Tons
of Milk for Tiny Luke
Tons of Milk for Tiny Luke
By Cheri Hi, my name is Cheri. I wanted to share my story with everyone. My son's name is Luke, he is a 32 week preemie. I was induced due to preeclampsia, however Luke did fantastic! He never had any breathing problems, he wasn't sick. He was just little (4 lbs. 1 oz.). Luke stayed in the hospital for the first four weeks of his life. It was tough on my fiancee and me, but we knew that it was best for Luke. We also knew that breastfeeding Luke was best. I had known from the beginning of my pregnancy that I was going to breastfeed Luke, for at least a year. When Luke was born, I started pumping right away. My milk came in the third day and I made a ton! Luke was still using a tube to eat, since he didn't know how to suck yet. We did a lot of Kangaroo Care and nuzzling at the breast. he loved that. So did I. Luke was doing really well, so he was transferred to a closer hospital at a week old. I was pumping all the time and the nurses knew I was breastfeeding. The two LC's were wonderful! They helped so much! We would weight Luke, then he would breastfeed (with a nipple shield) for ten minutes on each side. We didn't want to tire him out too much. Then we would weigh him again to see how much he got. If he didn't get a full feeding, then we would bottle or tube feed the rest. Finally the day came when Luke could come home. We were still using the nipple shield and Luke got very tired from breastfeeding. Eventually, he decided that he didn't want to breastfeed. The bottle was so much easier that he would only take that. After many days of crying (both of us), I gave up. I wanted so much to breastfeed my baby, but he was hungry and I couldn't see him crying like that anymore. Plus, he wasn't gaining weight like he should have. So, we stopped the breastfeeding. However, we didn't stop the breast milk. I continued pumping. I pumped for the entire first year of Luke's life. He never got a cold. He never got even the sniffles. I felt like I had failed somewhat. But, I knew that my baby was still getting the best food he could! |
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