Question for preemie moms.

[sodone]

Just wondering how long it took for you to go from tube feeding with the gavache to your lo learning to feed and go home? That is our next step to be able to go home and I want to hear what your experiences were

[marajadeskywalker]

We were back and forth between the two because A had issues with spitting up. I think it was a week from the first time he tried feeding on his own to when he came home, and it was about 3 days of completely feeding on his own before he was able to come home with us

[meladorie]

That's what we are currently waiting for too. We introduced the bottle almost two weeks ago but he's still really struggling with it. He's making progress but it's slow. I would guess at least another week or two.

[phillygal34]

I think it will depend on how old they are at birth (gestation wise). a 24 weeker is going to take a lot longer to go from tube to feeding than a 34 weeker.


Fwiw my son was born at 31w5d and we were discharged 26 days later. I can't remember exactly but I think he started to explore bf'ing around 32.5 weeks and was taking all feeds by breast or bottle when he left.

[sstites26]

They started introducing a bottle to him once a day at 34 weeks GA. They took his tube out fully at 36 weeks and he hasn't had any problems feeding without it. If he wasn't able to take all his feedings within 30 minutes, they would have out the tube back in. He turns 37 weeks today and we are now waiting for him to go 7 days with no heart rate drops. So it's not the feeding that is holding us there.

[jense927]

My DS was a 31 weeker. He took probably about 2 weeks to get the bottle down once we started trying. He stayed a little longer after he had mastered that though because of desats at night and failing the car seat test.

[minae01]

DS1 was a 32 weeker. I believe that it took about 2.5 weeks from when a bottle was first introduced to when we got to go home. It took him awhile to get the hang of it. It was so frustrating for us because one day he would do well with the bottle and the next, not so much. Hang in there!