What a difference a bottle makes:

For the past week the nurses here in the NICU have suggested I start bottle feeding my children. They wouldn't tell me why this was important. Only that this is what a lot of moms do. I have wanted to exclusively breast feed for quite some time. I was nursing my kids at every feeding during the day and they were getting tube fed the rest of what they didn't nurse. I was struggling with introducing a bottle, even if it would still be breast milk in the bottle. I want to nurse and didn't want them to stop trying to learn how to nurse.

Then a few days ago I talked to my friend, Joy, who is a NICU nurse in the D.C. area. She was shocked that I was trying to nurse so much and explained to me that this burns a lot of calories for the babies. We are wanting them to gain weight, so making them work so hard wasn't the best idea. Preemies just aren't ready to exclusively nurse at this point. And it's something we can work more on once they are "full term" (at their due date) She highly recommended introducing bottles some of the time and nursing once MAYBE twice a day. That way they are still remembering how to nurse, but they are getting the feedings they need without burning the calories. So, that day we started the bottle feeds. Belle, who has always struggled more with nursing, is slamming those bottles down like a pro. Aiden takes the bottle, but you can tell he'd rather nurse. But he's always done better nursing. So, the last few days they have been bottle fed through the night and I've nursed them each once or twice during the day. Depending on how awake and alert they seem. Since we've done that they have not had to have ANY feedings down their tubes and they have progressed so much.

Today I came in to their room to see their feeding tubes OUT. Now that they are getting their feedings all by mouth (either bottle or nursing) we no longer need the feeding tubes. This is a HUGE step on their way home. They have to have 48 hours of all mouth feedings before they will consider sending them home. Both of my kids are close to that point now. They have made huge gains in just a few days. What a difference a bottle makes.

MANY thanks to Joy on the good advice and also providing reasons WHY it's important. I wish the nurses here had said more to me about why I should introduce bottle feeds. Just saying "because that's what people do" doesn't cut it for me. I want to know why it would be in my children's best interest. And Joy helped me to see that. I don't believe my kids would be where they are now if it weren't for her.