So terrified. Emergency section at 25w

[Titchypanda]

Today I've been admitted to hospital and told my baby will need to be delivered in next 24 hours due to poor growth and almost no waters. Baby is only measuring at 1lb 2oz with a less than 50% chance of survival. My husband and I are devastated and terrified. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Preemies have really sensitive skin, so they can dislike being touched, or lying in certain ways. Our girls hated lying on their right hand side, but were fine on their backs/left hand side!

Alice are you on Facebook? There is a great group for breastfeeding twins/multiples which really helped me when my twins were born at 26wks

Yes I am on FB. Can you let me know the exact name of the group and I'll see if I can find it? Thanks!

Hi, it's Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets UK - there is a page and a closed group. Just request to be added to the group. You'll probably get a message to check who you are etc

P.S. just to reassure you - my girls were born at 26wks gestation and spent 18 weeks total in hospital, including 4 weeks fully ventilated. They are now 6mths actual, 3mths corrected and are fully on demand breastfed, even though they are on oxygen at home! I expressed for 12 weeks before beginning to breastfeed. It is possible!

Thanks. They've got her on 1ml ebm hourly and I'm lucky if I get 3-6ml daily. So the supply I built up is pretty much gone and now they are talking about formula. Even if I'm expressing 6-8 times a day I can't get much. It's really frustrating. I've tried massage, single and double pumping and nothing helps.

Bea is still stable, she seems to be tolerating feeds, I just need to make more!

Is hand expressing getting you anything?

What a gorgeous name she sounds a real fighter. Loved reading about your dh,s different voices when reading to Bed. Lovely.

typo oops *Bea

How frustrating Titchy can you ask about using donor breastmilk? I'm sure Bea will qualify for it!

Congratulation on your dd, I read your thread before she arrived, so pleased to hear she's doing well. I had my ds1 at 36 weeks, so not as early as you, but in scbu for a week.
My advice would be to spend as much time with her as you can. Reading is a great way to pass the time. Re pumping, I struggled with a pump, but I think it was effective at imitating demand so when ds was able to feed I suddenly had plenty of milk, so keep going, even if it seems hard now. La leche league seem to have good advice for preemies, and I imagine they might have someone who could visit you (they have groups too).
Sounds like your family are looking after you well, my mum used to bring meals into hospital for me, (because I was with ds I often missed post natal ward meals) and large pots of ready cut up fruit, so really easy to eat well! I topped up with a mars bar or two to 'help' my breastmilk!

Congratulations on your DD. Beautiful name. She sounds like a real fighter.

My DS was prem & I struggled with milk supply too. I was prescribed Domperidone & it made a huge difference. It's worth you asking if they can prescribe it for you.

Good luck x

Titch, echo what a pp says about donor milk, DS had it for the first few days until my supply came in. I was also advised to try fenugreek capsules to help up my supply.

You are doing fabulously and she is getting your milk, please take comfort from that. ☺

I definitely can't have domperidone due to other medication interactions. Fenugreek is also an issue. I will ask about donor breast milk but not sure about if they do it. They've spoken about supplementing with formula. I have ordered a better pump that should arrive today, so hopefully it will help.

Are you putting warm compresses on your breasts before pumping, that used to help me (use a hot water bottle, or buy some of the reusable hand warmers)? The fastest I ever expressed milk was in the shower or bath, although not sure how to combine that with collecting what you are expressing!

I also found hand expressing better than a pump at first, if you are squeezing out milk drop by drop. As soon it got harder to get any more drops out, I'd swap sides - and repeat.

Keep going titchy, and don't feel bad if your baby has to have formula. My DS had formula a couple of times in the early days while I got my supply established. Unfortunately the staff put a lot of pressure on me regarding expressing (for good reason I know but it made me feel terrible in an already stressful situation) so I hope you're not being made to feel bad for not being able to keep up with demand. It won't help your hormones if you are stressing out about it. Better for baby to have formula than go hungry. Is she digesting the feeds ok? I got there in the end and breast fed DS till he was 9 months. X

Oh titchy I'm reading this with tears in my eyes, it brings it all back!
My lg was born at 31 weeks weighing 3lbs 8oz so a good size but had issues with her diaphragm, needed surgery. We were in NICU 10 weeks then SCBU 3 weeks. The first 3 weeks were awful, so many ups & downs.

