Anonymous wrote:I'll be honest, nursing my baby who was born at 32 weeks has been a huge challenge. He's almost 3 months old now and I'm mostly pumping and feeding him by bottle. Babies born before 34 weeks generally leave the NICU with instructions to fortify breastmilk to help them catch up on their growth. My pediatrician told us we should be doing this until he's a year old, most likely. So even if I could get him to nurse for sustained periods of time, I'd still have to give him bottles of pumped milk with Neosure added. It's hard. Then again, I saw other moms have success with nursing in the NICU and make the transition to full time breastfeeding relatively quickly. I think ultimately it's a crapshoot. Good luck with your babes! You got this.

Wow I actually almost completely forgot about this! PP here with the 34 weeker, it was transition, she nursed really well but I was pumping so we could fortify, however her weight gain was so good that we were able to gradually decrease to only 1 bottle a day of pumped fortified milk pretty quickly and think we entirely stopped by 6 months, but I had gone back to work then anyway and was pumping / supply decreasing already by then.

My twins were born at 36 weeks and were released from NICU at 2 weeks old when they could manage to eat enough from a bottle to make it worth the effort it took them to eat.

I pumped for a month around the clock and never got more than 1.5 oz in a session. I would get told, “well, babies are more efficient at milk transfer than the pump,” but they were just completely uninterested in latching, and the few times I got them to, they’d conk out after 30 seconds. The LC I saw kind of threw up her hands and said just keep trying, but we were in survival mode and they were already on 75% Neosure, so I called it quits on pumping and nursing attempts when they were a month old.

They’re 4 years old, happy and healthy, but I was pragmatic about the whole thing and wasn’t super invested in nursing.

My 33-weeker was in the NICU for 11 days and breastfed like a champion.

Once your supply comes in, I recommend stopping the pumping every 3 hours. I kept it up and had an oversupply. Go 4 hours, with a longer stretch at night.

I'll be honest, nursing my baby who was born at 32 weeks has been a huge challenge. He's almost 3 months old now and I'm mostly pumping and feeding him by bottle. Babies born before 34 weeks generally leave the NICU with instructions to fortify breastmilk to help them catch up on their growth. My pediatrician told us we should be doing this until he's a year old, most likely. So even if I could get him to nurse for sustained periods of time, I'd still have to give him bottles of pumped milk with Neosure added. It's hard. Then again, I saw other moms have success with nursing in the NICU and make the transition to full time breastfeeding relatively quickly. I think ultimately it's a crapshoot. Good luck with your babes! You got this.

Find a lactation consultant that specializes in premies. Don’t rely on hospital LCs. You need a really good one.

Sometimes they need to grow enough to latch. Even tiny full term babes can be pokey learners. It’s very possible both can nurse, also that they might not. It’s ok to make choices based on your needs.

I have friends with singletons who had babies at 32ish weeks...one baby learned to nurse at the breast, the other did not...small sample I know, but just to illustrate, that it's impossible to know. Also, both friends had to supplement with formula. One baby was in the NICU 8 weeks, the other nearly 10...

Good luck OP.

So sorry, op, it’s stressful! For what it’s worth, mine was 34 weeks and 4.5 lbs and had a NICU stay of about 12 days. No oxygen or events but had to learn to eat / take a bottle. They didn’t even really allow me to attempt breastfeeding until the last few days, and I was so thrilled she did learn to suck pretty quickly. She was my third so while there was an age gap, I did sort of know what I was doing. It took a few weeks once we were home to get the hang of it / keep her awake but after that she breastfed almost exclusively to about 6 months. I weaned her at 11 months because she started biting, that little stinker. She’s a week away from turning 1 and is a chunky, 20 lb baby on the verge of walking now. Good luck!

I'm trying to set expectations and probably hyper focused because it's what I can control now. Twins born at 32.5 weeks. 4lbs each and both on CPAP. Hopefully can move to room air soon. They are currently getting IV nutrition/fluids

Assuming at least a few weeks stay to get them to 36 weeks+ but they haven't said much about that to us.

I'm pumping around the clock every 3 hours. Still just colostrum but finally engorged. How likely will it be that these babies can learn to nurse once leaving? Or will we need to focus on teaching them on the bottle? I'm trying to pump because they have said BM is the best for preemies.