We had an okay day on the feeding front. After E’s 22 ml feed last night, he was pretty sleepy overnight so they just pushed the full volume through his feeding tube at his midnight and 3 a.m. feeds. At 6 a.m. he looked like he might be ready to go, but then pretty much instantly fell asleep and only got 2 ml from me. At 9 a.m. he was raring to go and took an impressive 44 ml, though, to make up for it! So I know he’s got it in him; it truly does seem to be a stamina issue. His noon and 3 p.m. feeds were 10 and 12 ml, respectively, and much sleepier. I left to pick up T before the 6 p.m. feed, and will stay home tonight. Anxious to find out how he does with bottles tonight.
Interestingly, there appear to be two schools of thought on how to address the sleepy/stamina issue. Our nurse yesterday and the day before had us attempting breast or bottle every other feed, and just gavaging the others to let him rest. Today’s nurse (a different one), said even if he only gets a few ml and falls asleep, the practice is good for developing those muscles, so we nursed every feed. I can see the merits to both approaches, and don’t know what the best way is. I just wish there were some magic bullet so we could figure this out and go home!
Keeping up with the Hoffmans 