We got to start trying bottles today! Sydney is 34 weeks old (gestationally)! This is the earliest that the hospital will allow bottle feeds. This is the age that the "suck, swallow, breathe" reflex kicks in.
As soon as she gets up to full feeds for all bottles, she will get to come home. It is very hard to not want to push her to do it now! I want her home now! She will start out taking 1 bottle (35cc - this is just a little over an ounce) every day. When she takes the whole bottle, then she will move to 2 bottles (1 day, 1 night). They bump her up slowly, they don't want to tire her out too much. Their schedule is 1 bottle, 2 bottles (1 a shift), 4 bottles (2 a shift), then 5 bottles - this gives her a bottle that she will do back to back with another bottle, 6 bottles, and all bottles if she takes them. She also has a time limit on how long they will let her feed her bottle - this is to help her not tire out too much too. The rest is put in her nose tube. They will also be slowly bumping up the amount of food she eats. So just as soon as she gets to where she barely takes 35 ccs, then they will have her start doing 40ccs.
I remember the frustration I felt watching Noah do these feeding schedules in the NICU in Ogden. I just kept thinking, "well, if you want Noah to be successful, then quit bumping up his feed amount. He will eat all bottles all day if you quit making the amount more!"
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