Breastfeeding Preemies

Breastfeeding Preemies :Having a preemie or premature baby is not something you plan for. For many of us, we are caught completely off guard. My second daughter decided to arrive at 36 weeks, a month early. The entire NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) staff was on hand for her delivery, "just in case". I was a nervous wreck but those contractions and dilation gave me no other choice than to push her out. Abby came out screaming and covered in vernex (a sign of her being early)

But often the scenerio plays out quite differently. The premature baby could very well be taken to the NICU before you even get to see them. And it could be hours before you meet. And somewhere in this madness- understandably- many moms simply forget about breastfeeding.

This is where the hospital staff comes in and reminds you to start pumping. Maybe it is not what you planned but it is critical in helping your body to bring in your milk. Unless you are too ill to pump, please make every effort to start ASAP with a hospital grade double electric pump whenever possible for 2 reasons:

• to stimulate milk supply: areaola stimulation and emptying tell the body it is time to make milk
• to provide the baby with every DROP of your expressed breastmilk: many times it is only a few drops but it is indeed liquid gold to a preemie breastfeeding. Premature babies are known to get out of NICU faster than formula fed babies. Many NICU doctors will strongly encourage pumping even to moms who planned on formula feeding.

Sometimes doctors begin to add breast milk fortifier to your EBM to add calories to breast milk. This is a common practice. The doctor can review with you what is in the fortifier that he/she prescribes. It is usually a powder that is simply mixed in prior to a feeding.

Other pages you might find useful:

Hand expression for a premie.
Breastmilk storage for a preemie.

Next, comes the time to get the baby to latch. Often NICU doctors and nurses want to make sure the baby can suck a bottle without having breathing or heart problems. They will "test" the baby on a few bottle feeds to see how they do.Then, you will need the help of a lactation consultant. If your baby is tiny, you may have to use a nipple shield like this one:to get the baby latched. Sometimes, the use of a supplementer is necessary as well, to ensure baby is taking in adequate amounts of milk. Again, it is important to rally the help of a qualified lactation consultant to help you through all this.

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