Babies who are born before 36 weeks gestation have much smaller skulls and mouths and find it more difficult to take the breast. They may also lack the essential sucking and swallowing reflex that full term babies have. Premature babies tend to be weaker and have difficulty turning their heads. Bottle feeding is much less difficult for these smaller and frailer babies. Sometimes, bottle feeding is not even possible.
There is also the possibility of finger feeding. Finger feeding essentially is feeding the baby using a tube that is attached to your finger with tape and connected to a container holding the pumped breast milk or formula. It is then offered to the baby to suckle like a bottle nipple or breast. For the very premature or sick baby, syringe feeding may be the way to go. Exactly as it sounds, the expressed breast milk or formula is fed to the baby through the syringe. A baby feeding syringe is very similar to an eyedropper but it holds more.
Pumping milk can seem like a daunting experience for some mothers and of course is not ideal but the benefits to you and your baby make it all worthwhile. Once you get the hang of pumping and if you get a good quality pump, it will become second nature. If you are rooming in with your baby in the NICU, you will probably be offered a very good hospital grade pump. Battery operated pumps or manual pumps are made for the occasional breast pumper and may not be suitable for pumping 8 – 10 times a day. Investing in a decent, electric double collection pump will pay off in the long run when you have established and maintained a healthy milk supply.
Some women find it difficult to express any milk when they pump if they are away from their baby. This is a completely normal and common experience. It may help to have a picture of your baby nearby while pumping. Try to visualize your baby while listening to relaxing music. Apply a warm compress to your breast and allow it to cool. If you turn up the intensity of the breast pump, this may only result in sore nipp les and will not trigger letdown. In any event, your particular NICU should have a place for you to pump and often times, you can pump right next to your baby in the NICU.
To ensure that baby is receiving colostrum, begin pumping before your milk comes in. Colostrum is made of essential antibodies and is often referred to as your baby’s first immunization against infection. The pump should have a low and a high setting. You will need to start on the lowest setting until it becomes more comfortable for you. Pump each breast for at least five minutes and as often as every 2 ½ hours. If you wake during the night, pump an additional five minutes on each side. At first, you may end up with only one ounce or so. This is normal. The idea is, the more you pump, the more you will produce. By the fourth or fifth day, your milk should come in and your pumping sessions will yield its benefits. Some women may take longer to have letdown. It is not uncommon to feel letdown after one week or so. If you have a sick baby, waking at night may prove to be too difficult. This is alright, as long as when you know that the baby is coming home, you start waking at least once a night to pump.
Make sure that when your milk supply does come in, that each breast is completely emptied during pumping sessions. If there is milk left in each breast, this may lead to under productivity of your breast milk and eventually, there will be little or no breast milk to pump.
Depending on the baby’s age and overall health, you may not be able to feed her directly. Some premature babies will need to be nourished through a tube called a nasogastric tube. You may be able to finger feed or bottle feed your baby. Because your baby isn’t being fed directly from your breast doesn’t mean that you cannot feed her. You should feed her whenever possible. To improve your baby’s hand – eye coordination, switching sides like you would if you were actually feeding your baby from your breast is the next best thing.
When your baby is ready to come home, meaning when she is strong enough and has gained weight, you can start to breastfeed her. This may take some getting used to for your preterm baby who has never had to latch and suck from a human nipple before. In order to keep up your milk supply, nurse your baby as often and as long as you can. Most preterm babies will not nurse as long as a baby who has been carried to term. It may also be more difficult to read their cues that they would like to nurse. If she roots around, thrusts her tongue, or cries, offer the breast immediately. If your baby continues to nurse infrequently and for very short sessions, you should continue to pump after your baby drops off your breast.
Taking care of yourself is an extremely important factor in establishing a healthy and plentiful supply. Make sure that you are getting plenty of rest. You may notice while pumping how incredibly thirsty you will become. It is important to keep lots of water at your disposal. If you have other children, it may help to hire someone to attend to siblings. Other family members can take over the care of your everyday chores such as laundry, cooking and cleaning. You may just have to make peace with the fact that your home may just be a little, or a lot, messier than usual. This is true for parents of full term babies as well.
My name is Wendy, and I began this website as a place to have one central location for breast pumping and feeding babies. I pumped breast milk for my daughter for over a year and during that year looked around on hundreds of websites to get the information that I needed. Since then, the website has grown and there is now tons of information and great products here at GotBreastPump.com. Thanks for stopping by. 
