I was trying to breastfeed when they were in SCBU but they didn't develop the sucking and swallowing reflex until they were a couple of weeks old. They were being tube fed until they were able to get bigger and stronger and suck on the breast. I was expressing from day one and had a great milk supply. Eventually I did manage to get them on the breast - it was the best feeling in the world! I even managed to feed them both at the same time - such an achievement seeing both their little faces staring back at me! We came home from hospital exclusively breastfeeding so I was advised to stop expressing so that I didn't over stimulate and get engorged and develop mastitis. A couple of days later I noticed my breasts weren't filling as much as they had been and the babies weren't satisfied with what they were getting - I went on the pump at home out of curiosity and there was hardly any milk there. I broke my heart! I persevered with it for another day and there was less and less and the babies were getting more and more upset when they were on the breast sucking and not getting what they needed. I'm bottle feeding them now as my milk has totally vanished
I was really down about it for day's but everyone keeps telling me that I have done a fantastic job - its hard to get 34 week babies to the breast in the first place - especially after my little boy was really poorly for the first few days of his life (he needed to be ventilated as couldn't breathe by himself). When they were in hospital they were getting loads of my expressed breast milk then whatever they got when on the breast. I suppose 3 weeks of breastmilk is better than none
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