On Thursday, one of the nurses accidentally gave Cayden a bottle. The plan was to wait to introduce a bottle until we were certain that breast feeding was well established. Sucking on a bottle or breast both require a lot of energy, but getting milk from a bottle is easier for babies, so if given a choice, they may get lazy at the breast or flat-out refuse to nurse. The nurse who gave him the bottle felt really badly about it, but in her defense, she said he was looking all over and rooting around so much that she was certain he was already a bottle feeder. Apparently, there is a window in which preemies should be introduced to the bottle. If you miss that window, then you're really in trouble!
So since Cayden is exhibiting all the signs that he's ready, I guess it was inevitable that he'd be getting a bottle sooner rather than later and it’s not as big of a deal as I was lead to believe?? I don’t know . . . I’m still kind of confused about all of these windows and what’s best to do and when!
Despite the fact that he got his first bottle earlier that day, when I went in to see him that evening (my visit was made possible thanks to my co-worker, Janine, who came over to stay with Jamison for the evening) and we had our nursing session, he did awesome! He latched on quickly and sucked steadily for about thirty minutes. I guess the boy is so smart (or hungry?), he knows what to do with a bottle and a breast, and will take his milk however he can get it. Now the revised plan is to offer him one bottle a day, one breast feeding session a day, and the rest of his feedings still through his NG tube.
At his weigh-in on Thursday, he was up to 4 lbs. 5 oz. and after I left for the night, Nurse Megan gave him his 2-month vaccinations. Even though he’s a preemie, they still keep on the vaccination schedule counting from when he was born. So my poor little baby got three shots in his legs. A common side effect of the vaccinations is sleepiness, but since he got them in the middle of the night, it didn’t phase him too much.
I did notice when I tried to breast feed him Friday at that he was pretty lethargic and had a weak latch and suck, but no one was concerned and attributed it to the vaccines he had gotten.
Also on Friday, they discontinued giving him caffeine (for apnea) and zinc (for growth and weight gain), so those are good signs. Now all he’s getting in the way of medicines is his multi-vitamins and a dose of iron.
His weight held steady on Friday. Maybe they discontinued the zinc too soon?
And now we’re caught up to my latest visit, Saturday evening. I have been forgetting to weigh Cayden before we start breast feeding the last couple of days, but today, I remembered. He latched on and sucked so well, and it showed when we weighed him afterwards: he gained 26 grams, which means he drank 26 ccs of milk! Considering he’s supposed to get a total of 35 each feeding, he did really well! Of course, the scale isn’t 100% accurate, so he may have gotten more or less, but I could clearly hear him swallowing for the first time tonight, so I know he was getting something!
Unfortunately, he only gained 8 grams of weight overall from the night before, so he’s still at 4 lbs. 5 oz.
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