First breastfeeding for NICU baby!

[shelbelle33]

My son has been in the NICU for the past month and today was the first day we really attempted breastfeeding. My son was a champ who latched on right away and started sucking like a pro! He has some trouble staying awake, but hopefully he will stay awake for longer periods of time as he gets older. I am so proud of him.

He is only 35 weeks and I am hoping he continues to do well and only gets better at breastfeeding as time goes on.

I am so happy!!!!!! L

 

[girl friday]

Aww, that's brilliant! Well done mummy & baby!
xx

 

[Aimee4311]

Yay!

 

[Kellen]

Congrats! That is fantastic.

 

[IrelandsOwn]

Congrats!

 

[superfrizbee]

Well done! That's fantastic! x

 

[Eleanor ace]

Congratulations, that's lovely

 

[Ice Cold Cube]

Fantastic! Well done both of you.

You might find that feeds are quite short and you might worry that they are not long enough to be giving your baby what he needs, but remember that you've been pumping probably way more than what he actually needs so he will get a big volume in a short time for you.

When Ella started feeding from me (after 4 weeks of tube feeding) some of the midwives thought a ten min feed wasn't enough but her weight gain showed that a 10 min feed every three hours or so was ample for her.

You might find that oversupply is a bit of an issue as you transition from pumping to feeding so just be careful to look out for signs of blocked ducts etc. I just expressed off milk when it felt uncomfortable and did alright that way - I didn't continue expressing for weeks and winding it down as some people do.

Congrats again!

Laura x

 

[misspriss]

Congratulations!

My supply was WAY over what LO needed when I started breastfeeding him. We started doing 1-2 feeds from the breast at 34+2, and were really breastfeeding a lot by 35+4 (when I moved back into the hospital). I was pumping 24-32oz per day, easily. 4+ ounces per session. LO was only taking around 1-1.5oz at a time then!

I ended up almost stopping pumping cold turkey, I'm glad I didn't get anything more than some engorgement in one breast. I freaked out and pumped that breast dry to get some relief (bad move) and it just filled right back up, so I started putting him on that breast first every time, and pumping 1 ounce or so about an hour before his feeds. It took the edge off the engorgement and kept him from getting quite such a waterfall of milk. Maybe once a day I would do a "full pumping" since they were still doing the occasional tube feed, but I tried to never actually empty the breast. My supply regulated pretty fast. The body is an amazing thing.

Good luck! I am so glad you are able to breastfeed your NICU baby! It was a huge struggle for us, the NICU staff was not too supportive at all, I hope you have the support you need!

 

[AmyB1978]

So proud of you and your lo! What a big moment.

I also had issues with oversupply at first, from the pumping, but it evened itself out.

 

[Casper72]

That's fantastic and I should know since our son was born 10 weeks early and spent 5.5 weeks in the NICU. How has he been doing since? I see that your original post was on May 7th so that's a while ago now. I remember having good days and bad days. Days where I was so happy with his progress at BFing and days where he wanted nothing to do with it, or would fall asleep before he even really attempted to latch on.

Now he is 13wks adjusted or 23 weeks actual and he is a booby baby. He takes bottles from dad when I'm at work, but he loves his boobie time too. There are times now that he falls asleep on the breast and I can't get him to unlatch. Early on I thought he'd never be a good nurser, now I can't get him off the boob, lol