Brecca is a mother of two children. Her most recent child was a premature baby boy. Below she discusses some of the questions she faced after having her premature baby.
The below is just opinions; please take it as such. It is a list of questions I had upon bringing my son home from the hospital, the answers I received and my own personal experiences. If you have questions about your own baby please ask nurses and doctors, use baby books and internet searches as references and then do what feels right for you and your baby. I am not a medical doctor nor am I a child care expert. I am a stay at home mother of a term baby and a premature baby.
So what happens when your premature bundle of joy has passed all their tests (maintains their body temperature, no longer randomly stops breathing, no longer randomly has stops of their heart, is able to eat by mouth, possibly meets a weight requirement and the car seat test) and is now ready to come home? When the news that my son was ready to come home came, I was overjoyed, however I was also scared. I already had a daughter so I didn’t have the new mom jitters, I knew what to expect with a newborn, but a preemie is a whole different story. Besides their small size, which can be intimidating, they come with a lot of different concerns and possible problems and I had so many questions.
Nurses in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are great resources and have probably heard every question before so do not be scared to ask them as many questions as you can think of. I think I asked all 17 of the nurses at least three questions every day my son was in the NICU. In the beginning most of my questions were about his health, progression and when he could come home, but towards the last week when he started progressing by leaps and bounds my questions turned to how to care for him at home.
There are a lot of products specially geared for premature babies or babies who are small (under 6 pounds) but do you really need any of them?
I personally wouldn’t recommend buying anything special for you premature baby. Your baby may be small now but they won’t stay that way for very long. Also most hospitals will not release your baby until they are at least 5 pounds. My son was 5 pounds 2 ounces the day he came home.
Diapers : The hospital will send you home with small diapers which your little one will soon outgrow. Besides they can wear newborn diapers if you fold the top down.
Bottles and formula : The hospital will also send you home with small bottles, nipples and a month or so worth of formula specifically for a preterm baby (if you decided to formula feed).
*Car seat: I definitely wouldn’t waste my money on a car seat for smaller babies IF the hospital says the one you already have is good. The baby will have to pass a car seat test where they are put in their car seat (with the base) and monitored for an hour to make sure they can sit up well in it, their breathing doesn’t stop and their heart doesn’t stop. Plus I know I didn’t want to leave the house with my son for the first two weeks if I didn’t absolutely have to, though that was mainly due to not wanting to irritate his freshly circumcised penis; anything that puts pressure on him, like a car seat strap can cause irritation to the healing wound.
Clothes : I did buy a few articles of clothing for my son in preemie size. I didn’t have to buy him any of them, however once he started to be able to regulate his body temperature the nurses began to put him in clothes that the hospital had. I wanted him to have something from home to be able to wear so I bought, washed and brought in 2 sleep sacs, 5 onesies, 2 pairs of pants and a sleeper. Once he was home he outgrew that size within two weeks. I could have put him in newborn clothes, which would have been big on him and saved myself the money.
One thing I would recommend getting is a head support pillow, especially if you plan on using a swing or vibrating seat for your baby. The swing we bought didn’t have any head/neck support or any padding that would hold them in place. We used it, probably a little longer than we needed to, until my son was 5 months by his actual birth date.
How long will he need the preemie formula?
Preemies need to be on a special formula containing 2 or more extra calories per ounce. It also contains extra vitamins and calcium. Just about every doctor will tell you that preemies need to stay on preemie formula for 6 months, I’ve even had one tell me 12 months. My son has had no problem putting weight on and catching up size wise (he is just shy of 6 months and wearing 9 month clothes) but is still drinking it due to the added calcium and vitamins.
If your premature baby stops eats, loses the sucking reflex or starts to lose weight seek MEDICAL HELP IMMEDIATELY.
How often should I feed him? Should I continue to stick to the strict schedule that the hospital had established?
In the hospital, my son was fed every three hours whether he was crying or not. If babies began crying that they were hungry before their scheduled eating time nurses would try to calm them down with a pacifier and hold them off until it was time. I was told this was so all the babies would be on a set schedule. They would all eat every three hours. From right before noon until roughly 1pm all the nurses would go around feeding all the babies. It seemed kind of wrong to me not to feed a baby that was clearly hungry when they began crying but there wasn’t much I could do. This strict schedule also meant feeding babies when they possibly weren’t hungry. Although I don’t think this was the case most of the time in the NICU. Newborns eat every 2-4 hours and preemies use so much energy growing, regulating their own body temperatures and developing that I doubt any baby in there wasn’t hungry after three hours rolled around.
