Prem baby not taking to BFing

[rascal1979]

My baby was born 9 weeks early and has been having EBM since about day 3. However despite trying to breast feed for over 3 weeks we don't seem to be progressing. She has latched on a few times and sucked 3-5 times but that's it. I try her to the breast upto 3 times a day when she is about to/being tube fed. She will hold my nipple inher mouth and suck /lick the milk or just let it flow into her mouth and then swallow bits but not actually breastfeeding properly.

I'm starting to get really despondant as other mums inthe unit seem to be doing far better at actually feeding.

She is now 36 wks gestation (5 weeks old) and weighs 3lb 2oz. The nurses just keep saying that she is small and she will do it eventually but I'm starting to worry that she won't.

Anyone else had a similar situation with a happy ending! or does it look like she won't be able to feed?

waiting to hear the good home coming news.

That is fabulous news

My third DS was only 5 weeks eraly but feeds in the NNU could be very frustrating. He had to be on 3 hourly feeds but he didn't always want them. Once he was home I was able to feed him when he wanted whether that was 5 hours (rarely) or 2 hours. You will be able to feed better at home although, be prepared - sometimes she will refuse but don't panic = all babies do at some point.

Congratulations for geting this fay - fingers crossed for Monday.

That's fantastic , it must be lovely to see her beautiful face without any tubes. We need a new photo! How exciting that she might be home soon - you can start panicking about all the baby things you haven't had time to get yet

Am really happy for you - hope all goes well over the next few days!

guess who's home - on her due date as well!
just had her first bfeed at home!

Woohoo! Huge congratulations and much respect for you.

Ooooooo, while I think about it, don't be surprised if her feeding goes a bit nuts for a day or two. Apparently it can be normal for a growth spurt to happen about now. Then again, she may not have one for a while so don't worry if she doesn't go nuts with her feeding either

I'm so pleased for you

That's wonderful news - enjoy! Congratulations

Hulo you've not got rid of me and my stresses yet!

New problems are:

She can only feed from my right breast - which the bFeeding counsellor said was fine until we are established more and to just express the left in the meantime - which I am doing and have been for just under a week but now I'm home I'm stressing about it. I'm trying her on the left at every feed before offering her the right and she does have a go but can't latch on. Think it might be my positioning with her so will persevere today. Stressing tho.

Since she has been fully breastfed she has been sickly after a feed (could be previously with tube feeding and this was more forceful sick), not projectile just kind of overflows and spits it out. Think it's wind but despite me winding and burping her and baby going to sleep, as soon as I put her down in her crib 95% of the time she spits up again. I've raised the head end of the cot as she prefers not to be completely flat but this hasn't seemed to help.

1. She doesn't always wake up for a feed - like last night (and the night before) she slept from her 9pm(ish) feed through til 3am when I woke her up to feed - she was stirring a little. SCBU always says don't let her go more than 4hrs without a feed (although when she went 6hrs on Sat night they said not to worry and wouldn't do her any harm. Not sure if this is as a one off or in general.

As her weight is still an issue I don't want her to 'miss' any feeds or sick up too much .

Any advice gratefully received.

Congratulations Rascal and dd!! What brilliant news!

Ah a whole new set of problems now... the worrying will last forever

Not sure about the right and left breast. But a lot of babies sick up and it usually a lot less than it looks. If she is not in pain after a feed (which could be reflux) it is probably not a problem, apart from being constantly covered in sick... One of my friends had a very sicky baby and she used to keep a clean top by the door to throw on over her sick-covered clothes when she went out.

If SCBU have told you to wake her up, I would carry on doing that as she is still little. Again, nothing to worry about I don't think if she is not awake, just wake her up.

Many many congratulations again - hope you are having a wonderful time as a family and showing her off!

We had problems number 1 and 2 with our DD. After 6 months it was recommended that we take her to see a cranial-osteopath who worked miracles. Unfortunately for us it was a bit late to take her so she didn't gain quite as much from the treatment as a younger baby would. It is definitely worth getting sorted out and sooner rather than later.

To find a CO in your area do a search here

Sorry, I forgot to say that I really can't recommend the CO enough. As your DD is so young you may only need one/two treatments and should see improvements almost immediately (certainly within a couple of days). Most COs charge up to £60 for the initial session and £40 thereafter but many are cheaper. The money is well worth it to avoid problems with sleep, chewing solids, more severe reflux symptoms and speech problems if left untreated.

Only time for a quick reply.

Start feeding her on the right and when she has been sucking well, slip her over to the left in the same position that she was on the right side - you may be able to fox her. If that doesn't work, just let her feed from the right and express from the left - you will be able to tackle that later.

