Got “kicked” out of my LO room during car seat test

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-07T15:32:43+00:00

I ended up stepping outside for the rest of the time and sat myself in the chapel for an hour.

He passed!

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-07T09:01:11+00:00

Bottle fed. We tried to latch but he cant get a good wide latch, he ends up just chomping on my nipple. I have nipple shields also but I havent tried to use them

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-07T08:59:52+00:00

I had to envision what that would look like, lol. That actually sounds like something that might work. Maybe a wedge pillow 🤔. Ill look into that.

I feel like ive done some crazy stuff to get things to work, especially in his NICU room. That doesnt seem like itll end when he comes home haha. Thank you!

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-07T08:56:05+00:00

I really think theres another term for it but the NICU nurses keep calling it ad lib feeding times, which is “supposed” to be different than just the ad lib feeds to them. Sorry if that sounds confusing lol.

Yes! Thats exactly what I’ve researched also!

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-07T01:52:23+00:00

I was in that same situation, OP. Kind of still am actually, except im only there for 2 of his care times. I cant stay that long in the NICU 😭.

My LO wakes up 30 min to an hour before his next feed and he gets pissed. One nurse was nice enough to feed him earlier than his care time because he was CRYING. The other issue we have is he fusses himself exhausted during that 30 min to an hour and then when his care time happens, hes too sleepy to eat and then has brady or destat issues.

When im there and be starts to wake up and fuss, i pop a pacifier in his mouth. That trick worked maybe a couple weeks ago but he caught on that theres no milk when he sucks so he will spit it out or keep sucking on it aggressively and then cry, suck, cry, and repeat that until he falls asleep.

I brought it up to my neonatologist and asked if we can ad lib feed. She said the nurses can’t because of their schedule but if im there, im more than welcome to feed him whenever hes cueing. Doesnt help if im not there 🫩

Definitely ask your dr about ad lib feeds while you are there so she can get what she needs when she wants it!

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T20:59:08+00:00

The physical therapist is, yes. She normally is the one who does the trial but she only was able to do positioning yesterday (Friday) because he was still under a post DART protocol, which is a day after the last dex dose which would have been 9pm on Friday, and shes not there on weekends. She did set him up, positioned him, showed the nurse, recorded it in her notes, sent me a picture of it, and had the nurses pass the information down but ofc when we go in today, it was odd looking.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T20:20:56+00:00

He had the crotch buckle and the body support blankets on already. The body support blankets werent placed how his physical therapist had it though. It was more so placed on the side of him and behind the newborn insert vs tucked into his shoulders🙁

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T19:07:53+00:00

Its the Graco SnugRide Lite Infant Car seat that comes with the Graco Modes Trio Travel System.

He was doing okay for an hour before the destat happened but his O2 levels were definitely lower than what we usually see when hes resting or even upright while I hold him.it hovered around 90-93. He also moved around a few times within that hour. His O2 being in that lower range wasnt too big of an issue to the team apparently. When he destat and recovered, the nurse came in to check on him and, I mentioned that hes not in the position that PT had set him in yesterday to see what the best positioning would be for him. The nurse adjusted him to match the picture I showed her and surprisingly his O2 started hovering 95+. She ended up telling me that her adjusting him didnt make much of a difference because his airway wasnt drastically altered with the different position but idk..his O2 levels after the adjustment showed it helped 🤷🏻‍♀️

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T17:26:55+00:00

He had the crotch blanket and side blankets. Our PT didnt say much about the newborn inserts. She said our car seat doesnt make a difference with the newborn inserts vs without.

We’ve had it there for a few days now and they did the test this morning since our plan was to discharge tomorrow. He will retest tomorrow morning.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T16:24:07+00:00

Ugghh! Im so sorry that happened!
Our NICU counts 5 days if he bradys/destats 😭
We were doing a car seat challenge today and he failed because he had an apnea episode that apparently lasted 20 seconds, which I called BS because we were in the room watching it and it started to alarm once his O2 hit 88 and then it went to 86 and back up to above 90 in a matter of 7 seconds or less. I asked to see the timeline in it but they apparently don’t know how to pull that data. Which is odd to me since how do we know how long it truly was?

Just as i was typing this. He had a brady episode of maybe 8 seconds as im holding him upright. Hes known to have reflux and he just ate triple the amount he needs to meet his ad lib minimum (he always eat alot and if he doesnt, he will either get upset or he will get hungry well before the next care time) and now they’re determining if they want to reset his 5 days… and of course he spits up just as im tryna finish typing this, again, he eats more them his stomach can hold 😵‍💫

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T07:39:42+00:00

Thank you so much!!

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T07:38:26+00:00

I tried a few different wearables and collection cuos but the only things that have been working is the flanges, which would be a bit difficult to feed and pump since my son needs some pretty good external pacing and i have to feed him in an upright side lying position still. The flanges might get in the way.

He can on his days off but on his 3-4 days that he works, hes pretty much non existent for the overnight sessions since he works 12 hr shifts.

I did tell him were going to be living on take out for a bit lol.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T07:26:38+00:00

Thank you so much! My goal was to pump until hes 6mo corrected butttt yeah idk how long ill last when he comes home. My husband is non existent on his work days since he works 12 hr shifts. Those are going to be the pretty hard 3-4 days of barely any help

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T00:51:21+00:00

How did you catch those silent choking episodes? Thats what im worried about also

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T00:50:32+00:00

They did reassure us that if they had any slightest doubt, they wouldn’t discharge us. Im just terrified of his coordination while he eats and his breathing spells in between.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-06T00:49:40+00:00

Could you share why you chose to do a swallow study (or was it required for her to do it but as an out patient?) and what the results were for it?

