Some advice please, baby in SCBU and I'm upstairs and immobile....

[emskaboo]

Had my DD (DC2) this morning six weeks early by c-sec as she was footling breech and labour was progressing rapidly.

Baby is fine but cold, they've put her on dextrose. She did have limited skin on skin and suckled after delivery. I'm now being told to hand express and she'll be syringe fed. Does that sound right?

I really want to try and bf again but they don't take beds to SCBU and I can't walk/transfer tons wheelchair yet.

Thanks for any advice...

You poor thing, how frustrating - I feel for you and I don't have the answer but will be following this as I might well end up in the same situation as you and would want to BF. Hope someone posts soon with good advice - take care.

I'm sorry, I know nothing about this, but will bump for people with experience.

Hope you manage to find a satisfactory solution.

And congratulations.

Congratulations. Please, please try not to worry.
mine was on dextrose and syringe fed (not early but ill), she will be absolutely fine.
Have a good sleep and try to get in a wheelchair as soon as you can to sit with her.
When you get down to the unit you should be able to help with the syringe feeding yourself, this is done through a line in her nose through to the stomach. It's quiet normal. Try not to worry.

Congratulations. How are you feeling? What anaesthetic did you have?

Honestly, do not worry. Have you had any sleep? Have you tried expressing?

Sorry for the multiple questions.

i was 10 weeks early and express fed for six weeks by syringe and then bootle - moved to EBF when got home. I am 29 and super healthy and BF my own DD as i type - your baby will be fine - best of luck x

Thanks all, I think I'm still in shock tbh. I had an epidural, I'm about to try hand expressing but me and expressing don't get on wildly well despite producing bucket loads of milk and having forceful let down.

DD doesn't have a nasal gastric tube at the moment, dextrose going in via cannula. (We chose that over her being tube fed formula as my son has excema and wanted to minimise allergy risks.

I just feel so weird not being with her :(

congratulations.

when ds was in scbu, i expressed on ward (couldn't move), and they took the bottles down to be put through his tube. Unfortunately my milk didn't come in for ages, so they gave formula, but I carried on pumping and eventually when it did come in we were able to try b'feeding.

One thing, I couldn't get on with hand expressing at all, so they bought a pump down from scbu for me to have by the bed - they even stuck a photo of ds on it for me.

I hope you will be able to have a cuddle with your dd soon.

Hi Zim, me too, well I was 8 weeks early.

Thank you for reminding me it can be done. I'm just feeling wobbly I guess.

My dc1 was in scubu for 10 days and i expresed until I bf him on day 5. he was bf for 8 months. if you tell the nurses in scubu you want to bf they will support you as they know how important it is for babys in scubu to have breastmilk. Don't worry you'll be able to get down there soon.The scubu nurse may come up to see you to discuss feeding, my dc's did.

Ok feeling less worried, just managed to hand express about 4ml and set a reminder to express again in an hour. I will do this and DD will be fine.

HJ thanks for that, it gave me the impetus to get on with it!

Thanks all.

Congratulations!

My DS1 was born 4 weeks early and I remember the syringe feeds well! It took a bit of time until he was strong enough to breast feed properly. I wish I'd known that was normal at that point. After about a month we were able to ditch the expressing and I carried on breast feeding for 18 months. Good luck.

Congratulations!
It's mind over matter so keep up the hand expressing even when you feel tearful (hormones!) and all will be fine. Mine were all premature and tube fed at first but with perseverance their suck reflex soon develops strongly and bf is fine.

Congratulations Emskaboo, I have copied this from another thread I posted on re someones sister so excuse me if it reads funny.

"Just holding hands and talking to her will help she will recognise her mums voice and it will help your sis bond even if she cant hold her. Get skin to skin as soon as she can but obviously when baby can cope with it. If she can not be in special care get a piccy of baby and some of babys mucky clothes/bedding (obv not dirty ones just smelly of baby) this will help her let down. Express during the night, I set my alarm for every 3 hours to ensure I woke up as I could sleep during the day whilst G in special care. Drink plenty of fluids (always though that an odd statement as how do you drink solids but hey ho).

The baby might not even be feeding at all yet she could be on a drip if not feeling very well to keep her hydrated. G did not feed for a couple of days as I refused to let him be formula fed and obv in my circs the milk was a bit slow coming in. He had TPN for a few days, then tube fed expressed milk.

