This is a copy of one of my other posts. It is very possible to nurse a premature baby, I had a E-CS with a GA, I didn't see Tink till she was 5 hours old, I didn't express for 48 hours and it was after that before I could even hold her.
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Isobel was born at 31 weeks under general anaesthetic, I got a brief push past (in my bed) when she was 5 hours old and wasn't able to see her until the next day then.
I was given an expressing set but not shown what to do until she was two days old. I didn't manage to get much out at a time, I now know this is normal as colostrum only comes in teaspoonful's at a time.
At six days old she tried to latch onto her dad's shirt pocket button, so the next day, younger than they normally let them, they allowed me to do the first PTB. We did a supplemented PTB daily which was more than the babies who were a week older than her and born at 32 weeks were able to do. I kept expressing and the little amounts I had were given to her through her nose.
At two weeks I started to get real amounts of milk and a couple of days later they decided to let me do two unsupplemented feeds in one day. The following day we were on the transition ward. They wanted to do a feed every 12 hours but Isobel, ever independent, decided that only Mummy would do and cried after an NG feed until she was given the real thing. For the next week there were only two times when she was hungry but too tired to feed and had to be given NG.
We had our ups and downs but now, at 21 months, she is still breastfeeding!
It is possible to breastfeed but it takes a lot of work. My tips for successfully getting a prem baby on the breast are:
- Don't offer any artificial teats - bottles or dummies
- Don't try to feed a very prem baby more than once a day at the start, this is about learning and your supply, not food. See below
- Pump every four hours day and night - night pumps are really important to your supply as that's when prolactin is at it's highest
- Keep the clothes baby wore yesterday with you and a photo, use these to help you get in the mood when expressing
- Do as much skin-to-skin as possible
- Strip baby off before a feed
The first few times you put your baby on they may not get anything, they may get a little, but they're most likely not going to get enough to fund the calories required to feed let alone enough to help them. By trying to do this too often they will get very tired. When the feeds are built up and they're able to feed substantially then let them have unsupplemented feeds. If they manage well on one, then try for two. Once you're there you will find that baby should start to dictate feeds. There is no rush, they will learn in time.
I was fortunate enough to have Tink in probably the best hospital in Birmingham. I've heard from other mums who had their prem babies in other hospitals in Birmingham and the big difference I have seen is that at the hospital Tink was in no one went home on a bottle that planned to breastfeed, they were often going home sooner than babies at other hospitals - not scientific, just observation from the people I've met. I've just finished training with the NHS to be a breastfeeding supporter and have trained with the same people who trained the NNU staff.