hi there, nutriprem 2

[willow77]

I know what you mean about the clothes, we have sooooo soooo many. I don't know how they work out the sizing in some shops though as some 7lb ones seem absolutely huge. We have 4 drawers full of clothes & 2 boxes in her room (when she moves in there) and have put them in size order too. I don't think we will need to buy her any clothes for at least a year.....

MummyMi I know what you mean about the pumping, today I was determined to do it 3 times, it is now 11.30pm and only just done the second one of the day! For half an hour 30mls seems such a pittyful amount I have ordered some new tubes as my pump just doesn't seem to have the suction it used to have and tube keeps getting condensation in it all the time so am hoping that will boost the mls a little. Marleysgirl, I will def give the halfords plan a go once my new tubes have arrived! Thanks for your PM.

Did you have problems with teats when you came home? We must have tried most teats & bottles available, we were using variflow ones until this week when Poppy seemed to be getting tired half way through the feed so have now moved onto Boots slowflow which she seems to get along with plus medela ones. Seems that you can't buy the Boots slow flow teats on there own so have to buy bottles to get them - adding to our 15 various bottles we have lol.

Before I had Poppy I bought some re-useable nappies (Tots Bots), I tried them on her this evening awww bless her she looked like a weeble! Think I will wait until she has put on a little more weight before I try and use them.

Good routine you have there Marleysgirl, we don't really have a routine Poppy feeds every 3.5-4 hours and sleeps between 4-7 hours during the night. I tend to make her last feed around 12.30 am and express about 11am and 11pm. My OH works different shifts and does any feeds,play he can & on his days off I have lovely lay ins

 

[Marleysgirl]

Pumping more often will help your supply ... but I reckon the Domperidon helped my supply more! Most annoying for me is when I manage to pump regularly (every 4 hrs) but Andrew can't be bothered to feed that often, such as me waking in the night to pump but he gets to sleep through! Once he starts doing it every night for a week, I'm going to drop my overnight pump, there's no point me having disturbed sleep.

I don't understand clothing sizes anyway, I've had 5lb stuff from Adams that's bigger than 7.5lb stuff from Asda. I now sort by actual size (comparing it to other things) rather than by the label. I wish I could stop buying cute clothes ...

When we first came home, we were using C&G Premmie teats acquired (cough!) from NICU when we left, using them with the pumping bottles. After a while we switched onto Avent bottles and no.2 teats, which he's been using for around 4-5 weeks. He's beginning to turn his head while feeding though, so I'm not sure whether he might be ready to move up to no.3 teats? We didn't get on with the variflow ones, too much looking to see if you've accidentally turned the bottle. We tried a TT CTN bottle once, he definitely didn't like that!

Nappies? It's a sign of progress for Andrew, moving out of Micro into Newborn, and in another week or two he'll move from Newborn into Size 2s

 

[mummy_mi]

Hello again, it seems we hijacked this thread! Hope people dont mind!

Marleysgirl - That is a super routine and if my other half was at home I'd love to have that going on! I never venture into the BF section as Chloe is mainly on formula now, maybe we should ask for an expressing/pumping/EBM section of our own!

Willow - I just expressed now and only got about 30mls, am aiming for 4 times today, luckily other half is off sat and sunday this weekend so am going to get him to do most of the feeds while I express and aim for 6 times a day!

I know what you mean about nappies, when Chloe got too big for the micro ones I was so excited! We have found tho that the pampers new baby give her a rash, the netting inside it always end up stuck to her skin - she is a big wee monster! I also have a stash of reusable nappies (Smart nappies, Bumgenius, Pop-ins) but Chloe needs to be at least 7lb to wear some of them but I'm thinking more like 8lb as she has a very narrow waist. So for the meantime we're going to get some Asda Eco Little Angels nappies and give them a try, I love Huggies, I think they fit really well with the elasticated back but they are more then twice the price!

Bottle wise we've had issues, we too were kindly give a ton of the red cow and gate ones from the SCBU unit, which were fine, so we bought more Medela bottles and some medium teats as when we tried the slow flow Medela ones it was taking her ages to finish a bottle and was just falling asleep. Previous to her arrival we had got a whole set of the Tommee Tippee CTN bottles for when other half would feed her EBM. We tried the TT ones and she was fine for a week bu then she completely stopped feeding, for nearly a day she would cry, we'd give her the bottle and she'd just lay there with it in her mouth and not even attempt to suck, so I tried a Medela one and she was fine! Very odd, not sure why after a week she decided she didnt like them, I've got some TT variflow teats on their way and I'll give her a few tries on them and see before writing them off completely.

