Friday Feature: Preemies
I have been blessed to work with a sweet premature baby boy who has graduated from the NICU and is back at home learning to breastfeed. Preemie babies are so special! And they need to be handled as a specialty.
Many of the Lolli’s Lessons and education I am providing are specific to healthy, full-term newborns. So when we begin working outside of healthy and full term, we approach things much differently.
Lactation consultants in the neonatal intensive care unit are amazing! I have never worked in that capacity, but have worked with what we call “grower babies” for many years. It can be challenging as we transition babies from bottle to breast in a full-term baby, but we amp it up a notch with premature babies. With preemies, sometimes “wins” at the breast are simply the ability to do skin to skin multiple times each day. And then, maybe they progress to “licking” the nipple with an occasional latch. Feeding plans with premature babies are centered on weight gain and the ability to take their feedings “by mouth” instead of through a tube in their nose or mouth. When they have successfully taken all feedings by mouth and are gaining weight–home becomes part of the near future! What a celebration that is!
The mom and her preemie I have been working with had a feeding goal of all feedings at the breast. The baby was born at 32 weeks gestation (approximately 2 months early) and moved quickly with an awesome weight gain and bottle feeding success. We have been working together for a couple of weeks and recently had a significant weight gain and a milk transfer at the breast that left both me and mom smiling from ear to ear!
This was an almost 5 oz weight gain in 4 days!
I bring this scale to all home visits and it provides a very accurate weight to capture the amount of milk a baby actually transfers at the breast.
This 1.6 oz weight gain after feeding on only one side had me cheering!!
We worked on a feeding plan together and had great success!
And here was his most recent weight after only 6 days! Don’t you just love how they hold onto your fingers?
When working with preemies, we expect to have frequent weight checks and visits to make sure things continue successfully. If and when we notice anything concerning, I am in contact with and able to send reports to providers. It’s not easy getting out and about with a new baby for a weight check every few weeks—-but it IS easy for me to come do a weight check on your baby. I am happy to provide this support for our special preemies!