Spitting up milk is normal - just keep her cuddled upright after a feed for a while before lying her down - it is just probably a sign that she has over indulged

I would let her go 6 hours at night to be honest - babies often feed better when they are left to their own devices. Just see what happens. It will take a while for oyu to be truly confident but it sounds as though you are well onto the right track.

HI All

Managed to get her to feed for a full feed from the left breast today - hopefullymaking progress. I'm taking her to be weighed tomorrow - fingers crossed she has put weight on. She certainly looks chubby!

All sounding good, rascal

Yay! Well done mummy and baby Rascal! I hope that the weigh-in goes well. Any weight she puts on is all down to your hard work.

Good news. I am sure you will do fine

Rascal - have been enjoying reading your story which brought back so many memories of when my DD1 was in SCBU 5 years ago! It sounds as though you're doing fantastically well!

I think it's fairly common for bf premmies to be quite sicky - my DD1 certainly was. Just as if she'd overindulged and it had overflowed! Just handle her gently after a feed etc and hopefully it will stay in. If it's bad, the doctors can give you infant gaviscon, but that always seemd like a palaver so we didn't use it much.

As others have said, I'd enjoy the 6 hour stretch if it's just once a day overnight - maybe feed her every 3 hourly during the day?

Hi Bramshott - thanks for your comments. I'm starting to relax a little now just really stressful going from having nurses available 24hrs a day to it just being me and DH.

Took babyrascal to be weighed this afternoon and she is now 4lb 5oz - she has put 35g on since she came home on Sunday. HV had a quick chat and said that he was pleased with this

Stil struggling with getting her to feed from the left side and I've noticed that towards the end of her feed on the right she is closing her mouth which has made me a bit sore.

Great to hear that she has put on weight Rascal!! Yes, I remember that scary feeling - it will go away!

WOOOOWWW, this is AMAZING

I can't believe you are home with babyrascal.. and good weight gain..

FFFFANNNTAAASSSTTTICCC

I told you you would get there... and you know what. You did. WELL DONE mama

hiya everyone

babyrascal is doing well. Last night she fed at 6pm, 8pm then 10pm. Asleep by 11pm then slept through til 5am. I did set my alarm clock to wake at 2am to wake her for a fed but we both slept thru it Pleased that she can sleep thu but also a bit worried as she can't afford to miss out on feeds.

My HV has said that he is happy for her to go upto 5-5hrs at night - last night was 7 but she had fed every two hous for the six hours before.. what do you think?

Should i be forcing a strict timetable on her or let her do her own thing? or is doing her own thing dangerous in terms of weight gain etc cos she is prem? I'm taking a pressie to NICU tomorrow so will mention it to them but TBH you get so much conflicting advice if I wasn't so cautious about doing the wronf thing I'd just do my own think IYSWIM

Oh and still struggling to get her to latch on to the left side although she did have a good attempt earlier...

I would just feed her on demand.. she will let you know when she is hungry. feed her at every rooting sign..

Practice makes perfect. you will both get there with the latch.

Tummy to mummy, nose to nipple, chin to breast..... Your both doing great

Hello All

Thought I'd just update and let you know that baby Rascal is now a big chunk at 4lb 7oz! which means she has put 2oz on this week. SO BFeeding is working!

She has also been having a few more attempts and a couple of feeds from the left side! yay!!!

woohoo...

that is great news.. you both are such an inspiration.

Update!

Asbabyrascal has been being fairly sick after about 50%of her feeds I have been trying different things to try to stop this, such as winding her for longer after a feedd - just makes her bring up the same or more sometimes, lying her on her tummy to wind - work initially but then she cries etc

at her 2am feed this morning I took her off after 6 min (she usually goes for about 10 min for a feed although this is sometimes slightly shorter) as she was slowing down and eyes were rolling and winded her. Had success as she burped a couple of times. Tried to latch her back on but she was done. She then settled (albeit in bed on my chest rather than her crib ) and slept til 7am. Just fed her again and she started to slow down after her initial guzzle for about 7 min and so I took her off again and winded her - this time a little bit of sick but a spit more than anything and a couple of burps. Again tried her back on but not interested.

So my question is do you think that normally when she has her 10 min guzzle she is being greedy and taking too much down hence the sicklyness so taking her off to wind her after 6-7 min is okay or am I starving my poor baby by taking her off too soon.......?

Don't want to be doing anything detrimental as she isn't exactly huge at 4lb 7oz and only puts on 2oz a week atm but I figure if she isn't being sick then she is keeping down what she takes in rather than sicking half of it up cos sometimes LOADS comes back whichis better alround cos then she isn't burning calories on being sick etc.....

Bump......