I suggest she starts to express by hand especially if this is her first time - it is a bit gentler on your boobs. Get a syringe and suck up any little drops that pop out. It will probably only be little amounts to start with but will get more. It doesn't matter how little it is baby will benefit from it. This way it is ready to go straight down a tube if baby is tube fed and will freeze as it is if not feeding yet. Initially the amount I had would have been absorbed by the pipes/bottles of expressing any other way. One of my MWs gave me lavender oil to smell as it supposed to help although do not know for certain. Move on to the pump shortly after though to get the flow going and start getting volume."

HTH and good luck.

PS Brill news that she has the sucking reflex already.
When you nurse her just let her have a go and try skin to skin when you can this will help keep her warm and help your letdown.

My DS was born at 31 weeks and BF for 2.5 years, it can be done. Good luck.

Thank you so much for your post charleymouse, I was a little disheartened as my last effort at expressing was pants, the tip about syringing straight off the breast was very helpful.

I've managed to get up to see her and feel so much better now.

Hello & congratulations,
DS was taken away at birth to the SCBU & a midwife taught me to hand express colostrum into a syringe every 4 hrs which DH then took upstairs to the SCBU. DS was also tube fed formula. As soon as I was allowed to I breastfed him in the SCBU. He took to it very well (despite having limited skin to skin and not suckling at birth). The tube feeding start did not have any negative impact on our breastfeeding - he is now a massive 20 week old & now I am worried he loves the boob too much!
Anyway, just hand express into the syringe and go from there. Hope that it all goes well!

Ps forgot to say that at the beginning it is hard to hand express the colostrum and a TINY bit comes out. I found it helpful to have the little hat that DS wore when he was born close to me to smell etc, that made my hormones feel as if he was right there. Hand expressing the colostrum is a labour of love, but totally worth it.

Congratualtions on the arrival of your dd! My dd was born with various health problems, I expressed for 3 weeks before she was able to latch on. It took a couple of days for me to get a much result from expressing, I could never manage to hand express! I would take it down to scbu and they would store whatever I managed to get, also had to use a wheel hair due to section.

I hope you and your new dd get home soon x

Congratulations!

Some good advice on here. Hand express for these first couple of days but then start to double pump 8-10 times in 24hrs once your milk starts to come in.

Before you express prepare your breasts. Stroke them, massage, tweak your nipples for a few minutes to prepare your breasts. You may find using warm flannels helps too.

Have a picture of baby and something that smells of DD - a hat etc with you when you express.

If your milk takes longer to come in you can ask the unit to give your baby TPN rather than formula until it does.

Remember to look after yourself too! Drink to thirst and eat to hunger.

If baby is well enough skin to skin as much as possible when you are able, is fab to increase milk supply.

Hope that you are feeling better soon and DD is able to come home asap. My own DD was born 9 weeks early and despite our shaky start (didn't see her for 24hrs and limited skin to skin) she came home exclusively breastfed and is still breastfeeding at almost 3!

just stopping by to say I have been thinking about you and your lovely new baby.
When things settle down, get the midwife to go through what happened with you.

And remember to eat. You need your strength. Hope your night passes peacefully.

4ml is great for a first expression - I well remember sitting on my bed crying as I expressed drops into a syringe (ds was born at 35 weeks and wasn't well initially). Remember that she would be taking minute amounts from you herself, so every drop counts.
Make then give you a load of syringes/pots so that you can keep them by the bed, and then get someone to take them down to her in the night (ask scbu what the protocol is)
If you can bear to express more often it is great - all the stimulation from hand expressing will get your milk in faster, and stimulate you to produce more
Some mws and scbu nurses were more supportive than others btw

Congratulations on your dd !

Thank you again, I feel like a different person this morning. She successfully latched on and I've fed her three times now direct from the breast, I am so happy :) She's still on dextrose and having a bit of a problem keeping warm but is alert and beautiful.

Thank you all so much for posting, I read everything last night and it really helped me put things in perspective.

Em

Thank you all again, we are home! SCBU have been amazed by DD and her ability to get breastfeeding. I have been amazed by all the support.

Thank you

Em

Congratulations!

Brill news, congratulations and welcome home. This mother nature stuff is pretty clever isn't it? Glad to hear she is doing well.