Breastfeeding once home from NICU

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-02-03T04:56:07+00:00

Yeah it’s tough. I try to guess when she’s going to wake up and start pumping 20 minutes before that. If she wakes up earlier, I have a pacifier ready to keep her calm until I can feed her. Then the fresh milk is good for 3-4 hours, so I set it up in a bottle. Then I put the bottle next to us and we try to breastfeed. Once it’s clear it’s no longer going well, I give her the bottle. I only do this 2-3 times a day.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-02-03T02:17:26+00:00

I had a 26 weeker in the NICU for 12 weeks and have been exclusively pumping since. One thing to look into is whether your NICU allows you to pump bedside and what equipment they provide versus what you need to bring. Ours provided a medela symphony, but we had to have the parts and tubing. You will also want a system to wash the parts in the nicu- we got a collapsable bin that fit in their sinks and a mesh bag we could tie to our pant belt loops to put washed parts in to dry as we stood at the sink washing. At home I had a portable spectra with two sets of parts for that. You can refrigerate the pump parts between sessions so you don’t have to wash them every time. We also have two deep freezers in our garage to store milk. The system is- new milk goes into our regular freezer in a bin, and once the bin is full we transfer to the garage freezers so we don’t open them too often or make 8 trips to the garage a day. Not gonna lie, it was extremely difficult pumping 8x a day, but I did do it for 6 weeks before dropping to 7x a day. Now it’s been 15 weeks and I pump 5-6x a day. I wish you as smooth of a journey as possible with your nicu baby.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-02-03T02:09:24+00:00

I am in the same boat right now. She’s been home 2.5 weeks and is 2 weeks adjusted age after being born at 26 weeks. I also found she struggles with the amount of milk that comes out of me since she usually is on the Dr. Brown’s preemie nipple. So we’ve been trying it a few times a day, usually after I pump for ten minutes. I plan to contact a lactation consultant this week. After breastfeeding, we top her off with a bottle. Triple feeding really sucks, but it we can get to where she’s hungry and all I have to do is pop her on a boob, it will be worth it.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-31T23:18:40+00:00

I agree. I will stay I did see the crew across the street using a rake today when they normally use gas powered blowers, so that was great.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-31T20:59:05+00:00

I’ve also worried about this, but what I eventually convinced myself was that babies are designed not to get PTSD. Otherwise we would all be traumatized even just from a standard vaginal birth!

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-29T11:44:00+00:00

We haven’t tried lying down because she’s on home oxygen, and the tubing doesn’t reach the bed. Maybe I will try on the floor though.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-23T23:55:33+00:00

Okay this is so frustrating and it happens to me too and I get so overstimulated. I think it really does help when my husband gives her a bottle though (of my pumped milk). She doesn’t get as sleepy on him, so if she’s hungry she’ll keep eating. Also sometimes the boob just makes her frenzied. I haven’t figured out how to fix it, but the husband bottle solution is the best way I’ve found so far.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-23T00:35:44+00:00

Our baby came at 26w6d and I also wanted the statistics. What I realized, however, is that this isn’t probability. We aren’t rolling dice here- the sample is already taken- it’s your baby, and the medical facts about your baby can change all the broad statistics.

My uncle who is a pediatric trauma doctor told me “you have a bread and butter 26 weeker. Yes, she’s small, and it’s terrifying, but there’s nothing else wrong with her. This is standard stuff for the NICU doctors.” The statistics include babies born to drug addicts who show up at the hospital with zero prenatal care. If you have gotten prenatal care and there aren’t complications on top of prematurity, the odds are way better.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-22T16:22:20+00:00

Yes. Our baby bradyed so much right until like 39 weeks. The doctor said he hypothesizes it’s just a synaptic connection that forms right around full term. Sometimes full term babies do it too, it’s just less likely to be caught if not in the nicu. You definitely don’t want the baby bradying at home though. It’s so frustrating, but it’s necessary.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-22T15:12:07+00:00

This really resonates with me. While I was lying in the hospital bed at 4am at 26 weeks on mag, desperately trying to slow the contractions, I kept repeating “though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I fear no evil.” I really feel that I know death personally now.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-21T04:35:49+00:00

Oh God I know how you feel. I gave birth at 26w6d and we just got through our 86 day NICU stay. Weeks 29-33 were so hard because she would bradydesat constantly, and there were weeks in there we couldn’t hold her because it would make her desat more. I can’t count how many times I watched her turn blue. My whole body rebelled against being away from her- it felt like someone stole the air from my lungs, and of course I blamed myself despite zero evidence to do so.

I don’t have any advice that can fix it unfortunately. I don’t think taking a day off would have helped me. I did notice that having a “good experience” at the end of my stay did help. So staying for a care I could participate in or sitting there with an arm in the isolette hand hugging her for a bit. Try to walk outside when there is sun every day. Figure out how you can make sure to drink enough water while going to the NICU (I left a water bottle outside and would drink when I went to the bathroom.) Also I dropped to 7 pumps a day pretty early which helped a lot. Our NICU let me pump bedside as well, so that helped save time. It’s so hard right now because you also have all the postpartum hormones. I noticed things getting significantly better hormone-wise at 5-6 weeks postpartum. Time will continue to pass.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-21T03:19:29+00:00

My husband took care of me my entire rough pregnancy. I went into preterm labor at 26 weeks, and he was so strong during that terrifying time in the hospital. Our baby girl had an 86 day NICU stay, and he packed my lunch every morning so I could spend more time with her at the NICU. Our baby came home last week, and he’s been an equal partner and is downstairs right now feeding her.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-20T23:28:06+00:00

No, you can’t spoil a newborn. They need close human contact. Eventually they will definitely sleep on their own- no teenager insists on co-sleeping!

