Carrie Willard

putting the "her" back in motherhood

  • About Carrie
    • Fine Print
  • New? Start here
  • Home & Family
    • Homeschool
    • Mothering
    • Homemaking
  • Well-being
    • Books & Read-Alouds
    • Beauty
    • Food
    • Health
  • Your Money
    • Earning & Investing
    • Blogging & Writing
    • Frugality
  • Your Time
    • Habits & Goals
  • Recommended

November 17, 2016 by Carrie

Nursing a NICU Baby

(Note: Now that my youngest son, a former 27-weeker, is two and thriving, I’m publishing several posts today for World Prematurity Day. This one is about Nursing a NICU Baby.)

One of the things I’m proudest of in my life is that my 2 year old is still breastfeeding. It was a difficult journey, to say the least. He was the first baby I had who had to receive formula to gain weight properly, and as a former breastfeeding counselor, this was something particularly gut-wrenching for me. Breastfeeding was a huge part of who I was as a mother.

Formula was something lactivists like me used to refer to as “crap in a can”. But for many, formula is life-saving.

Do I think women don’t get enough good information about breastfeeding from their health care providers? Yes.

Do I think free formula samples are generally a bad idea? Probably.

Am I thankful formula was available to me? Absolutely.

There are about a dozen reasons why premature babies have difficulties gaining weight on breastmilk alone. Everything from the stress and trauma of a (short) difficult pregnancy, to NICU separation, to hormonal issues, to mom’s inability to respond well to a pump, to the sheer immaturity of baby (weak suck, easily fatigued, low muscle tone, etc).

But I’m one stubborn lady. Here are the posts I wrote about it.

Nursing a NICU Baby:

Part One: Breastfeeding A Preemie

Part Two: Pumping For Your NICU Preemie – why it’s so hard, and helpful tips

Finally, throwing away my frenemy, the Lact-Aid

Nursing a NICU Baby

Teaching a preemie how to breastfeed in the NICU

He licks me. He sticks out his tongue, spitting the nipple I just spent several minutes getting into his mouth, right back out.

He frowns, concentrating hard. He knows there’s something he’s supposed to be doing here, but he’s just not sure what. He sucks twice, half-heartedly, then falls asleep, exhausted from the effort.

Nursing a NICU Baby isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a stubborn determination and a willingness to leave behind previous ideas and experiences for a new normal.

Teaching my preemie how to nurse was totally unlike helping my other six children.

I had to make peace with him getting a tiny bit of formula. I grieved, cried and got angry.

Then I focused my energy on what I could do – pump like a mother – every three hours, night and day, and stopped punishing myself.

 

Share
Pin
Tweet
0 Shares

Filed Under: Mothering

About Carrie

Carrie is a homeschooling mom of 7 and the author of this blog. More about her here.

❮❮ Previous Post
Next Post ❯ ❯

Comments

  1. Shannon Smith says

    January 8, 2017 at 6:58 pm

    My first baby was 39 weeks, so technically full-term. He was c-section though and the nurses told me he acted like a preemie. It took me about 6 weeks of finger feeding him through a syringe with pumped milk to get him to nurse properly. And then we nursed until 13 months.

    My second baby is 5 months now. He was 3 and a half weeks early (due to a car accident). He went through almost the same pattern as my first. We did end up having to supplement with formula and it broke my heart. We’re nursing great now, though.

    I really appreciate what you said about c-section babies. I realize now why both children might have had an issue with it since they were both c-section. Thankfully I was more stubborn than them and really wanted to make it work.

  2. Carrie says

    January 9, 2017 at 5:31 am

    Wow Shannon. It took a lot to finger-feed and pump for that long! Way to go stubborn Mama 🙂

    I have read a lot of LLL leaders and other breastfeeding counselors talk online about the increasing problems of nursing moms. It’s no longer true to say that the vast majority of women can breastfeed (without having to supplement). There are so many things conspiring against us now: increased C-sections, interventions that save preemies, hormonal issues, etc. I wish more women knew about some of the alternatives like the Lact-Aid. Thanks for sharing that!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Never Miss a Post!

Recent Posts

  • My solution (for now) to avoiding food waste
  • Frugal Wins, September Edition
  • The benefits of financial trauma
  • How to stop emotional spending
  • Notes from my first FinCon
  • On Learning to Linger
  • Frugal Wins, July edition
  • Uber Frugal Month: join us?
  • Thankful Thursday, job edition
  • Recent frugal wins (and fails)

Like this blog?

Buy me a matcha!

Like this?

Buy me a matcha!

Pretty Chic Theme By: Pretty Darn Cute Design