premature babies

[heaz]

how hard did other mums find it raising a baby that was born premature.i found it really difficult at first but i am just starting to feel as if i am in a routine.

very , very hard. Had 2 - one at 30 wks and one at 27 wks. Going out now but will post more later . Good luck

very hard, but i only have one so nothing to compare it too. never got into a propert routine untill she was about 9mts up till then i think i was just bumbeling around. used to get no sleep colic from about 4-10pm used to spend a 10er a night on petrol coz it was the only time she was quiet! she hated feeding (was bottle fed)! oh the joys of motherhood

Hi All - I found it not too difficult once we were home - dd is my first and she was born emergency c-sect at 33 weeks - 3lbs and 3 ozs. But I really think it all depends on the nature of the care involved - some children left neonatal early like my dd requiring no oxygen and the like (she just needed to gain weight but that didn't make the whole neonatal care experience any less frightening and nail biting for me - I was just petrified alot of the time) where as others required alot more care and attention and thats in addition to all the first time mum worries we all have.

Heaz how prem was your baby? were you in the neonatal ward long? I have an improptu day off today as we are recovering from Gastric flu - yuk!! Much better now but dd (now a year old by the way) needs another day and has conjunctivitus just to add interest. The young lady has just awoken so I must attend but hopefully be back soon!!

Would have loved a topic like this when we came home from neonatal last year but really when Ithink about it I would have been just too knackered to even consider going online....

Did'nt find it much different to my other ds. ds 1 was 4 days overdue and ds 2 was 6 weeks early.
I've heard that premmies get alot more colds and viruses etc but "touch wood", he's 11 mths and had just the one cold.

similar here - dd had first cold at nine months and must have thrown up all of three times since she was born - this weekend she's caught a bit of gastric flu from me (or nursery?) but has not been vomiting just runny bottom (sorry). Although other prem babies I know are very chesty and coldy? Every case is so different - it wasn't the prem bit I found hard it was the universal lack of sleep once we finally got home but dd started sleeping through at 3 months despite being prem so it didn't last too long

My prem (31 weeks) had radical temperatures for the first couple of years which we found quite hard to control. She was also quite chesty, although she hadn't had any oxygen in hospital (although I did have the steroids to mature her lungs before she was born). She is 7 now and seems to have grown out of it. However, and I don't know if there are other mums with more grown up prems, one of the things friends and I have noticed is that prems are often very 'nervous' children. There was afscinating article in the Sunday Times magazine on Feb 27th showing that the treatment in neonatal units can lead to a different 'programming' of the brain as it suffers 'stress' much earlier and in a more intensive way than term babies. I found it fascinating and it also made me cry (but I am pg again, so that might account for it).

I must admit I found the first few weeks with her at home OK as she had been so 'trained' by the unit, that every four hours I woke her up, changed her nappy, fed her and put her down again....there was no demand at all from her and she slept all the time. The unit basically told me to leave her alone (ie. don't pick her up and pass her around all the time) and to let her sleep and not extend too much energy, so she would put on weight - this is all probably contrary to what they say now, but it did mean, I saved more interaction until she was a bit bigger......

i have a premature baby of 27weeks he was in hospital for three months, the bit i found difficult was getting up every 3 hours in the night to a breast pump! but i must say it is all worth it now, with my beutiful 7 month old baby next to me fast asleep xxx

My dts were born at 33 weeks, weighing 3.5 & 3.5.5, to be apart from the initial worry that they would be ok, I found it not too bad, because for the first 3 months they were always asleep unless feeding.

Now they are 22 months, and it is a whole different ball game

waterfalls are you still there

Hi. I gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl on 14th Oct. I was 32 weeks pregnant and very shocked to find myself in premature labour following a good, heathly pregnancy up until that point.. Mia is currently on the neo-natal unit although is no longer in an incubator, has put on weight and is feeding well (starting to get to grips with breastfeeding). I find it extremely difficult visitng her and then returning home without her and find myself thinking 'this is not how it was supposed to be, she should be home with us'. I also have feelings of guilt, wondering if it was something I had done although the doctor has reassured me that sometimes these things happen. Just wondered about other people's experiences of premature babies, how long their baby's stayed in hospital etc. Also I have a few anxieties about breastfeeding once she comes home having got used to expressing and how to combine both etc... Would appreciate anybodies advice, suggestions

Hi Mia!!

Glad you came on.

Im going to bump this as all the other messages written were last year. You could start your own thread though...

Hi Mia

My ds was 11 weeks prem and stayed in hospital for 10 weeks, which was hard going. Things got much better as soon as he came home though.

Would recommend you visit www.bliss.org.uk and go onto to their parent message board, you'll find lots of support, advice and people in a similiar situation to you there.

CGMum

Thank you charliegreensmum. I shall have a look on that website. Wow 11 weeks early, that must have been very traumatic. Mia may be coming home in next few days so fingers crossed. I'll let you know!

DS1 was 9 wks prem. It was really difficult and not at all what I imagined. The worst part was not being able to hold for the first 2 weeks - he was 2 weeks old before I could cuddle him. Everything was much better when he came home but I did find myself exhausted at 4 mths which I understand is pretty normal. I think you also worry a lot more as premmies are more prone to chest infections and things going wrong.
DS2 as a newborn (born at 37 weeks) was a breeze compared with DS1 and I really enjoyed him - whole new ball game now as he likes to throw himself on the floor and scream at the slightest provocation - but that's a whole other thread.
Good luck and keep posting!

My baby boy Joshua was born 11 weeks early and spent 6 1/2 weeks in hospital. He is now 11 1/2 weeks old and is thriving. He is now 11lbs!

My son was born ten weeks early and we spent his first 6 weeks in special care.

He is now 16 weeks old and doing very well- a happy, chubby little man.

I am wondering what my rough expectations should be in terms of his development- eg sitting up etc as I know he will be sightly behind 'the norm'...

Also I have struggled to find any groups of mums of prem babies to meet up with and feel like it would be great thing to have. I have tried bliss, but no joy there...

Any help/advice would be gratefully received.

THANKS!