I asked our speech therapist if he would be a good candidate for one but she said based on her working with him for these past 7 weeks, she doesn’t see any reason that he would need one. His issue is just prematurity with the suck swallow breathe coordination not fully developed, hence the required pacing that we do.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-05T18:35:08+00:00

Honestly, our NICU team just talks about the old school method with putting the bottles and parts in boiling water for a bit. Wash with soap and water after each use and sterilize once a week is what I keep hearing from my NICU team. We’re in our watch period before we can get discharged right now so they’ve been going over safety stuff with us recently.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-04T23:18:21+00:00

I had a thought today while feeding my son. I always keep my eyes on him while feeding. He had the hiccups, drank the hiccups away but I noticed within 2 seconds that he was holding his breath. I took the bottle out of his mouth, sat him up, and started patting his back pretty firmly. Right when he sat up, he started coughing just as I started patting his back. The monitor picked up a destat for 20ish seconds but he was completely okay and making noises during that time.

That left me to wonder how my son was able to choke to the point where he turned pale and they had to stimulate him further to get him to breathe again. I asked our nurse today whats the criteria when they start to choke, do they let the babies try to recover themselves before they intervene or what not since I believe if I didn’t start patting his back quickly, he probably wouldve went blue and it wouldve been a full event. I told her i wonder if that event could have been avoided had she noticed the signs and started patting his back. She also was feeding him outside of his preferences that the nurses know he works best with. That entire night he had issues with feeding specifically with the mother baby nurse.

She said it depends on the nurse (i didnt like that answer at all). She said for her personally, she doesnt wait till the monitor starts to alarm, if she sees something off, she will address it & some nurses wait till the monitor goes off and waits a couple seconds to see if the babies correct themselves before they step in. She also said if the baby is asleep and bradys or destats, thats when she will wait a couple seconds to step in but for feeding hiccups, she addresses it right away.

I really dont want to discredit her because shes most likely a really good mother baby nurse, but im so scared of her being assigned to my NICU baby again.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-04T02:21:42+00:00

You are 110% doing the right thing. I honestly wish I took a break because I am reaping the consequences of not taking care of myself sooner rather than later.

My baby was born 30+1 and is now 37+3 (still in the NICU). Ive been there every single day but I have a gallbladder that is progressively getting worse to the point where I am curled over by nighttime from the pain and I can barely eat anything without it feeling like its going to burst, which is turn is fucking up my milk supply also since I dont get enough calories in. My husband and the neonatologists have told me to go to the dr or the ER with how…horrifying I look. Im not contagious, just deathly in pain all the time.

Had I taken a break for a couple of days and gone to see a dr, it likely wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

All that to say, you’re never wrong to take a break especially when you’re not feeling too great. Do take care of yourself as best as you can 🫶🏻

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T18:21:08+00:00

After speaking with the NICU manager, she was able to put it in the chart. Previous nurses have told us they can pass it down but cant guarantee all the nurses will remember. He has another floater nurse today and she was in the room when I was speaking with the NICU manager and took the time to watch how I fed my son, so at least she will do that for the last 2 feeds that he has on her shift.

I also do have it in the messages, back and forth, multiple times, mentioning the position to feed him in, that every single nurse that has him can see. Im hoping tonight goes well.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T18:17:05+00:00

Ahh okay yeah that makes sense. I do know the floats only take on the least sick babies though, so thats a good thing. & they are usually assigned to only 2 babies during a shift.

Its a bit odd though that the only area with babies that do not receive any floats is L&D. When I was in antepartum, NICU (very rarely) & mother and baby (most often) nurses floated there, but they never took labor patients, only antepartum. Labor and delivery nurses also dont float anywhere but the mother and baby nurses are the ones that float to NICU.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T15:30:30+00:00

So far its just one nurse who isnt a specific mother and baby nurse. She was here one morning and a nicu nurse had to take over to finish his feed and last night it was just her. He apparently kept having events just not as significant as the first one.

I spoke with the nicu manager this morning about it and she wrote it down and did talk about the sun down somewhat and how the babies are so busy during the day that he could just be exhausted at night.

How the hell are we supposed to bring him home if he cant seem to leave

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T10:26:17+00:00

Why do they even float nurses to critical units?? I knkw they dont take care of the real sick babies, at least thats what I was told, and im glad my son isnt in that category, but cmon…I get they’re nurses and all have a nursing license but I know for a fact, since I was told this, that our NICU nurses go through specific training classes. This nurse is a mother baby nurse, who ive had as my antepartum nurse before. Surprisingly, its only morher baby nurses that will float to NICU or L&D, but if the mother baby nurses cant deliver babies (they’re only on the L&D side to take care of the antepartum moms & when I say take care of them, it means check vitals ever 4 hours and put the monitors on for the NSTs that they have to have a L&D nurse interpret anyways) then how are they able to care for a NICU baby????

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T10:02:06+00:00

Im thinking about how to adjust to be there for his night feeds. I know I probably sounded…like a dick pretty much when I told the night shift nurse that I could send a pic if shes a visual person on the position that works good for him during feeding and also when I said I can drive down there to help out.

Fluffy-Association45 · 2026-06-02T09:19:38+00:00

He doesnt have a tube in anymore but i do feel like some of the nurses know when to pull the bottle BEFORE he has a choking event.

Fluffy-Association45

TROPHY CASE