Day 39

2kgs weight & brestfeeding

Today Robin reached his 2kg milestone! We are so happy! He is continuing to gain weight, and the magic 2kgs is the minimum weight required to come home. Although we are still a bit away from the other milestones for release, it’s lovely to have the weight requirement checked off.

Nicki also breastfed Robin for the first time. After days of wanting to give it a try, we finally had the right conditions – he was awake, just before a feed and showing signs of interest, like smacking his lips together and poking out his tongue. Granny Suzy was there to take some photos, and the nurse Heather helped get Nicki and Robin into position. Straight away, Robin latched, and sucked for a few seconds then stopped, swallowed and rested. After a minute or two he would re-latch with Nicki’s assistance, and do it again. We did this for about 20 minutes, during which the nurse also administered his gavage feed, to reaffirm the link between suck feeding and feeling of a full belly.

It was wonderful that Robin didn’t seem to have any trouble, and knew exactly what to do. He is still forming his cheek and “sucking” muscles, so we didn’t really expect that he would be so good at it straight away (though Nicki has been encouraging the sucking reflex with him and his dummy every day). Being a little one, it’s perfectly normal that it tired him out very quickly, but we will continue to build on today’s success until he can feed on the boob easily, and come home. He will soon learn to suck, swallow & breathe in the right order, and the more he does it, the more it becomes a muscle memory so takes less effort & energy.

Visitors: Granny Suzy

Stats

Weight: 2010 grams

Air: optiflow 2L/ min

Feed: 27ml / two hourly (gavage)

Nurses: Annette / Heather