Our lg also hated being moved and hated cares, I would get so stressed about it as I knew she would get stressed and her sats would drop and bp would go up.

For expressing - when I was talking to another mum in the expressing room said she had cut holes in bra so she could go 'hands free', I tried it and it worked a treat (see pic). Hope that helps, I really struggled with my volumes too and couldn't always keep up so used donor breast milk then later on formula top ups, had to eventually switch to formula when we could home.

For us, we found making friends with other parents a blessing as they totally understand what you're going through, we are still in touch with quite a few of them and meet up regularly.
Hoping and praying Bea continues to get stronger every day. Take care of yourselves xx

titchy I said earlier that my twins were born at 27 weeks and was desperate to produce enough milk for them both - by the way, twin 2 could only tolerate 0.5ml every other hour to start with so 1ml every hour is fab X

My consultant told me that your supply is affected by food intake (as well as liquid in take) so I started having a sandwich about midnight. He also said the early hours (2-3am) are absolutely the best time to express (stimulates supply).

Also he said to 'stimulate the senses' as you express with all things baby - they were on intensive care so I couldn't express on the ward, but I had lots of "them" near me when I tried - photos of them, the little UV goggles they'd worn that I sniffed (sounds bizarre but worked) and their little hats. Also agree that after a shower worked and had to massage my breasts for a few minutes before starting. I also used a hospital grade double pump.

I was also really disheartened with the amount I got to start with but I was religious about it - something like 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am and 5am and really stuck to it, and it soon improved.

Good luck!! Sending best wishes xx

Thinking of you. I exclusively pumped for about 7 weeks until we started "learning to feed". I didn't have supply issues, but the advice you're being given is all good. Pump little and often in these early days... I started at every two hours until my milk came in, then every three, for about 15 minutes a time. Double pumping all the way. I perfected a hold with one hand and read book with the other approach, but the bra idea is a good one. When I pumped at night, I would call NICU to see how things were.

And you know what? Every ml she has had from you has benefited her. If she needs topping up, it's not because you're failing. IT'S BLOODY HARD WORK!

So glad Bea is continuing to do OK and well done you for perserving with pumping.I'm shuddering at the memory of long days in NICU only broken up by pumping breaks every 2/3 hours and setting my alarm throughout the night to pump. Really hope the new pump does the trick for you. It is probably a long shot but one of my DS's nurses recommended eating lots of oats (porridge or flapjacks) and dates. Both are apparently natural galactagogues.
It would also take ages for my rather unimpressive let-down to kick in (think 15 minutes of nothing happening) and then double pumping meant I'd invariably need about an hour to get anywhere near a decent amount. I was lucky and after 14 weeks of horrific pumping managed to transition to just breastfeeding but I was LUCKY. If you can get your supply going then that is brilliant and anything you can give her will be great especially when it feels like it's one of the very few things that only you can do for her at the moment but the reality is that your body will still be suffering the trauma of her birth, coupled with any health issues you have, the gut-wrenching daily stress of life in NICU, and sleepless nights so if it does mean topping up with formula or donated milk then please don't feel bad. You are doing a brilliant job.

Sorry if I've missed this, but don't the hospital have a medical grade pump you can loan?

Just read this thread and wanted to say what amazing courage you have. All the very best to you and your daughter.

Titchy, I'm producing nothing like enough milk for my twins and they are being topped up with donor breast milk and formula. I'm trying to take the view that every ml I produce is a bonus, and not beat myself up over it (easier said than done!). It is very hard and, as someone said earlier, sometimes the hospital staff's encouragement to express just piles on more guilt....

Hi Titchy, how are you and your baby doing? I posted the other day about my waters breaking. I had my baby boy on sunday at 28+3 he is in a pretty bad way as born with an infection. He is nnu icu atm and ventilated x

to LBNM19. Congratulations on your new baby. He will be well looked after in NICU.