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Moms of preemies

  1. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    D is turning two on Tuesday! I can't believe it. Our goal was 20lbs by then and with diaper and clothes the other day he was 20lbs6oz. Hopefully we make it when he's nakey.

  2. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @mrsrccar: sounds like you've got your hands full! I can't even picture the day when A becomes mobile! Are you drinking rice milk? That's what I've had to use and I guess it's not so bad when it's the only thing you can drink.. I hope the feedings get easier for you!

    @Mrs Green Grass: that's great!! Happy early bday to D!!

  3. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    I just wanted to bump this thread because I was wondering how everyone is doing? The growth chart thread got me thinking about the preemie mamas : ) Let's do a check-in:

    Lo(s) Name and Age:
    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home:
    Stats:
    Current issues/concerns:
    Something positive:

  4. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    Lo(s) Name and Age: Dylan, 2yrs actual, 20.5 months adj.

    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: Home for 1.5 yrs

    Stats: 20.5 lbs, 32.5 in

    Current issues/concerns: I was really happy with his weight check at age two, but I'm worrying that he's getting skinnier! Which probably means he's getting taller. And although we have a nanny, we are both going through a chest cold complete with some labored breathing which freaks me out. But last time I took him in for something similar (just a few weeks ago) they said his lungs sounded great.

    Something positive: His language development is astounding lately! He will identify numbers in a store...he can identify colors...he says all of the animal sounds now. His expressive speech started pretty slowly, but he's progressing so quickly. It's super fun!

  5. Mrs. Tiger

    blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: good idea to bump this! Did D have a good birthday? That's great about his language, it must be so exciting!

    Lo(s) Name and Age: D aka DS2, 13m (11m adjusted)

    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: 2 month stay, home for 1 month, another 2 month stay, and then he's been home since (at 5m old)

    Stats: Around 24lbs. No idea on the height, I am not able to retain that number for some reason!

    Current issues/concerns: I feel like he looks skinny too, which I guess also means he's stretching out. He's also crawling all over the place so I know he's burning calories more. His right foot also points out, which I thought was related to CP but his PT told me that if it's a problem, it's because his bones or something are twisted and he may need surgery to fix it. Just going to put that out of my mind for the moment and hope that when he cruises/walks more normally he will bring it in!

    Something positive: I think walking is imminent! He's even figured out how to push the walker/shopping cart around by himself without leaning too far forward and falling down. He also occasionally gives me huge open mouth kisses, and then grins at me because he's so proud of himself.

    This time of year feels so weird to me because we were in the midst of absolute hell in the NICU last year. Does it ever get easier?

  6. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: great to hear about his language progress!! that sounds so fun!!

    @Mrs. Tiger: definitely sounds like you'll have a walker soon!!

    Lo(s) Name and Age: Ava, 5 months (3 corrected)

    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: home since June 18!!

    Stats: 10lbs 11oz, 22 1/4 in

    Current issues/concerns: dropped 2 night feedings which has made our feeding issues (her refusal) much better. we began adding rice cereal to the last bottle of the night to make up for less feeds and went to ped yesterday and she had only gained 2 oz in 9 days and I truly thought she was responding so well to the full-night's sleep. now we will be adding back a feed and ped wants us to add cereal to 3 bottles now (I think that's a lot so I am going to start w 2) anyone have experience adding cereal to milk?

    Something positive: she giggled at us the other day!! hasn't happened since but I can't wait for it to happen again! she is also rolling over on occasion when she's on her tummy and holding her head up really well! all smiles too which makes it so frustrating/funny when we are going thru a tough feed bc she's just such a happy little girl and would rather experience everything around her than eat

    we also finally (after an appeal) got approved for the Synagis vaccine and she got her first done yesterday. glad that she will have that extra boost with winter coming!!

  7. Mrs. Tiger

    blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: aww, yay for giggling! glad for the synagis, D got it all last year but his ped said he didn't need it this year. It's a pain to go in for the shots every month but totally worth it.

  8. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: we tried adding rice cereal to thicken feeds (not for calories) but we ended up using enfamil AR with BM which is already thickened. We increased feedings to 24cals for always basically. Now we add whole milk powder into all milk. Weight gain has always been an issue for us. Do you keep track of how many oz LO eats in a day? Did it decrease without the night feeds?

