a brilliant Christmas. He got some toys which won't really be appropriate for another 3-6 months, and some clothes that won't fit for a while (but which were cheap in the sale!). Main things received are a Rainforest bouncer chair, which he much prefers to the basic cloth bouncers he had before; a safari "gorilla" nest/sit-me-up (Mothercare); a bumbo; and a high-chair (for the future).

He's sucking on his hands a good deal when he's lying on his tummy, but still hasn't co-ordinated keeping them at his mouth when lying on his back, so we've succumbed to giving him dummies. He's only grasping our fingers too, not yet grasping any toys that we put within reach. Has anyone else found problems with the usual "first" toys being too big for their preemie's hands to grab?

He's got his first Paed & a repeat Physio appointment on Thursday, hopefully we'll make it although we've got loads of snow now (about 8 inches). I'm going to ask the Paed about weaning, even though he's not showing signs of being more hungry, I'm wondering whether it'll help him put on more weight.

He's trying to rock the base off his basket right now, getting quite vigorous in his attempts to roll over!

We progressed from Micro into Size 1 nappies a few weeks ago, and I'm on the last pack of Size 1s now, going to move him into Size 2s (as I've got those stockpiled) soon. Some of his tiny 5lb clothes still fit (particularly his snowsuit), and some of the 6lb clothes are too short in the body!

https://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Tigsteroonie/Baby/P1020901.jpg
 
:thumbup: Sounds like Andrew is doing you proud, and he is looking so handsome too!

Are you going to start weaning him soon then? I am totally confused over the whole weaning issue, but it does not feel right for us to wean just yet.....maybe another six weeks or so, we'll see.

Amelia is being breast/formula fed. The formula that they put her on is called infatrini, and it promotes catch-up growth. It has a very high calorie content and she seems to be growing well. On 22nd Dec she was 6lb 7oz and on 4th Jan she was 7lb 11oz, and she was not very well during that period too! She is still tiny for her age, but I think she is ganing more quickly than she would without the Infatrini. Maybe you could try it for Andrew, it's on perscription, so it's free!

With regards the dummy and perpetually sticking it back it his mouth, I TOTALLY sympathise:baby: Millie loves her dummy too!
 
Great update - I always look forward to them. Andrew is coming on. He looks devine in his santa suit.

I totally agree with weaning now, it helped heaps with Archie's weight gains. But its totally upto you guys what your going to do.

xxx
 
That's an amazing weight gain by Millie, Sherry! How much / what size feeds is she getting?

I've got NutriPrem2 formula milk on standby for Andrew, but the Midwives were keen that he stay on as much EBM as possible and I'm now producing enough for him - 6 x 100ml feeds a day (he won't take any more than that) - so we haven't opened the formula milk. I'll see what the Paediatrician says on Thursday (if we make it) as regards his growth; I'd rather early wean than put him on formula really, and he'll be 5 months on the 19th (Bliss recommend 5-7m actual).
 
Such a gorgeous wee boy and doing so well.

His weight gain seems ok, is there any reason you are looking to increase it? I agree about weaning rather than formula though. If he is ready for it, then it would seem to be a better option.

I totally agree about the toys. They are too big for hands and mouths!

We got one from Tesco, it's a fluffy cube thing with cloth handles which have crackly stuff inside so make a great sound. It's also got plastic rings off it and other random bits sticking out of it and a jingle/jangle ball thing in the middle. She has only just managed to pick it up herself, but has been grabbing at the various bits and pieces of it for a couple of months. Before that we just gave her the smallest of her teddies to grab at and a rattly thing we got from my sister which she had for my nephew ten years ago.
 
He is coming along a treat! you must be soooooo pleased. Bet you were more excited about the toys than he was though, we were with Rose's presents:dohh:
 
Well, Andrew's Physio appointment was cancelled but the Paediatrics appointment went ahead as planned. The results are:-

She's referring him to the eye specialists as he doesn't seem to want to focus on and follow her face. (That's coz he's too easily distracted!) I think she's worried that he may still have eyesight problems from his cranial bleed.

She wants us to up his EBM to 6 x 110ml a day for a week. I don't have big hopes on this, he rarely wants the full 100ml. If that doesn't up his weight gain, then I think she's threatening to mix EBM with formula.

She wants us to hold off any thoughts of weaning until after the next appointment in 4 weeks, when he'll be 24 wks (13 wks corrected). She didn't seem fond of the Bliss guidelines of 5-7 months actual, but that may have been because he was soooo small.

Other than that, he's doing fine :~

ETA - Just had a chat with DH and we've decided we're going to go ahead with plans to slowly wean Andrew, regardless of the Paediatrician's opinion! We know him best, and we both feel it's the best way of getting extra calories inside him.
 
Hey honey!

Was just catching up there! What you are doing sounds similar to what we did with Alex.

She too wasn't drinking much at all, we struggled to get 100mls down her. After a good few weeks of this and us stressing that she wasnt getting enough, she suddenly hit 5oz. She finishes a 5oz bottle most of the time now. I think, what also helped, was changing bottles! We found that she liked NUK teats, so we got a few bottles and we see the difference in the time it takes to feed her too!

How long does he take to feed?

I asked the HV about this, and she asked me about my own family > are we small too?
We are little people indeed, and perhaps Alex is just going to be small too, and doesnt need as much!

We were swaying about weaning too. We started giving teeney bits of rice but she hasnt been that interested until 12-13weeks corrected, shes slowly taking more of an interest now.

I was one to mix ebm and formula and I do believe that helped, and its easy to go back to ebm if you want. We just moved to formula ourselves though!
 
Thanks Sb.

Andrew feeds pretty darn quickly for the first 80ml or so (10 mins), then takes just as long over the last bit of the bottle. I've got two different size bottles (we're on Avent), I'll have to keep a note of whether he feeds better from the larger or smaller bottles, I haven't picked up a pattern so far.

We've also got the problem that he's beginning to sleep though regularly, which means he misses one of his six feeds - but I didn't want to tell the consultant that! Doesn't help with getting more milk down him during the other feeds, it's not like he wakes up starving or anything.

Both me and DH are small (5ft4 & 5ft7), but neither of us are slightly built and nor is Andrew, he's chunky!
 
Update ...

He's just had 100ml EBM (from a small bottle), and then took about half of his first baby rice feed (1tsp mixed up runny). And I'd swear some of it made it down his inside, as well as down his outside :D He seemed to enjoy it, was opening his mouth ready for the spoon towards the end.

I count that as a success!
 
Yay! It is fab when they do that for the first time!
 
yeah another first! sounds like he's ready for it to me hun. As you say, you and his daddy know him best xx
 
I saw my health visitor today at the clinic and I just had to laugh. She was so adamant that Abby shouldn't be weaned until 6 months corrected and yet when I was telling her how Abby was doing with the purees and stuff she said I should move on to stage 2 stuff and Abby isn't even at the 6 months corrected stage yet!

We do know our babies best.
 

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