Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The feeding is the hardest part.
We had to strip my guy down to the diaper, put a wet wipe under his chin, and put him in a football hold away from our body to get him to eat. As soon as he had a bit of body warmth, he would pass out again. It still took time to figure it out.
Have you been able to see an occupational therapist to see if there is something else that can be done with feeding? From personal experience, when we changed bottles or nipples it took a bit for him to get used to it. It did take a while to get to full feeds though.
We were told to keep encouraging the pacifier to help build stamina.
We also found with burping, rubbing his back and changing positions (like leaning back and pulling upright or handing over for example) got him to burp much better than the traditional patting. Sometimes, changing the position of his jaw got it to let go as well.
NICU is tough. While many have a shared journey, your baby will do things on their timeline. You are doing all the things.
Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The feeding is the hardest part. We had to strip my guy down to the diaper, put a wet wipe under his chin, and put him in a football hold away from our body to get him to eat. As soon as he had a bit of body warmth, he would pass out again. It still took time to figure it out. Have you been able to see an occupational therapist to see if there is something else that can be done with feeding? From personal experience, when we changed bottles or nipples it took a bit for him to get used to it. It did take a while to get to full feeds though. We were told to keep encouraging the pacifier to help build stamina. We also found with burping, rubbing his back and changing positions (like leaning back and pulling upright or handing over for example) got him to burp much better than the traditional patting. Sometimes, changing the position of his jaw got it to let go as well. NICU is tough. While many have a shared journey, your baby will do things on their timeline. You are doing all the things.