She also used to scream, cough, splutter and dribble lots of forumla etc even with the Medela bottles, so I bought a set of Dr Brown's bottles and she didnt really like them from the go, she wouldnt drink as much as she usually did and took longer. So now we got a set of Mam bottles but have only got slow flow teats at the minute, she drinks fine from them but it takes a while. So will order some medium of those too and try again.

So at the minute she's back on the Medela ones, I must say we've only been using them since she came home, not even 3 months, and already the markings are starting to come off the some of the bottles. I think she likes the Medela so much because the teat is so soft, its less work for her!

Also another quick q, how are you all sterilising? We bought a TT microwave steriliser (as we thought we'd be using the bottles) luckily we only paid half price for it in the sale. But we havent used it once as when she was in SCBU they assign the mums a milton bucket each to steilise the breast pump bits in and I realised how easy it was so we went out and got one. I would reccomend it to anyone, so easy just to dunk everything in after a hot soapy wash and 15 mins later its ready again!

Ohh what a long waffle I wrote!! (maybe we should have our own thread somewhere! lol)

Have a great day all x

 

[sleeping bubs]

I do wish I bf a little longer (only did for 3days) but I was really tired and they were topping him up with nutriprem anyway!!

Anyway got Mckenzie weighed today, putting weight on slowly only 2oz this week so now 11lb 1oz at 18weeks. Wondering if he has had enough of the nutriprem 2 cos not really drinking much but he is drinking better now I have switched bk to TT with size 3 teats. Hv wondered about weaning but not showing any other signs (Sleeping for about 10hrs a night, not looking at my food). Waiting for an appointment from hospital. Haven't had any contact from the hospital since he was 2weeks so don't know when they want him to come off this milk (doctors don't know anything). Anyone any ideas when to wean a low birth weight baby (not prem), or is it like normal when 6months.

 

[sleeping bubs]

Marleysgirl Thanks for that link for the lbw charts I thought they would have used them at the hosp, esp as my lo was born at full term but lbw, thus the normal charts they use are pointless but looking at these charts he is still below the 0.4th centile bless him.

OMG I have so many clothes too Mckenzie is now recently in 0-3months clothes I have kept all his prem and tiny baby clothes didn't want to give them up

Sterilizing I have the tt electric sterilizer which broke b4 Christmas which meant we had to use a liquid sterilizer which I think I prefer as it is much easier, but TT sent me a new base for my electric one so using that again.

 

[Marleysgirl]

We started weaning without the usual signs - yes he's sitting well if supported and sleeping through most nights now, but as to the issue of watching us eat? He's always asleep when we eat, we plan it that way! We're going for a very slow approach to weaning though, it's in addition to ALL his milk. He seems to adore carrot, likes apple, but banana hasn't gone down too well tonight!

Sterilising - I did like the bucket method I used at the hospital for ease, but didn't like the smell of the fluid, found it far too chlorine-y and had to keep the bucket at the far side of my hospital room! They used fast steam sterilisers on NICU. I have an Avent steam steriliser and a TT microwave one at home, but I only use the Avent, I run it twice a day with feeding bottles & EBM bottles in it. Got it from the local Age Concern shop (LOL), we do pretty well out of there for baby stuff!

 

[willow77]

Hi ladies,

Hope you and lo's are all well

MummyMi - how is the expressing going? I managed a few days doing it three times a few times this week and can now get nearly 40mls sometimes.

Yesterday I was trying out the tots bots re-useable nappies (only after she had done her daily poo as I'm not that brave yet) they look a little big on her but she looks so cute with her big cotton bum, had no leaks either even when one was on for 4 hours! Am very impressed with them, not overly keen on the cover though, so have ordered a nice red tots bots fleece last night, also ordered some cotton tots bots (£2.00 each - bargain) as the ones I have are bamboo and take forever to dry. Overnight put her in disposable and this morning too as waiting for her to poo, (we just use tesco's own) One day I will brave enough to use re-useables all day..... I can see how people get addicted and spend a fortune on re-useables there are some seriously cute ones out there.

