sleepy premie

[Welshgem81]

hi ladies. My premie was born last Monday at 34 weeks after a placenta abrubtion. id had steroids before so she didn't need a ventilator. Before she was born they were concerned she was in the lower percentile and she came out at 3lb 7 and tiny. shes doing well and is on 30 ml bm every 3 hours by tube but is really sleepy all the time. she hardly opens her eyes and only for seconds and they are closed again. Im really starting to worry there's something wrong. were/are anyones premies like this? thanks in advance

 

[Sam182]

Try not to worry. Bear in mind she shouldn't be here yet so a lot of her energy will be taken up with growing. Even term newborns sleep most of the time. It's completely normal x

 

[Honeybear1976]

Firstly congrats Weve had one baby at 31+3 and one at 34. The one born at 34 wks went to sleep and barely woke up for a good few days but was discharged at 35wks. The one at 31wks weighed 3lb 4oz and was discharged at 35wks too. My youngest born at 34wks was 5lb 2oz. At the gestation you have had your lo its very common for them to be sleepy. I think the reason mine were discharged so quickly was because I had already had 2 babies at full term and they were both bf for long periods so they knew I could maintain their weight gain at home. Is this your first baby? It is a difficult time when they are in scbu but you will be home before you know it. When your lo does start being a bit more awake try her at the breast each feed she will soon get the hang of it.

 

[Welshgem81]

thanks girls. That's reasurring. yeah she is my first and this was so unexpected as my pregnancy was going fine until a massive bleed and emcs.

 

[WantsALittle1]

Oh yes, our girl slept probably 23 of the 24 hours of the day. She was awake for, at most 5 minutes at a time. She would also have a twitchy face when she was nodding off--her eyes, cheeks, mouth, would all twitch. Her eyes would roll back in her head. I was convinced she had experienced some neurological damage from cord strangulation (she was entangled), but alas... It all went away when she was about 1 month old.

By 2 months old (39 weeks) she was awake maybe 2 hours a day, for 15-20 minutes at a time. By 3 months old she was awake 3 hours a day, for 30 minutes at a time. Now, at 7 months old she is awake 7-8 hours a day for an hour at a time. It just takes time for them to start to act like what we expect from a human being. Keep in mind that she's still supposed to be in your womb, and kiddos sleep most of the time when they're in the womb

 

[Ice Cold Cube]

Hi there, Ella was born at 33 weeks after placental abruption starting at 29 weeks. I had some massive bleeds but they managed to keep her inside me for a few weeks longer by admitting me and pretty much putting me on bed rest in hospital. Eventually my waters broke with meconium present so we had an emergency section after all the weeks of worry. I had steroids too, but Ella still needed help to breathe for the first 6 hours (and later when she aspirated a suck feed). Ella was 3lb 15oz, so small too.

Ella was really sleepy for the first few weeks, so please don't worry. She's 10 weeks old now and still sleeps most of the time!

It sounds like our stories are pretty similar, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions I can help you with at all. Ella was tube fed ebm for 4 weeks and her tube only came out 24 hours before she was discharged. She got the hang of breastfeeding in the last few days before she got home so don't worry if progress seems slow at the start. There were days when it felt like groundhog day for us as nothing was moving forward then all of a sudden she was coming on in leaps and bounds, as will your little one, try not to worry.

Laura x

 

[ttc4]

My daughter was born at 33 weeks 5 days weighing 4lb 2oz. She slept most of the day until she was 2 months old. It is normal for them to be very sleepy.

 

[Stelly]

My little guy was born via emcs due to severe pre-e at 28 weeks, even now at 3 months old he sleeps the majority of the time. It's sometimes a battle to even keep him awake to eat! Preemies I think just tend to be very sleepy, if you think about it, their little bodies are working very hard still developing- that'd wipe anybody out!

Congrats on your little one, I hope your stay in the NICU is a short one!

 

[Foogirl]

When they are sleeping, they are growing. Abby slept pretty much all the time, and the good news is, that continued when she was home!

People are generally surprised how much sleep a newborn needs, and preemies need that wee bit more.

 

[Fleur29]

My 34+4 dd was sooo sleepy! So worry not. As others have said, even though she is here, you have to imagine she is still on the inside and not ready to wake up and face the world just yet! My dd is now a boisterous - and huge! - 17 month old who keeps us awake quite a lot! When she was born I longed for her to be awake more!! She was more awake when she reached her due date so use that as a guide xx

 

[Welshgem81]

thanks for all your replies girls. ill stop worrying and concentrate on expressing for my little princess

 

[WantsALittle1]

thanks for all your replies girls. ill stop worrying and concentrate on expressing for my little princess

And that will require all your concentration and energy, so it's for the better Pumping is so exhausting, and without a cute baby at your boob to make it all worthwhile. No fun at all! Good luck from a NICU mom who exclusively pumped for 6 months!