Hello,
My friend has a 1 M year old baby who is still in the NICU and is not feeding from a bottle. She is really stumped about what is wrong with her son because all of the test results are normal, but her baby is still on the feeding tube. Is there anyone who has had this situation before?
Hi, He needs to develop the suck response. Ask the nurses or doctor how to initiate this! L. P.
Some NICU will let the mom nurse. Could this be an option? Or at least hold the baby(tubes and all) while trying to feed the bottle.
hi
my son born 6 wks early and stayed at nicu for a month. he as on feeding tube because he doesnt have strong suck yet. i always spend all day with my son eveyday and start do breastfeed him (he had hard time latch on but i didnt let it stop me but always offer him my boobs) for short time then i offered him the breastmilk in bottle and he will drink some of it and the remain of it will go in feeding tube.. to the last week and he was off the feeding tube and did great then we brought him home. at first i thought he will never improve his sucking skill? stuck with bottle then fall sleep? feeding tube for llong time? no it depends on each baby... they will be ready when they are ready.
it take a while for baby to master the suck and swallows skills. we cant just starve the baby but feed the baby so feeding tube is the thing to do to keep baby growing :o)
just like the post below me :o)
I've had 2 NICU babies who had issues feeding from a bottle. Was the baby premature? If so, how early? My girls were born at 34 1/2 weeks and 36 weeks and both had long stays due to issues learning to "suck, swallow & breath" which is ESSENTIAL in mastering bottle drinking.
Also, my girls were slow feeders could not take the amount of formula that the Neonatologist required without getting tired. They were both on a feeding tube for at least a week or two until they got stronger and mastered the skills.
Some kids just develop slower! They are both perfectly healthy now!
Send her this link on kangaroo care:
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/39...
Depending upon the baby's situation, she should ask her pediatrician about doing this in the hospital- it can be done even while baby is still hooked up to monitors. Even though she is not breastfeeding, there are still many benefits, including getting the baby interested in eating, gaining weight, bonding, brain development, and much more. Best wishes