I thought it was just me having trouble with the teats and practically buying boots. I wonder if it is a small baby thing? We have now had to go back to variflow as she was suffering with awful wind/tummy ache with the boots and medela ones I think she was just taking it too quickly takes about hour to feed her with variflow but at least she is more comfortable.

We bought the lindam universal steriliser before Poppy was born which I love, but also have a big container with sterilsing solution in after I saw how easy it was in SCBU. I would definately recommend a big container to new mums rather than getting expensive sterilisers. I use the solution most of the time especially for my expressing stuff and dummies but like to give the bottles & things a good steam clean sometimes to.

Sleepingbubs - Sounds like Mackenzie is doing really well weight wise I was wondering too about the weaning thing and when they come off of Nutriprem 2. I think Poppy will probably be on Nutriprem 2 for the maximum amount of time, my HV knows nothing so will wait and ask SCBU nurse next week.

Poppy is being weighed Friday am hoping for at least 7lbs 10oz, she is definately growing as my arms are aching more and more when I am holding her, soon sort out my flabby arms lol.

Marleysgirl DO you just cook the carrots etc,. and mash it up? God what a mummy I am, completely clueless about anything... Am looking forward to introducing her to new foods

 

[mummy_mi]

Hello again

Well the expressing was fine over the weekend when other half had a day off but this week Chloe has taken it upon herself to wake up every 2/3 hours for a feed (and yes even at night!), and i've just not got the time. I'm managing once or twice a day and I know it will dry up in a week or so but I am exhausted, the Special care nurse practically said that Chloe is better off on the Nutriprem for weight gain and at least she had EBM at the start to help her get the best start in life and thats more then some babies get. So I dont feel too bad, I'd rather spend those 4 hours a day with Chloe (or ideally sleeping!) then expressing. It's my birthday in a few weeks, and we've decided that my birthday will be an expressing free day, and the pump and things can be stored away for maybe baby number 2 some day. I think I might just freeze any EBM I get from now on (not much) incase she gets ill or anything as she can always keep EBM down.

In other news, this week she put on 5oz, ideally it should be 6-8oz a week, so they said they will give it another week and see how she is and then decide whether to give her the high energy formula or not. I just dont think the Nutriprem is filling her up anymore, she wont take more then 70-80mls a feed but then wakes up 2-3hours later and has another 70mls. And waking up so much cant be good for her, I've gone from feeding her 6 times a day to 11!! I just want sleep! LOL

Also she is constantly falling asleep at the end of the bottle, she gets to the 70ml mark and thats it, out like a light, I cant encourage her to take any more, and playing with her is out of the question. We're going to try the tommee tippee bottles again but with a fast flow teat. She is also still being sick a few times a week, and I mean bringing up the whole bottle, gushing out of her nose and mouth, and because its got gaviscon to thicken it, its like cottage cheese!! Poor thing, the look of panic on her face! I'm just not sure what is up, feeding so much but not good weight gain, going from 4 hours a feed to 2-3. I just wish she could tell me what was up!

Anyway enough from me, hope everyone else is doing well!

And yes Willow, cloth nappies are SO addictive, Chloe cant even fit into hers yet and we're into double digits!!

 

[Marleysgirl]

I managed a few days doing it three times a few times this week and can now get nearly 40mls sometimes.

Marleysgirl DO you just cook the carrots etc,. and mash it up? God what a mummy I am, completely clueless about anything... Am looking forward to introducing her to new foods

See - the more you pump, the more you get. To a certain point anyway! I've got lazy over the last few days and I'm only pumping four times a day now, but still getting around 600ml in total, which is okay.

Andrew's now on NP2 for one of his feeds a day (so I have to freeze some EBM), this is just to improve his calorie intake, needed because he's always missing one feed and sometimes two feeds as a result of sleeping through. I'm happy about the sleeping through, even if it does cause intake issues!

I "nuke" the veg or fruit in the microwave with a bit of water, and then "blitz" it in the blender with some of the water. Today we're to have carrot and broccoli mixed with baby rice.

