Today is Millie's "should have been birthday"!

[sherryberry79]

6th of Nov, Amelia'a due date! Today has been okay actually, thought I might get a bit teary or feel a bit low but actually today has been pretty good!

Yesterday Amelia came out of her incubator and went into a heated cot, and not only that, but she is also wearing clothes. It's so lovely to see her in clothes, she looks lovely! We have tried her at the breast a few times and she shows little interest. Occasionally she will lick my nip a bit, but usually she just falls asleep. When I asked the nurse if it was common for babies born so premature to be unable to learn to breast feed she told me there was not a very high success rate. That's pretty demoralising but hey ho we will keep going with it and se if we have any joy. I really would like to leave that breast pump behind sooner rather than later!!

Anyway, here are some pics of Millie taken today in her smart clothes!!!!


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[BBonBoard]

awww she is so precious, and looks like a strong fighter.

 

[grumpymoo]

Happy due date Millie!

You must be soooooooo proud! She is beautiful.

I remember Roses due date day and it was a real turning point for me emotionally. Rose managed to Bf eventually and still is now (she loves her milk )but i had to express while she was being tube fed and i really struggled with it as i hardly got any milk at all, but its worth it now!. Good luck with it x

 

[Marleysgirl]

Awww, happy "birth" day Millie!

I'm still having trouble with BF Andrew, and I met another girl in St Marys Rm 3 with the same problems. To start with, he'd latch for 2-3 seconds but then drop off and thrash around unsuccessfully until he wore himself out. Now, if he's of the right mind, he can latch and suck for about 5 minutes before losing it, but it's not a fast suck. Unfortunately he's not often of the right mind! So I'm still expressing, and he's getting most of his EBM from bottles now.

I have to say that his latch/suck improved after taking him off the tube-feed and onto bottles, as if he was getting practice at having something in his mouth. I know they say there's a risk of nipple/teat confusion, but every baby is different and I figured I had nothing to lose at that stage as BF hadn't become established.

 

[maddiwatts19]

she is absolutely gorgeous!! you must be so proud of your little fighter!! Happy Due date Millie

 

[DonnaBallona]

awwwww hullo little Millie!

The due date thing was tricky-I agree. I hope you find some comfort in the fact that she is SUUUUUUUPER cute-and clearly a fighter. She looks absolutley 100% adorable in those clothes-I LOVE the Humphreys range too!

I remember Brooke's first clothes-just a vest-but it seemed like a HUMUNGOUS turning point for her! Iv got the tiny little vest framed in her bedroom now-and every time I look at it, then look at her I can feel myself welling up.

Hang in there chicken, Millie has come so so far-and wearing clothes is a FABULOUS sign!

Happy, happy due date Millie Munchkin!! xx

 

[embojet]

Happy 'birth' day Millie! She looks so cute in those clothes! It sounds like she is doing really well xx

 

[sherryberry79]

Thanks girls, you always cheer me up!

I love the idea of framing her first outfit, I may have to steal that one!

 

[premmiemum123]

Happy Due Date Millie!

It does take our babies a while to master breastfeeding, don't give up. I believe the success rate is higher than your nurse has made out, it just takes a while longer for our babies to master it. I don't think she was diplomatic with her response...
You will get there with patience and time. She is still little bless her and absolutely beautiful...she is doing so well! You are so lucky...x

 

[Foogirl]

I'm sceptical about the "advice" you've been given on breastfeeding. Maybe there should be a straw poll amongst the ladies here, but every baby I saw in SCBU who's mother was breastfeeding, went home having cracked it. There were some mothers who never tried or even expressed milk. But those who did seemed to have success.

Is Amelie bottle feeding or cup feeding, I mean, is she getting practice sucking? Have you tried with a nipple shield? We were told there was absolutely no reason a premature baby wouldn't be able to breasteed, just that in the early days they get tired very very quickly.

