mine were born at 34 weeks. girl opened mouth at 2 days, made attempt to suck at 3 days, was starting to wake up and cry for most feeds and taking half of each feed herself at 7 days, fully demand feeding at 9 days. they took her tube out after 48 hours of taking all feeds herself.
boy was a bit different, he made no attempt to feed at all, wouldnt open his mouth, never woke at feed times, never cried out no matter how much coaxing he just wasnt interested. they ad been transfered from the hospital of birth to another hospital as scbu was full. at 10 days old they were transferred back as when they were able to go into normal cots, not incubaitors or heated cots it meant they could go into a room tat they actually had space in and would be closer to home. i sat with them at the hospital all morning until they were ready for transfer then met them back at the other hospital, i got there just as the ambulance crew were leaving after making the second trip with my boy. went up and he had no NGT! i asked why and they said he pulled it out en rout so they had decided to just see how he went before putting another in. i explained that he had never even had a teat in his mouth at all but they were adamant. feed time came and he just opened his mouth and drank the lot no problem! then that was it he suddenly started waking up and crying at feed time and took every bottle! was express bottle feeding because both of them would take 2 sucks and fall asleep at the breast no matter what anyone did.
