Derek's Breastfeeding Story
My first child, Derek was born 6 1/2 weeks early. He only weighed 4 lbs.
10 oz. But he was beautiful. An hour after he was born he was taken to a
neonatal center in another hospital. My doctor said his lungs weren't fully
developed and he would need O2. I pumped. When I was released I took the
milk with me to his hospital. They had tubes and wires attached every where
and they were giving him my milk through a tube in his nose. After three
days I was aloud to try and nurse him. He did great the first couple of
times (so I thought). But each time they weighed him they said he was losing
weight. Now on top of the guilt of having him early, I couldn't even feed my
baby. My milk out put could have fed the nursery, but he was a "lazy
eater". So after many discussions and a lot of crying my husband and I
decided I would pump and feed him the milk from a bottle and after he was
home I'd try the breast again. They kept telling me he wouldn't do it.
Well, let me tell you by the time we hit his due date Derek was a pro-nurser
and gaining weight. Lots of patients and skin-to-skin contact did the
trick. I planned to breast feed till he was one, but surprise at 8 months I
was pregnant again. Brett was 3 weeks early and loves to eat. It takes time
with preemies, but it's worth it.
ps. Both boys take/took both the bottle of breast and nursed without any
fuss.
I'd love to talk to other mom's of preemies or mom's on bed rest (done that)
e-mail me at confusedoh@yahoo.com.
Go back to the Breastfeeding page.
