Eat, Little Guy, Eat!

Since Alex was a 35 week preemie I had to allow formula use for the first few days of his life until I got a good milk flow in.  At the time, his weight and eating were big issues for him. Then, earlier into my breastfeeding, his suckling ability wasn't that great.  He's 38 weeks old right now and I have finally seen improvement in his suckling, but still I was concerned.

I'm able to get 4-5 oz combined with each pumping session. It seemed incredible to me that my little slacker preemie could possibly do better. I was told by lactation consultants at my hospital that he will be able to fully eat at the breast as he got closer to his due date. I just took my breastfeeding class last Saturday and the lactation consultant there reiterated that full term babies are a lot more efficient in suckling milk than a pump is. 
When Alex finally took a whole meal at the breast, he slept longer than he ever did with pumped milk before.  He showed all signs of satiety after a 40 min session and didn't get interrupted sleep from hunger afterwards.

A sigh of relief.

April 16, 2007