Bottle To Breastfeeding After Nicu

My son after a few tries was able to latch on and breastfeed and i was able to breastfeed him for 4 months before i had to go and have surgery.

Bottle to breastfeeding after nicu. Some mothers hide the bottle in a cloth and keep baby next to a naked breast during their feed to help them. Whether they are full term and spend a few days or preemies and spend weeks to months it is hard. In the nicu setting breastfeeding is a complex task that requires close attention to the needs of both the mother and her infant. Getting the hang of breastfeeding after a nicu stay can take some time and practice.

Breastfeeding premature infants in the nicu is particularly challenging. It is so incredibly important in this journey to ask for help. In addition to prematurity they often have medical problems and may be placed in the nicu neonatal intensive care unit until they are stable enough to feed successfully via bottle or breast. Breastfeeding is important to preterm infants as it seems to provide even more pronouced health benefits than to infants born at term age even though there are significant variations in preterm breastfeeding rates between countries and neonatal intensive care units nicus within coutries preterm infants are not breastfed to the same extent as term infants.

Being premature or born with health issues can greatly affect a baby s ability to breastfeed efficiently. Give yourself some grace. Premature babies are often too immature to feed at the breast immediately after birth. Babies are in the nicu for a reason.

Learn about breastfeeding support how to store breast milk and how to make bottle feeding safe. Baby s are often fed via bottle or other methods in the nicu making latching to the breast difficult. The shape of the teat the flow rate and the way you offer milk in a bottle can help or hinder breastfeeding. When bottle feeding is more similar to breastfeeding it can help a baby transition between the two ways of feeding more easily.

Non nutritive sucking nns involves letting the preemie nurse from the mothers breast which is emptied by. Most nicu babies can learn to breastfeed. I fully believe i would not have been as successful in my breastfeeding journey without her. When babies are fed bottles in the nicu often times they prefer not to breastfeed when they are discharged home as the flow is much slower and the artificial nipple has already been imprinted in.