In other news, this week she put on 5oz, ideally it should be 6-8oz a week, so they said they will give it another week and see how she is and then decide whether to give her the high energy formula or not.

Also she is constantly falling asleep at the end of the bottle, she gets to the 70ml mark and thats it, out like a light, I cant encourage her to take any more, and playing with her is out of the question. We're going to try the tommee tippee bottles again but with a fast flow teat.

I've replied to your bottle/teat question over in the premmie forum, so I won't repeat it all here.

Andrew managed to put on 8oz in the last 6 days, so our consultant will be happy. I've been told that we should aim for 4-5oz growth, anything over is a bonus.

 

[willow77]

Hi Ladies,

Hope you and little ones are all well and had a nice weekend.

MummyMi - sorry to hear Chloe has not been putting on the weight they expected, hope you get some good news at the next weigh in. I bet your shattered 11 feeds a day, has this improved now? Bless her, bringing up all her milk must be a shock to her when it comes out of her nose and stuff poor little thing. Have you changed her bottles back to TT fast flow?

Marleysgirl Good to hear you are still able to get 600mls only pumping 4 times a day, shame about the Nutriprem but at least it is only 1 bottle and Andrew is putting on good weight. Can't wait to try foods out on Poppy, hopefully she won't be like her dad who hates veggies!

Poppy is in similar situation to Chloe I think, the scbu nurse came out today, Poppy has not put on the weight they expected only 6oz in 17 days, she should have put on at least double that. I was really shocked she put on so little as she has been taking 120 mls recently 5-6 times a day. Have been advised to cut back on the EBM and only give one bottle a day, which is fine really as was thinking of giving up the expressing anyhow and this has just made it easier and I feel less guilty, so just going to work through the freezer supply now. She also said that she doesn't usually suggest it to babies as old as Poppy but due to her poor weight gain she thinks Poppy should have 6 feeds a day so have to wake her up during the night (she has been feeding 10pm and 4am and then 9am so not getting 6 feeds a day.) so we need to wake her 2am and 6 am. Was just getting used to having more sleep.... Apart from the weight issues she thinks Poppy is doing really well and developing nicely, smiling and babbling away, her head measuremnt is on 25th centile which is good as neo natal specialist said if it went higher then he would like to rescan her head.

 

[sleeping bubs]

wow all your babies are putting so much weight on each week, my lo is on average putting on between 2-5oz on a week (up and down got a wiggly line under the 0.4th centile), he has 5bottles a day up to 5oz a bottle every 3hrs he sleeps for around 10-12hrs a night. Got a hospital appointment for him on the 12th Feb, haven't seen anyone from the hosp since he was 2weeks old and the hv and GP don't know when he is meant to be coming off the np2, he is 20weeks 2m and weighed 11lb 4oz on friday. I still have to get him weighed every week, which is nerve-wrecking!!

Gone back to tt bottles with fast flow teat this time, he is drinking his milk much faster now, sometimes in 15mins!!

I do wish sometimes that I bf for longer than I did, but they were topping him up with np2 as well!!

 

[Marleysgirl]

I've just read the side of the NP2 powder ... and read online about EBM ....

They have the same calorific value (roughly!). So surely there's no benefit to my withholding EBM in favour of NP2? It's not like I have supply issues or anything ... Have I just been hoodwinked into thinking NP2 is better. Hmmmm. It's a question for the consultant next week, I reckon.

Marleysgirl Good to hear you are still able to get 600mls only pumping 4 times a day, shame about the Nutriprem but at least it is only 1 bottle and Andrew is putting on good weight. Can't wait to try foods out on Poppy, hopefully she won't be like her dad who hates veggies!

Snap - you have one of these too? Andrew's dad (the Marley of my name here) will only eat mushed carrots or processed peas, no other vegetables. He makes disparaging remarks when I'm feeding Andrew broccoli, and I have to shush him up! It will much harder when Andrew is around 5 or 6 and notices that his Daddy doesn't eat the vegetables that we do.

Going to nuke some potato, green beans, and savoy cabbage over the next couple of days, more for the freezer. If I was Andrew, I'd be getting bored of carrots & broccoli.