Perhaps that nurse (or your unit) don't have much success because they aren't giving the proper support. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it annoys me that they would even say that to you. Even if it were true, how about some encouragement FFS

Keep at it m'dear. You'll get there

Thanks girls, you always cheer me up!

I love the idea of framing her first outfit, I may have to steal that one!

Me too. I wish I hadn't given them all away to the NNICU now! I do have one of her tiny nappies though.

 

[Shazzy-babee]

aww bless her she has bootyfull eyes xxx

 

[sherryberry79]

I'm sceptical about the "advice" you've been given on breastfeeding. Maybe there should be a straw poll amongst the ladies here, but every baby I saw in SCBU who's mother was breastfeeding, went home having cracked it. There were some mothers who never tried or even expressed milk. But those who did seemed to have success.

Is Amelie bottle feeding or cup feeding, I mean, is she getting practice sucking? Have you tried with a nipple shield? We were told there was absolutely no reason a premature baby wouldn't be able to breasteed, just that in the early days they get tired very very quickly.

Perhaps that nurse (or your unit) don't have much success because they aren't giving the proper support. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it annoys me that they would even say that to you. Even if it were true, how about some encouragement FFS


I'm glad you're a bit miffed about this as I was really dis-heartened by it. The nurse that I asked was really lovely, but she was one of the very young ones. Yesterday we had a very supportive nurse with us who stayed with us for quite a while giving tips and advice whilst Amelia was at the breast. Although Millie only does a few sucks then stops she definately was rooting which the nurse said was very positive.

We have not tried her on bottle or cup feeding yet, I think I will wait a while before I mention this as she is going to be in hospital for some time to come and we only introduced her to the breast a week ago. Yesterdays nurse said that because she is only 4lb she is still tiny and so is her mouth, but as she gets bigger, if we keep putting her at the breast she might catch on! Yesterday the nurse put some of my EBM in a syringe and dropped it in her mouth whilst she was at the breast and she loved it......I really hope we can crack it, I feel a little more positive after yesterday but we will just have to wait and see.

We have not tried a nipple shield yet, but we may well give it a go in the not too distant future. Millie definately 'has' the sucking reflex - when her ventilator tube was finally removed she missed it as she was so used to having it in her mouth to suck on. She got very grumpy so one of the nurses at the hospital she was at previously gave her a dummy to see if she would settle and she has never had it out of her sight since! I always said that no child of mine would have a dummy, but actually I think she looks very cute with it and the circumstances were somewhat unexpected! If I could get her to suck on me the way she does that dummy I think we would have nailed it!

 

[sherryberry79]

Ooops I buggered Foogirl's quote up in the above post I am so not very technical, sorry Foogirl!

 

[tillymum]

Amelia is so beautiful and what a lovely outfit! Hope she is doing good and will be home with you soon.x

 

[Foogirl]

We have not tried a nipple shield yet, but we may well give it a go in the not too distant future. Millie definately 'has' the sucking reflex - when her ventilator tube was finally removed she missed it as she was so used to having it in her mouth to suck on. She got very grumpy so one of the nurses at the hospital she was at previously gave her a dummy to see if she would settle and she has never had it out of her sight since! I always said that no child of mine would have a dummy, but actually I think she looks very cute with it and the circumstances were somewhat unexpected! If I could get her to suck on me the way she does that dummy I think we would have nailed it!

I was also wholly against dummys but they explained it can really help premature babies practice sucking so I said if they thought she needed it, she could have it. In the end she didn't need it.

I think Abby was about 4lbs when we started breastfeeding. It looked so daunting for her to have this teeny tiny head and face against my massive boob!! But she did the kitten licks for a wee while and eventually managed it fine.

Good luck!

 

[Marleysgirl]

For the record, we're still no further forward with BF. I'm told our positioning is correct, but Andrew either doesn't open his mouth wide enough or, more often, turns his head away (because they tell you not to grip the head, he can!) If I manage to get my supply back up, then I'm going to get some nipple shields to try.