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Writer's pictureDr. Megan Powers, PT

Five Weeks and a Day - A NICU Story - Day 20

Day 20 - September 2, 2014


This little lioncubby is killing it with breastfeeding! Because I can only visit once a day at 9:00 pm, I check in via phone a few times a day from work. I give the day shift the heads up that I am coming at 9:00 and would like to nurse. As of now, feeds alternate NG tube and PO (by mouth) every other. So day shift plans a bottle feed for 3:00 pm, tube feed at 6 and then another PO feed (breast followed by gavage feed) at 9 pm. Since they need to make sure she gets all her calories, they rely on the pre-/post-feed weights to determine how much they need to feed her after she's nursed. (As of now, feeds are set at 35 ml, so if she transfers 15 CC from me, they push 20 in the tube.) I have a lazy boob and a workhorse boob. She nurses from the workhorse at our 9 pm visit and the scale says she transfers 40CC?! The doctor, the nurse, and I all don't believe it. The nurse asks the doctor what to do about a tube feed? He says to go by the kid. If she cues, feed her. After she nurses, Sean holds her but she's a fuss-budget. He shrugs and hands her back to me. I go with it and offer her the breast again. She latches on and snacks a bit more. Once she's satisfied, she starts snoozing. Lights out. We return home and I call to check in at 230 am. She'd slept until 12 am when the nurse had to wake her up for care and a feeding (she can't skip meals to sleep). Guess she had gotten her fill!



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