Day 18- 1st Breastfeed

I went in and demanded to feed hit this morning I feel like i needed it and he is ready to try according to them he is 34 weeks old so should have started already. the nurse was nice she set everything up for us and sat down to help me. Noah had put on 40 grams over night which is a huge amount taking him 1490 grams. Looks like 1.5kg is closer than we thought

So I sat down with the nurse after changing him to wake him up and I knew he was ready he was rooting at his hands before I even started. Since I had feed the other 2 I was confident that I could do it. But knew they had warned me time and time again that he is small and prem and probably won’t be able to suck till 36 weeks corrected.

To my surprise he opens his mouth huge with nipple being on his lips and put his tongue down and out took a huge amount of nipple in and sucked! The sucks were 2 or 3 times then would falls off but be awake and eager to quickly open his mouth again to get the nipple back in. In the end he sucked for 4 sucks before falling off and was swallowing small amounts as I was trying to hold back my let down and not flood him. I had expressed prior to make sure he didn’t drown. The nurse was shocked she said I was confident and knew what I was doing and even more impressed Noah knew the reflexes to breast feed at so small weight and age.

So they have asked me to do daily feeds before his NG feed for a few days and see how he goes before 2 Breastfeeds a day. They gave him his usual 20ml while he was on the breast but the more that went thru the less he sucked and eventually feel asleep. The nurse wanted me to put him back then so he didn’t vomit but said some skin to skin up right might help him settle better. To her shock and mine he didn’t spew at all. I am so proud of me and him...Doctor came round after and put his feeds up by 2ml and was so happy he had had success on the boob and a great weight gain and steady Temp at 37 degrees....

I finally feel like a mummy today to Noah...

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32weeks + 6 days corrected by 28/6/09

34weeks +1 according to Hosp corrected 19/6/09