  9. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: I've been tracking every ounce she gets since she's been home and while it did decrease slightly when we dropped the night feeds, we added the extra calories from the cereal and I truly thought things were going well until we got her weight.. and today we did 2 rice cereal feeds and it's been awful. basically force feeding her thru (my) tears. I feel like all I do is worry about every little quarter ounce. dh and I aren't getting along bc she won't eat w him too.. I don't know what to do bc other than feeding issues she's just so freaking happy. I don't think we could add the formula tho bc i am still on the limited diet which is why we stopped adding the neosure a month ago. sigh..

  10. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: I hear you so much! Feeding has always been our only issue. Don't force the rice cereal if it's really not working, but maybe add one of the night feeds? What's your current schedule? We were able to do a dream feed right before our bedtime and it worked really well for us. We prob did it for a year.

  11. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: right now we do her first feed at 6:30am and then every 3 hrs from there. with the dropping of the 2 night feeds her last one has been 9:30, but yesterday we added back an 11:30 which hasn't really helped much bc she'll only take about 2oz during that one. she is pretty good when she's dream feeding but to catch her at that point is very rare for us. she seems to go from completely asleep to alert pretty quickly. especially if a bottle is involved.. I'm thinking the cereal isn't working much tho and, while I like our ped, I don't think adding more and more cereal feeds is the answer.. I dunno. thinking of calling the NICU follow-up program and see what they say. had it gotten easier for you since you began solids? is it still something you struggle with?

  12. Chuckles

    persimmon / 1494 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: @mrs green grass: Have your peds talked about Duocal powder? Its allegedly tasteless and dissolves in any liquid or you can sprinkle it on wet solids to add calories to anything. My guess is that it wouldn't be great for a young preemie but it couldn't hurt to ask about it. It doesn't have any milk proteins and is mostly carbs and fat. It's 42 calories in a tablespoon but isn't supposed to make the food more filling.

  13. Chuckles

    persimmon / 1494 posts

    Oh, also, our speech path (for feeding issues) recommended adding half and half to our LO's bottles as a way to add more calories. He drinks pediasure instead of whole milk now because he outgrew infant formula and the half and half also dilutes the sweetness of the pediasure

  14. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: it is a million times easier now. No fighting. He just doesn't eat a lot of volume still, but he will try lots of different things. It wS hard through a year actual though. D almost never took more than 18oz in a day.

    I would def call the NICU!

  15. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @Chuckles: we did pediasure for awhile and it made d throw up. It was so frustrating! The whole milk with whole milk powder works really well for us.

  16. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    question for the group: at what age did you start putting lo in their crib to sleep? we are trying tonight and very nervous but I know she will sleep fine. it'lol just take getting used to not having her right next to us in her rock n' play

  17. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: I think we waited about 6 months but our bedroom is upstairs and his is downstairs. Do you have a good monitor? That's all you really need but it is nerve wracking!

  18. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: yeah we have the Motorola video monitor. her room is across the hall but we are moving to a house so and want to have her in a crib before then. fingers crossed for tonight that dh and I can get some sleep!

  19. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: it'll probably go perfectly! Fingers crossed. We love our Motorola...use it every night.

  20. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    Sorry I am late to the party.

    Lo(s) Name and Age: Elliot 33 weeks (28.5 weeks adjusted)
    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: 13 days in ICU, been home since Feb. 25, 2014
    Stats: Unsure about his present stats. He is getting so tall! We see the doctor in November for his 9 month check up.
    Current issues/concerns: We are failing miserably at solids. He doesn't do well with cereal, or runny purees. He seems to prefer things he can naw on. He seems to prefer the BLW way to solids. Also he doesn't really get the idea of a cup of any variety. (So nothing too serious)
    Something positive: He is army crawling and is so close to actually crawling! I love watching my two boys play with each other. It just warms my heart.

    @littleredhairedgrl: E starts in his crib (in our room) every night. Our current plan is when he is sleeping through the night like 10pm-8am we will put him in the shared room with his brother. When it was just N we moved him to his own crib in his own room at 6 months. There were a lot of sleepless nights at first, but we were all sleeping better.
    @Mrs Green Grass: Sounds like D had a great birthday! Hooray for making his goal weight!