So should I stick to the schedule that has already been established for him once I got home?
The nurses in the NICU told me yes, I should feed him every three hours. So I constantly had an alarm set on my phone to go off every three hours. I was concerned for some dumb reason that he would be hungry and not realize it or not cry. Looking back now this was a stupid move. I was always a feed on demand type of mom and would a baby really not realize that they were hungy. I kept up the 3 hour feeding routine for 2 weeks before stopping and just feeding on demand. Some times I would end up waking him up to feed him so I was feeding him when he wasn’t hungry. I could’ve gotten more sleep and more importantly I could’ve had him tell me when he was hungry so I wasn’t overfeeding him had I done what felt right. Overeating became a problem for my son, by the time he was 4 months old he was eating 60 ounces a day and weighed close to 15 pounds! I think he had gotten used to always being uncomfortably full and was unhappy if he wasn’t, plus all that unnecessary eating had stretched his stomach out so he didn’t feel full until he had 9 plus ounces in his stomach. As a general rule of thumb, a formula fed baby should be eating their weight multiplied by 1.5 in ounces. So a 10 pound baby should be getting a 15 ounce intake daily.
When should I start him on cereals and baby foods?
For term babies the recommendation is to start between 4 and 6 months however I was concerned with my son’s gastrointestinal tract not being mature enough. He was a month and a half early but he had been eating, digesting, and expelling waste pretty well since he was born. He did have a bit of an issue when he first came home with expelling waste but it stopped once we switched him from the pre-made formula to the powdered kind you need to mix yourself. I decided to wait until he was 6 months old by his actual age, 4 and a half months by his adjusted age. I told the doctor that that was my plan and he seemed to think it was a good one. With my plan to start him on cereal then, I would be covered by the 4 to 6 month range. However I had to start him on cereal when he was 5 months old due to his overeating problem. I was very concerned with his weight gain and his high daily intake of formula. I was told to start him on food to try to curb his appetite and help with a possible acid reflux problem. He had absolutely no problems after introducing cereal and then baby food. His GI tract was mature enough to handle it and it worked in slowing down his formula intake.
I also had a lot of questions about his age and development. He should have been born in the end of August but was born in early July.
How old is my baby?
There are two ways to tell people how old your baby is, actual age and adjusted age. Actual age is how old your baby is from their birth and adjusted age is how old your baby would have been had they been born on their due date. In the beginning when people would ask how old my son was I would give them the long answer, his actual age but he was born 6.5 weeks early and then I’d give them his adjusted age. However after he was 3 months old I began just telling people his actual age. You will want to be sure to tell doctors your baby’s actual age and tell them how far along you were, in weeks, when the baby was born.
When will he hit his milestones?
With my first baby I was very on top of milestone ages. I knew at any time what age to expect certain milestones and was very proud when my daughter hit them early and concerned when she was late. However now I don’t pay much attention because I realized that hitting milestones early or late didn’t really matter, as long as your child is hitting them. My son 1st rolled over from belly to back at 2 and a half months old, he smiled for the 1st time at 3 and a half months, laughed at 4 months and is currently working on sitting up and rolling from back to belly at 6 months. He is on par with his actual age on some things and late with others but as long as your baby is progressing it shouldn’t really matter if they walk at 9 months or 12 months.
When will he catch up?
Most doctors agree that premature babies will catch up by roughly 2 years old both size wise and developmentally.
I hope my experiences are helpful and can give some comfort. It can be very intimidating bringing home such a small baby who was born too early. Just take it day by day and remember to do what feels right to you.
*As I've stated before the opinions of those who submit guest blogs are not necessarily the beliefs of JediMomTrix. Brecca states that as long as the hospital states the car seat is okay, that it is not necessary to buy a smaller seat. However, a lot of infant seats are only recommended for children starting at a weight of 8 lbs. Also, buying an extra head support item that did not come with the car seat can become dangerous, because it may not be manufactured to fit the car seat you chose. I recommend if you have a premature baby, to visit the website http://csftl.org/. The group Car Seats for the Littles is a group who are certified technicians who specialize in recommending car seats for children of all ages as well as additional items to help your child fit in the car seat safely. They can recommend the perfect seat for your child's size, age, and the type of car you will be driving, to help ensure a perfect install so you are not putting your child in danger. You can also visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CarSeatsForTheLittles, and post a picture of your install or ask any questions and hear from a certified technician almost immediately with suggestions. I am not saying that Brecca did anything wrong, her car seat may have been completely appropriate for her baby, as well as the headrest. I simply wanted to specify that not all car seats, and all head support items are compatible for each premature baby. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment