Prem Baby Q

bonsta

Hi AA

I'm in a very similar position to you - I had my son at 34+4 in December and he is nearly 5 weeks old now.

We had a lot of issues with feeding at first - he's was tube fed for a week then we tried breast feeding - he was too lazy and couldn't get the hang of it so we went to bottles instead!

We were being seen by a hospital nurse up til last week and she told us to offer him as much as he wants, she said he would only take what he needs.

If you ever want to chat just give me a pm!

McKneff

ah bless you,I was just 18 when I had my first, i was so naive, he was due on Christmas day and came a month early.

There was no one there for me, parents about 80 miles away, no phone. I just had to work by instinct, one day at a time. Do what you feel is right/sensible.

Good luck with baby.

JC9297

Was your baby born at 36 weeks,so 4 weeks early? If so as babys are not considered prem from 37 weeks onwards (that is considered term) he was only really a week premature IYSWIM. In those last couple of weeks he would have just put on a bit more weight, so he has just done that since being born.
I admit I don't really know about bottle feeding but it makes sense to me to offer more formula if he is regularly finishing bottles, he will take as much as he needs. I agree with a previous poster who said you don't know how much a breastfed baby is taking, you just let them feed until they've had enough. Relax and enjoy your baby, feed him when he wants and he'll be fine.

trillion

I had a daughter at 24 weeks and a son at 30 weeks, both bottle fed (after daughter had her feeding tube removed) and I was also encouraged to feed them as much as they wanted, pretty much when they wanted.

They both put on oodles of weight, but it all settled down by the time solid food was the main constituent of their diet, and while both are quite tall, neither of them has ever suffered from puppy fat or weight problems since.

My very wise health visitor always told me that I was the one who knew best what my baby was asking for, and it gave me a lot of confidence in my instincts.

Crowdpleaser

See my sig!

Dd1 hated milk and took forever to chub up, took ages to het out of hosp coz of it. In fact she was off bottles altogether by 10m, so 7 corrected coz she hated it. Anyway we were hnder nnu hv for her development and we were told to not worry too much as she followed her very low little line even with massive reflux issues.

Dd2, very different, greedy guts from word go, shot to top centile and stayed there! Still loves milk now and constantly fed. She is still chunky now tho isn't fat by any means!

Try not to worry. Prem or not, all babies will feed in own way. U may find things very different when yoy start weaning!

X

MumOf2Beasties

hello,

my son was born 6 weeks early via emergency c-section, weighing 4lb 13oz, we struggled with breastfeeding as he was so small and didn't have his sucking reflex, so moved onto bottle feeding.

firstly speak to your health visitor to see what they advise. with my son, if he was draining the bottle after each feed, i would add an extra ounce to the bottle and if he took it, great, if not, no problem!

He gained weight very quickly and by a year old was four times his birthweight :j

he's 5 now, so things may have changed since then, but the paediatrician (sp?) gave us vitamin drops to give him before each feed to ensure he was getting everything he needed.

I'm glad to see that you are coming to terms with the situation, took me a long time to get over not being the 'perfect' mother and feeling as though i had failed him by not being able to carry him longer or feed him myself!

But do you know what, the love and closeness you give your child isn't limited to birth and breastfeeding, i've chosen to concentrate on keeping him happy and healthy for life and not stress about those early months:D

I wish you lots of luck and happiness with you little bundle of joy x