2 weeks old tonight!

And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

"cjra" wrote:

And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

That's great! Everything sounds like it's going well.

My son nursed for 10 minutes on one side every two hours (sometimes 1.5 or
2.5, too) for the first couple months. He was able to get a lot during those
ten minutes because he gained weight quickly and is now a perfectly healthy
(and still a quick breastfeeder!) one year old.

rj

Glad to hear that she is doing well!

Re feeding - I know very little about the issues of feeding a baby that's
been in NICU and has an NG tube, but if she takes the breast for a full 17
mins, then that sounds like a full feed. Why not just start to exclusively
BF her on demand? If she is showing signs of hunger every 2-4 hrs, and
feeding so that you can hear her swallowing, then it sounds like she knows
what she wants and knows how to feed. 17 mins is a good length of feed (my
let down was always fast, and a feed was over in 5mins). Many newborns
will BF every 2 hrs if not more frequently (although nothing wrong with 3-4
hrs either).

Again, I don't know the issues of NICU and all that involves, but it strikes
me that she can breastfeed, so take the initiative and go for it. Start
baby watching rather than clock watching and run with your instincts.

Hope she comes home with you soon,

Suzanne

"cjra" wrote in message
ups.com...
And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

Suzanne S wrote:
Glad to hear that she is doing well!

Re feeding - I know very little about the issues of feeding a baby that's
been in NICU and has an NG tube, but if she takes the breast for a full 17
mins, then that sounds like a full feed. Why not just start to exclusively
BF her on demand? If she is showing signs of hunger every 2-4 hrs, and
feeding so that you can hear her swallowing, then it sounds like she knows
what she wants and knows how to feed. 17 mins is a good length of feed (my
let down was always fast, and a feed was over in 5mins). Many newborns
will BF every 2 hrs if not more frequently (although nothing wrong with 3-4
hrs either).


I am trying to work on convincing the nursing staff to let me do just
that! The problem is their schedule is every 3 hours....I will be
talking again with her doc today, who seems to be more in line with my
thinking, to see if we can alter things a bit. I understand they can't
feed her on demand, and I can't exactly sit there for 24 hrs. But if I
can just take her home.....

Rebecca Jo wrote:

My son nursed for 10 minutes on one side every two hours (sometimes 1.5 or
2.5, too) for the first couple months. He was able to get a lot during those
ten minutes because he gained weight quickly and is now a perfectly healthy
(and still a quick breastfeeder!) one year old.

None of mine ever nursed for more than 10 minutes,
and they definitely got full feeds in that amount of time
(and went a good amount of time, so they weren't just snacking),
but I don't know if that's as likely to be the case in
this sort of situation. Still, it could happen, and it's
definitely a blessing!

Best wishes,
Ericka

cjra wrote:

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.

That's amazing! Must have been a wonderful feeling. Excellent that she
latched right on.

With the caveat that I know nothing about NICU babies I just wanted to
say that there's usually nothing wrong with just using one breast per
feed. Actually the baby gets more fatty hind milk that way anyway. Just
use the other one next time.

Sounds like you have a good supply and she knows what she's supposed to
do at the breast. Hope you get her home soon.

Elle

cjra wrote:
And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

Yay! That sounds great! :-) IF you are concerned about volume, weigh
her before and after (making sure that only the things she was weighed
in the first time are on the scale the second time) to figure out how
many mls/ccs she took.

This is exactly what we did with our son. :-) Worked out well--he
nursed for 27 months. :-)

Blessings!
Sharalyn
mom to Alexander James (9/21/01)

sharalyns wrote:
cjra wrote:
And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

Yay! That sounds great! :-) IF you are concerned about volume, weigh
her before and after (making sure that only the things she was weighed
in the first time are on the scale the second time) to figure out how
many mls/ccs she took.

