trying to exclusively bf a premature baby

[kmitton]

Hello -
My daughter was born at 30wks, she spent 7wks in the NICU and came home only bf'ing 1x/day, we've worked up to nursing her almost all feedings, but have continued to offer her a bottle w/added calorie BM after each feeding (she takes 1-2oz), she is now 2 weeks past her due date, and has continued to gain 1oz/day so her pediatrician has OK'd us to stop offering the bottle after each feeding. I started today and she has been waking up hungry every 2 hours and sometimes every hour. She nurses for 10-20min each time, sometimes she stops because tires while others she seems to get frustrated and stops latching. My question is, do I feed her whenever she is hungry (even if its only been an hour since the start of her last feed), and do you have any advice/help on how to ease this transition? Any tips for when she gets frustrated and won't latch after about 10 minutes? Lastly, I've been pumping after every feeding until today, do you think its OK to stop pumping completely (i have an extra freezer full of breastmilk) Thanks!

[mirellevvi]

What you are describing is what was expected. When you were supplementing with added calorie BM, it was keeping her fuller a little longer than just breastmilk would. So now that you are nursing her only it seems like she wants to eat a lot more. She is just past her due date and at that stage babies grow fast and when nursed exclusively they will eat sometimes every 2 hours, sometimes more sometimes even every hour. What I recommend is that you feed her on demand, basically as you said, whenever she is hungry. Because she is a premee she might still get tired when she nurses since it is work. Just be patient. You might also want to check some of the most common reasons why the baby does not want to latch here http://www.kellymom.com/newman /26baby_refuses_to_latch.html (http://www.kellymom.com/newman/26baby_refuses_to_latch.html) and if you continue to have problems find a lactation specialist maybe at your hospital who could asses your latch.

You seem to have a pretty nice amount of milk stored and you are doing great. You could stop pumping after every feeding at this point although you should probably not eliminate all pumping all at once - just do it gradually.

You are doing great!