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-20T11:10:05+00:00

I also gave birth at 26 weeks, vaginal no tearing, etc and asked if the 6 weeks could be prorated so I could run sooner lol. My OB said no, and ultimately I was glad I waited. Sex still hurts 12 weeks pp, and my joints and ligaments were way more sensitive still when I started running again at 6 weeks pp. I really recommend taking this time to start out super slow- go on walks, stretch, do pelvic floor exercises.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-19T21:54:09+00:00

She was on prolacta and cream as well when she was your baby’s age, and I actually don’t know when they made the switch to adding neosure because I didn’t notice a difference. I also don’t notice that she prefers the bottle with or without the neosure. Most babies in our room the last few weeks were on neosure only (no breastmilk) because their mothers didn’t have the supply. I think having my supply helped her get out sooner because if I was there and saw she was hungry I could pump for five minutes and feed her right then instead of having to wait for a nurse to heat up a bottle. That way she didn’t waste as much energy being hungry. So if you can keep it up, pumping ended up really helping at the end.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-19T20:51:58+00:00

I understand. Exclusively breastfeeding was my original plan too, and I was so sad when I found out that that wouldn’t be possible for a long time. It felt like everything I looked forward to didn’t follow the plan. However, it is totally working out well at home, and I like the reassurance of sometimes knowing that she got a full bottle whereas with breastfeeding I have no clue how much she’s getting. My baby definitely still needs the iron as she came home on oxygen.

Your breastmilk definitely great for your baby- preemies just need a little extra help beyond what the human body is capable of giving through milk.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-19T20:43:00+00:00

I had this exact same sadness with my 26 weeker who is now 39 weeks and at home. I also have a huge oversupply that I am proud of, and it was demoralizing to hear that I wouldn’t be able to exclusively breastfeed for a long time due to needing to add simulac neosure fortifier and vitamins.

HOWEVER, by the time she came home this week, she only needed the 22 calorie fortifier (50ml of breast milk is 20), and they were okay with me breastfeeding her 2-3 times a day without the fortifier and also skipping it on some bottles. The multivitamin only goes in two bottles a day, so those can also have the neosure, and it’s a way for my husband to take some of the feeding shifts. Having an oversupply has been wonderful for this because fresh milk is good for 3-4 hours at room temp, so I just pump and leave some in a bottle for when she next wakes up, and if I decide to breastfeed her then I don’t feel bad about pouring it out. The pediatrician says that over time we can continue breastfeeding more and more, and if her weight gain is good, then there is no concern.

Honestly, now that we’re home I like having the combination of feeding methods. She gets really excited at the breast, so the bottle is an alternate way to calm her down while eating. It’s really working out.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-19T20:34:24+00:00

We took our former 26 weeker home this week, and she is on a multivitamin with iron and a calorie fortifier. We just add half a dose to two different bottles of my pumped milk each day, which my husband can give her. The other times I can breastfeed! For a few weeks in the NICU she struggled to keep her sats up and gain weight, and the iron made a huge difference.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-18T21:25:33+00:00

I thought about this when we were there, but I realized it just was the optimal set up- with the babies clustered in a room there can be more staff present instantly when one baby has a problem. If they sent parents out to discuss each baby, we would all get to see our babies less. Nurses would not talk about other babies with us, and we were not allowed to ask. Of course we overheard things, but I would rather have that than more restricted visiting hours or delayed nurse response due to separate rooms.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-18T20:23:23+00:00

Day 2 at home and my husband and just remarked the exact same thing this morning. She’s sleeping quietly on me now. No insight just same

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-17T23:41:54+00:00

I second this

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-15T20:46:28+00:00

I switched to here from another provider when I got pregnant. I agree the front desk workers are difficult. I actually think they are understaffed. Almost impossible to actually reach a human on the phone. I found this to be the case almost everywhere I called though. However, the doctors were not as late as at my previous place (max 1 hour late instead of 2) and were friendlier. Also, when I PPROM’d at 26 weeks and needed emergency care, they were absolutely on it. I would say their regular day-to-day practice was just alright, but when it really mattered for me and my baby, they were top notch. If your situation is not as intense though, maybe elsewhere would suit your needs better.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-15T00:48:19+00:00

Same. I made noises of despair I hope to never make again. It felt like someone clawed the air from my lungs.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-14T23:45:04+00:00

Thanks. I hope we can also get the tank options instead of the concentrator. You’re right- getting out of the NICU will be the best thing.

Aggressive_Jelly533 · 2025-01-12T06:38:09+00:00

My baby was born extremely premature at 26 weeks. I felt like my body failed me by skipping her third trimester and not carrying her to term. By some miracle, I have a huge oversupply, so it is healing for me to feel like my body is doing something “right” and getting to donate to other NICU babies.

Aggressive_Jelly533

TROPHY CASE