My daughter Bethany is 2 weeks old today (born at 32 weeks). I'm trying to be patient, but I'm not very good at that! Two days ago she nursed her entire noon feeding. But yesterday and today she won't even attempt to eat (nursing or bottle feeding). She's doing great with everything else, she just won't eat. I know I just need to be patient and wait for her to grow a little, but I really want her to come home! I guess I'm just looking for encouragement. Have any of you dealt with this? Lol, I bet a lot of you have :-). Thanks for allowing my rant.
my twins were born at 29 weeks and had feeding tubes for what seemed like forever. For several weeks they would eat a few meals a day, but still needed the feeding tube for the other meals each day. I felt like they were never going to want to eat all on their own. But they finally decided it was time to EAT. They both had their tubes out about 2-3 weeks before their due dates and have eaten great since. It will happen.
My son was born at 34 weeks and feeding was so frustrating. There were a couple of times when I felt like he latched and was nursing effectively. But, mostly, he just wouldn't. His issue with feeding was the one thing that kept us in the hospital. Honestly, trust that someday, she's going to eat like crazy. But, right now, she's probably just not ready. The fact that she did it once doesn't mean that it has clicked in her brain that she needs to do that to get nourishment. Their instincts just aren't well developed right now. After having a breakdown in front of a doctor, she recommended trying to give him a bottle. She felt that it was the right thing to just get us out of the hospital so we could work on things at home. I agreed. I swear that we would have been there another month if I just stuck to breastfeeding. Even with the bottle though, he was a painfully slow feeder. It would take about 45 minutes for him to take 1.5 ounces. There were several days after we brought him home that I thought we'd have to go back to the hospital because it was so hard to get him to eat. I would use a cold, wet cloth to try to keep him awake long enough to feed but it often wasn't enough. And now he's 18 months old, he'd snack all day if I let him and he's big for his age. So it truly is an exercise in patience. She'll get there.
we were on the feeding tube for awhile. Took him even longer to learn to nurse. It probably just really wore her out is it is hard work for them. Be patient, it will come. Mine was a 32 weeker as well.
pregnancy after preemies
- emilieg
on Jan. 10, 2013 at 2:39 PM