  21. Mrs.ThinMint

    apricot / 274 posts

    Lo(s) Name and Age: Elliot he's 13 weeks old, but only 1 week adjusted
    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: After an 11 week NICU stay we've been home for a little over 2 weeks.
    Stats: At his doctor's appointment last week he was 6 lbs 2 oz! He is gaining about an oz a day though.
    Current issues/concerns: His liver enzymes are still elevated and his bilirubin is still high, but much much better. That is all from his possible galactosemia. Being on my breast milk for so long caused the liver issues.
    Something positive: He is doing so great at home! He wakes up to eat and for a diaper change at around 2ish and around 6ish. Other than that he sleeps all night. I'm so proud of him! I love having him home!

  22. Mrs.ThinMint

    apricot / 274 posts

    @Mrs. Tiger: I was going to tell you that I went through and read all of your blogs about D's NICU stays. It broke my heart! I'm so glad he's doing better!

  23. psw27

    pomelo / 5220 posts

    Lo(s) Name and Age: Cameron, 11 weeks, 5 weeks adjusted

    # of Days in NICU or amount of time home: 12 days in NICU, home for just over 9 weeks

    Stats: at his 2 month visit he was 9 lbs, 14.5 oz and 22 1/2 inches

    Current issues/concerns: has jaundice from BM and his bilirubin is still high. Sleeping pretty well from 7-12 and then 12:30-4 but is wide awake at 4! Need to try and get him to sleep until 7.

    Something positive: starting to get some smiles and lots of cooing!

  24. psw27

    pomelo / 5220 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: We just put LO in his crib this week (11 weeks old) because he is getting too long for his bassinet. So far, so good. I think he actually sleeps a little bit better because me, DH and the dog aren't moving around making noise.

  25. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @MrsRcCar: D was the same way with solids. O's and Mum Mum that dissolve were helpful in getting him to learn to chew and swallow. He kept doing purées forever, but he only ever took tiny amounts.

  26. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    @Mrs Green Grass: He does seem to enjoy the teething cookies, not so much puffs or things that resemble cheerios. He either spits them out of gags on them until they are out of his mouth. I would be lying if I said I was completely confident in his weight gain. I just keep telling myself he is happy and getting longer so he has to be ok right?

    @psw27: The smiles and coos are the best.

  27. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    hope everyone is doing well

    question for the group - at what corrected age did your lo start rolling over?

    A is 4 months corrected (6 actual) and began doing it from belly to back a month ago (3 months corrected) but has since stopped. it will happen every once in a while but mostly she will fuss on her belly or go from arms straight and chest up to arms straight out and rocking back and forth on her belly but not rolling. when she is on her back she rolls to one side to sleep, but no full rolls.

    any tips to get them to do more tummy time? i read that they are supposed to do 90 minutes a day and that seems like so much! the most i get at a time is 10 minutes

  28. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    bumping my last post.. also, how is everyone doing?

  29. Mrs. Tiger

    blogger / pomegranate / 3044 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: hey girl! I can't remember about rolling but for tummy time, I had to fight with D a lot. The best things I found were to put him on his tummy on the couch so I could then crouch and be eye level, lots of singing and dancing and silly distractions like bubbles or light up electronic toys. Also if she's not accepting full on tummy time, you can put a rolled up towel or boppy under her armpits, she might tolerate that better.

  30. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: E has never been into rolling unless we are changing his diaper or when he is sleeping. E is almost 10 months (8.25 months adjusted). When we made tummy time a huge part of our routine around 6 months actual because I was worried about the rolling thing, but all in time I guess. We never got 90 minutes total a day. He still doesn't love tummy time.

    We have been busy in the RC Car house. E just got enrolled in EI services because we are still failing pretty hard at solids. When they came out to do his eval they said he has weak jaw muscles and a high palette. We start services on the 16th. Otherwise E is busy pulling up and crawling (!) around the house. My family is pretty sure he will be walking by Christmas. He is pretty determined to catch his big brother.

    Hope all is well for all the other ladies.

  31. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @MrsRcCar: wow crawling!! so he kind of skipped the rolling a lot part? i feel like A wants to move around so bad, but rolling is not something she likes - tho she is getting better at tummy time. she especially likes when i hold her up and let her stand with my help. even tho the NICU said no bouncers or exersaucers i think she'd really enjoy some time in one and may buy one anyway..

    that's great about the EI services! A was just evaluated too and was accepted based on her feeding issues (refusal and reflux). but NJ is a cost-share program so we'd have to shell out a lot of money for the services so still trying to figure out what to do since she's otherwise doing pretty well for her corrected age.

    i think she is def teething now tho.. she ONLY wants to chew on my fingers and be held. no occupying herself on her own lately..