This is exactly what we did with our son. :-) Worked out well--he
nursed for 27 months. :-)


As it turned out, the next day the doc asked if I wanted to just stay
there and BF on demand. I said YES!!! So that's what I did and it
worked. We didn't even bother doing the weighings, just one daily
weigh, and tho she lost 5g the first day, she gained 30g the next and
that's when her doc said she was good to go . As of Monday she'd
gained another 73g since Thursday on her release, so I guess it's all
working. We'll weigh her again next Tuesday.

sharalyns wrote:
cjra wrote:
And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

Yay! That sounds great! :-) IF you are concerned about volume, weigh
her before and after (making sure that only the things she was weighed
in the first time are on the scale the second time) to figure out how
many mls/ccs she took.

This is exactly what we did with our son. :-) Worked out well--he
nursed for 27 months. :-)


As it turned out, the next day the doc asked if I wanted to just stay
there and BF on demand. I said YES!!! So that's what I did and it
worked. We didn't even bother doing the weighings, just one daily
weigh, and tho she lost 5g the first day, she gained 30g the next and
that's when her doc said she was good to go . As of Monday she'd
gained another 73g since Thursday on her release, so I guess it's all
working. We'll weigh her again next Tuesday.

cjra wrote:
sharalyns wrote:
cjra wrote:
And what a difference 2 weeks has made. It's hard to believe it still.

We're making progress on feeding. I called the lactation consultant
this am to discuss the whole bottle feeding thing and she agreed it was
pointless, went to talk to the doc, who also agreed (I think it was the
nurses who had been insistent on the 'protocol'). He said to breastfeed
2x per day and throw the bottle feeding out entirely! Then he said, why
not up it to 4x/day? Yeah!

So for the first time today, I was able to put my daughter to breast.
My midwife was with me fortunately, as there was no one around to help
otherwise. I was grateful she was there, but ****ed off at the staff
who had gone on for ages before about how they 'had people to help'
with this....but they didn't. Anyway, Amgelina latched on and began
sucking *immediately.* My midwife listened for the suck and swallow,
helped me place her, etc. However, after 17 min on one breast, when I
moved her to the other she wanted nothing to do with it. After 15 mins
of trying all sorts of different holds, we gave up. We then tried the
bottle to top her off, and she wanted even less to do with that. Doc
said skip the bottle, if she seems like she didn't get enough just NG
feed a bit by gravity, otherwise, if she stops feeding it's because
she's full. And she seemed to be, as she went 2.5 hrs before acting
hungry.

We tried again at 5:30pm, but she was asleep. It took me 20 mins to
wake her, but when I did she again latched on well, but only to the one
breast again. We tried one more time at 9pm. She managed to latch, but
would just doze off. Nurse insisted on the bottle (I think no one was
reading the doc's notes, but that's ok), so we did and she took 20 mls
in a gulp, then stopped and was clearly finished. I'm wondering now if
she's just a small but frequent feeder. That will be a pain, but might
explain things - feeding her by NG tube every 3 hrs she has no choice,
but also she's not very hungry for the next feed.

Anyway, the lactation consultant will be there for the morning BF at
9am, and I'll go in to feed her every 6 hrs, and they'll do NG for the
other feeds. Doc also said that if by a few days she's doing ok but
still needs her NG feeds occassionally, we can take her home with the
tube and do NG feeds ourselves. Not ideal, but definitely a better
situation than leaving her in hospital another week.

Yay! That sounds great! :-) IF you are concerned about volume, weigh
her before and after (making sure that only the things she was weighed
in the first time are on the scale the second time) to figure out how
many mls/ccs she took.

This is exactly what we did with our son. :-) Worked out well--he
nursed for 27 months. :-)


As it turned out, the next day the doc asked if I wanted to just stay
there and BF on demand. I said YES!!! So that's what I did and it
worked. We didn't even bother doing the weighings, just one daily
weigh, and tho she lost 5g the first day, she gained 30g the next and
that's when her doc said she was good to go . As of Monday she'd
gained another 73g since Thursday on her release, so I guess it's all
working. We'll weigh her again next Tuesday.

Question: Why was it necessary to interrupt the feeding and move baby
from one side to the other?

Reason I ask, my DS only feeds on one side at a time. He goes 20 - 30
minutes per feeding, then I just feed him on the other side for his
next meal. I'm not having any problems doing it this way; my boy is not
quite four months old and over 20 pounds. Just curious as to why this
is recommended, is there some benefit to it?


KD & G