 

[sleeping bubs]

Well got Mckenzie weighed today, only put on 3oz so now 11lb 7oz at 20weeks, his weight is tailing off now, so hv suggested that I introduced baby rice, we were trying to wait for his hospital appointment b4 starting to wean him but thats not for a couple of weeks, he doesn't have much milk in a day but is really active doesn't stay still even in his sleep lol. So the milk he does have he burns off really quickly, having said that he did have 22oz yesterday and slept for 12hrs!! Going to give him baby rice at his next feed which is at 5pm he just had a 5oz bottle and it only took him about 20mins to drink it much faster than normal!! Think he is more hungry in the afternoons. Hv said they might out him on a different milk rather than normal baby milk when he comes off Nutriprem2 as he is really active for his age. Well we will see wot they want to do on the 12th Feb. Still having to get him weighed every week, so hopefully he puts a bit more weight on. Is anyones baby sickly with nutriprem, my lo has only been like it for the past month, hv suggested keeping him sitting up for a while after his feed cos he does like rolling onto his front and putting his hands in his mouth so he is sick.

 

[willow77]

Hi Ladies,

Sorry to hear that Mckenzie has only put on 3oz, he sounds a lively one how did the baby rice go? What milk are they planning after Nutriprem? Wondering what they are going to suggest for Poppy if anything. Poppy tends to be sick if she is not sat upright for at least 15 mins after she feeds, she has been like this pretty much since we bought her home.

Poppy is being weighed in 10 days, am really hoping that she has put on some good weight, not looking forward to seeing HV as she is as useful as a chocolate tea pot and keeps asking why I think Poppy has not put on as much weight as she used to..... yeah like I know why! Our appointment with neonatal consultant has been cancelled so waiting for another one, hope its not too far away.

Well best go as I know that a certain little girl will be hungry very soon. Have a good weekend.

x

 

[Marleysgirl]

Short update - the potato puree'd fine, the green beans didn't. Andrew enjoyed potato and broccoli yesterday, but not as much as he did the mushed Farleys Rusk today! (Friday night treat)

He'd put on another 5 ounces this week, and that's with hardly any NP2, I've put him back to all EBM unless I run out (which I didn't this week). I think the gain is because he's back to waking at 3am for a feed, so he's managing 5 full feeds a day plus the weaning food.

 

[sleeping bubs]

hey Willow77 well baby rice was not that successful giving him it everyday for the next week hopefully to get him used to it, then will try something else. He has been a nightmare to feed since he was born and i think it has got worse now. Don't know wot milk going to be put on, hopefully normal baby milk but that does mean buying it lol I'v tried sitting him up after feeds but refuses milk unless he is laying down and tries to get out of his bouncer. Going to buy a highchair and gradually get him used to having his milk in their. Will have to buy one which reclines cos not old enough for a normal one.

I hope that Poppy puts some weight on, don't worry the max mckenzie has put on in a week is 6oz lol

 

[sleeping bubs]

well yet again got Mckenzie weighed only put 1oz on!! he has been taking 19oz a day (not interested today!!) so dipped again but he is 61cm long so on the 2nd centile line think he is getting longer not putting weight on!!! got his hospital appointment next friday so hopefully they can sort something out!!

 

[Laura2919]

My girls were on Nutri-prem2 until a few days ago when I changed them to cows milk.
They were on it for a whole year, Most babies are taken off it at 6 months but the consultant said it really didnt make a difference and while I am getting it for free I should keep them on it so I did. lol

They had it with their baby rice and had it with their breakfast when they started eating more food x

 

[Laura2919]

Doctors won't give me liquid cartons only now manged to get 4 cartons of powder now they were only giving me 2 at a time. Since leaving the hospital when lo was 1week, a Nicu nurse came twice in the first 2 weeks haven't seen anyone since. Doctors surprised about it and has made an appointment to see a consulant at the hospital cos he is now just on the 0.4th centile line but meeting all the development stages think he just going to be small

Blimey how tight are your doctors!! Thats awful.

I used to get 12 tins and 10 cartons of it. Keep badgering them hun it soon runs out and when you have to go and get a precription is just silly they should give you more

 

[sleeping bubs]

thanks Laura2919 got his consultant appointment on Friday so will ask them about it, if they keep him on the milk or change him to another one, cos i don''t think he likes he will eventually drink it cos he is hungry and nothing else is coming so mean takes around an hr though bless him