How to get my preemie baby to breastfeed???

Question

my premature baby ( 32 w 5 d) was bottle fed as soon as she was able to feed, right from the NICU itself. We bottle fed her at home because she was too weak to suckle at the breast. now she is 38 weeks old, almost term and has more strenght to suck. i have been putting her to the breast regularly, even at the NICU so she has learned to suck, but not the stamina. I have noticed every time i try to put her to the breast she fusses, squirms, makes faces and turns away. why does she do this?? right now she is being bottlefed chiefly my expressed breast milk and supplemented with formula.

i met a LC and bought the medela SNS system. if the SNS is fed by finger she takes it well, but if attached to tbe breast she fusses and gets frustrated again, even though she is still getting the same milk flow! why is this???

my milk is slowly but surely drying up, because she's not taking it direclty. i am so depressed that i am not able to help her latch on and breastfeed.

its peak winter here and trying the kangaroo care is hard, plus i'm exhausted from the constant pumping/sterlising and 2-hour feeding schedule to have extra time for the constant skin-to-skin care i've been advised. pls!!! help!

Answer 1

My preemie was also born about that same time and had lots of trouble latching. I ended up pumping almost exclusively. They get used to the easiness of the bottle. Id say now, its just habit. Although the one thing our LC recommended was putting a little sugar water on there to attract them, if you really still want to try and get the latch to work.

Also are you pumping on both sides at the same time. That should help keep your supply up. Also as hard as it sounds try to pump and relax, look at your baby, etc. Also lots of water does help. Go to sites like kellymom.com (or it might be kellysmom.com) also try googling "pumping moms" for tricks if you cant get the latch to work but want to keep your supply up with pumping. Good luck, our preemies now 3, and having a blast today with his new drum set. It will be amazing how fast yours will catch up too.

Oh yeah the best thing you can ever do is get 2 sets of pump attachments. Medela sells them. Then you wan sterilize 2 sets together, and not between every set, plus to get you thru the night. The $17 or maybe $30 I spent on them was the best money ever spent. Even consider getting 3 sets. Also right now when you are pumping so often, try the medela sterilzing bags.

Answer 2

I did the same thing with my premature daughter. She was bottlefed from teh NICU and when I got her home, I continued to pump and bottle feed her. I rented a duel pump from the drug store, it was hospital grade and very important to have to protect your supply.

Shortly after though, I gave her the breast, before her actual feeding time so she wasn't starving, but still interested. Then I'd top her up with the bottle.

I did that for a week or so and then gradually fed her exclusive breast, just stopped giving her the bottle all together, no matter how she fussed. The breast feeding increased to almost once an hour, but she got the hang of it in no time flat.

If she's latching on and getting some out of the breast, I would try to simply not give her the bottle and she will feed from the breast. The breast is a lot more work than the bottle, all babies are pretty lazy and if it means less work for them, they're all for it. So, increase the breast feedings and decrease the bottle, that's the only way you'll get her on it.

There are ways to make the transition easier for her. The most obvious way is to get a nipple sheild for your own nipple to trick her into thinking it's a bottle.

Good luck!