  32. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: We were told no bouncers or jumpers too. However E does get time in a jumper and exersaucer. He loves them both! He also loves his walker. We just limit his time in them.
    That stinks about the cost sharing. Where we live it is a state funded service. We have enrolled both boys in EI actually.
    E has 8 teeth!!! He has been a teething machine for months now. I am hoping we will get a break before molars start arriving.

  33. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    hi ladies! hope everyone had a great new year! how is every and their los doing?

    update on A: we spent Christmas and the following 2 days in the hospital because she refused her bottle for almost 48hrs and went home with an ng tube and after 3 weeks with the tube, and a transition off my bm and onto Neocate, the tube was taken out almost a week ago. We are now on 6 bottles a day at 22 cal/ounce and she is still only taking max 4oz but we are working on getting her used to the increased calorie and will likely up it again since I just don't think she will suddenly begin taking 5-6oz at a time. Also on day 3 of rice cereal with banana. She fights, but at times will take some. Fun Fun! Going for a second opinion with a new GI at NYU tomorrow.

    Hope everyone is well!

  34. mrs. 64

    nectarine / 2936 posts

    Hi everyone! I have been MIA for several months and I hope you all are doing well!

    Little miss came home at the end of September after a 132 day NICU stay. Having her home is the best. She is now 8 months, 5 months adjusted. She was on oxygen until a few weeks ago and life without oxygen is fabulous! She also just hit 10 lbs. So proud of her.

  35. mrs. 64

    nectarine / 2936 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: Sorry to hear that. That sounds really stressful. How did the second opinion go?

  36. Mrs Green Grass

    pomelo / 5628 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: wow how frustrating and scary! How old is she now?

    @mrs. 64: what a great update!!!!

    D broke his arm and is in week 4 of a cast, but it's a totally non-preemie problem which I'll take any day. Now that he's two, I'm really starting to see him catch up size wise. He's still quite small but getting there...



  37. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @mrs. 64: so happy to hear that you are home with lo and no more oxygen!!! the second opinion went really well actually. the dr was very happy with her progress and didn't even want to discuss ng tubes she just wanted to look forward and is recommending a feeding therapist for us as we begin solids. she also actually acknowledged the fact that A probably has a feeding aversion as a result of everything (which the other drs wouldn't even entertain)

    @Mrs Green Grass: oh my gosh he is too cute!!! A is 8 months (6 actual)

  38. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    @mrs. 64: Congrats on coming home!! Hope everyone is settling in nicely.
    @Mrs Green Grass: how much longer is he in a cast?
    @littleredhairedgrl: I hope you find a feeding therapist that you guys can click with. E always eats better for our OT lady. Always with out fail.

    E is almost a year old (!!). We are still struggling with feeding issues but he is growing like a weed. I haven't gone back into the office for work because E still nurses every 3 hours. He never got the hang of a bottle and we are struggling with a sippy cup. He does ok with a straw cup but not well enough for me to be comfortable leaving him for a work day. We had a good solids day yesterday but this morning he woke up with an awful red raised diaper rash. He is not really interested in solids today. I suspect a dairy allergy which wouldn't surprise me at this point. He also decided to drop to one nap like last week. We are hoping that it means better night time sleep.

  39. littleredhairedgrl

    persimmon / 1135 posts

    @MrsRcCar: wow 1 yr!! sorry to hear about the feeding issues but yay for good growth! we are on day 5 of solids (rice cereal mixed with neonate formula) and it's been challenging. i feel like i have to trick her to get her to open her mouth. wondering how long it will take for her to willingly accept the spoon.. sigh.

    A did take almost 5oz in a bottle at 5am this morning!! she has never taken more than 4 so i was super excited!!

  40. MrsRcCar

    grapefruit / 4712 posts

    @littleredhairedgrl: hooray A!!!! We are a little forced into BLW with E. He doesn't do well with cereal and solids unless he can do it himself and most doesn't make it in his mouth anyway. Or he gags and throws up. It's like the spoon is the devil.

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