Hi Ladies,
My friend is in labour as I type. She is 5wks early. What things can I get together to take up to her?
I think she may need some 5 o baby suits and some prem nappies. What else?
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Hi Ladies,
My friend is in labour as I type. She is 5wks early. What things can I get together to take up to her?
I think she may need some 5 o baby suits and some prem nappies. What else?
I don't know how prepared she would've been - I guess its possible she won't have anything at all ready inwhich case she'd need thing like maternity pads, breast pads, nighties. Perhaps some magazines to pass the time, or knitting if she's into it?
I know my g/f just liked to have visitors, to stop her worrying about bub when she couldn't be with him :)
Flamin' computer - double post!
organise her an ABA membership..she will probably need it if bubs isnt suckling to well
Bek, DS was 5 weeks early, and weighed 5lbs1oz. He wore 00000 for a long time (over 8 weeks), so she'll definitely need some of those. We used Huggies newborns for the first week, until changing to cloth. TBH, they were crap, and things were much better once we started using cloth nappies. If she's going to be using sposies, the yes, some premmie ones might be good.
It really depends on how her bub is. 35 weekers are often really good, and don't have to spend long in SCN, I hope that's the case for your friend's baby. If they are facing an extended visit, then things like meals delivered to home, washing done etc would probably be really helpful, as they'll be spending alot of time in hossy. Mind you, those things are really helpful when you're home with your baby too!!!
If I think of anything else I'll come back.
ETA Oh yeah, I can almost guarantee that she'll have BFing probs, especially if bub goes to SCN!
Just be there for her. Friendship atm is very important. Let her know even tho it is scary bub is only early by 14 days (fullterm 37 weeks). Give lots of hugs and a shoulder to cry on if she needs.
remember shes still celebrating a new bub, no matter the gestation.. so once bub is here, take flowers, balloons etc to make her feel like any new mum, which she is, she just has an impatient bub :)
as for material things.. things that would be nice are shower gels, shampoo, moisturiser, lip balm.
i agree with the ABA membership :):):)
mayb some breast pads.. nipple cream.. heat pack
Thanks Ladies,
Thankfully bub was born without a hitch at 1.30am. A healthy 3kg baby girl who was named Maja Alekandra. She is doing really well but she has some feeding issues and won't attach properly. I think the ABA membership is a great idea and I will talk to her about that asap.
I have got a pack of things from friut to pads arranged. Her DH has been busy getting stuff for her and her mum is helping too...So really all I have to do is support her
So good to hear that bub is doing well. I agree on the ABA membership, and the help with cooking and meals for the freezer. And she might need the clothes to be on the warm side, (like bonds wonder suits) as my sisters premie baby was a very cold baby (born in Feb last year) and she was always rugged up. Hopefully she can take bubs home with her and they dont need any time in special care. 3kgs sounds good for 35 weeks!
3kgs is a great weight for 35 weeks! I hope everything goes well for her. An ABA membership sounds like a great idea, I'm sure she'll find it useful.
yeah, ABA is a great idea.
My advice re the breastfeeding is don't let them do bottle for the suck feeds, and say a firm no to formula top-ups. Both of these will affect her supply. The baby even tho prem needs to learn to suck at the breast. And get her on the pump (the hospital should have one) inbetween feeds, especially if they do any tube feeding, use the EBM and not formula. The baby needs to be hungry for breastmilk, not filled up with formula.
I bluntly refused to give permission for formula for my 34 weeker (you actually have to give signed permission for this, yet most hospitals seem to skip that part!!) and I sat at the pump like a cow at the dairy LOL to have EBM for the tube feeds. Mind you I had to fight them sometimes cos she wasn't gaining like they wanted her to (pfft - she was 3.5kg already! LOL)
yeah, ABA is a great idea.
My advice re the breastfeeding is don't let them do bottle for the suck feeds, and say a firm no to formula top-ups. Both of these will affect her supply. The baby even tho prem needs to learn to suck at the breast. And get her on the pump (the hospital should have one) inbetween feeds, especially if they do any tube feeding, use the EBM and not formula. The baby needs to be hungry for breastmilk, not filled up with formula.
I bluntly refused to give permission for formula for my 34 weeker (you actually have to give signed permission for this, yet most hospitals seem to skip that part!!) and I sat at the pump like a cow at the dairy LOL to have EBM for the tube feeds. Mind you I had to fight them sometimes cos she wasn't gaining like they wanted her to (pfft - she was 3.5kg already! LOL)
Liz - they have already given formula without permission!!! grr They used the excuse that her blood sugar levels were too low. My friend is a little distressed atm regarding the feeding. I have spoken with her DH and he is going to call the ABA because he is very pro breastfeeding. I have suggested she start expressing and demand tube feeding with ebm...
Thanks for your advice everyone
Oh and if she is expressing to feed, I know it is hard, but dont let them (midwives etc) tell her not to worry about pumping in the wee hours of the morning. I know sleep is important, but she will need to pump at least once in those early morning hours to get her supply up.
My sister was told to sleep through, while my niece was in special care, and never managed to get her milk suppy sufficient enough to feed, but I was encouraged to feed at 3am to get supply up.
I will tell her that tip Rufalina..makes sense seeing that normal bubs need to feed through the night anyway.
Apparently bub is really sleepy and lazy and they are waking her to feed...
Sleepy and 'lazy' is VERY normal for a 35 weeker. We had to undress DS for at least 8 weeks for every single feed, as well as using a multitude of tricks to try and wake him up.
Ruf is right re. expressing in the night. And if she is BFing already then she most certainly should be going into the nursery at night to do so. The SCN nurses will tell her not to, but it's really important that she does. It's her baby, she can feed it whenever she bl00dy well wants to.
BTDT with bub being given formula without consent, but it is possible to overcome a rocky start, she will need lots of support though. And to stop giving formula! It just fills them up, and then they don't demand the breast, or even try to BF properly. It makes it really, really hard.
BekZ
The best things you can do are to be there for her, but she will be in a bit of shock, I was really out of it mentally for a few days when I had Nakita (almost 7 weeks early). But 3kg is a fabulous size, so I wouldn't buy too many little 00000 things, but a couple will be lovely, make sure you wash them as well so she can put them on bubs straight away, it feels the best to be able to provide your own things for bubs as you feel like you can't do much as a mum of a prem. For SCBU/SCN get short sleeved short legged suits, as they need access, even better are the Bebe suits, they wrap around, but I think the smallest they come in are 0000. Also beanie/hats and really handy especially if anything like my little girl he temps were all over the place and very difficult to control. Also a little blanket of her own, to go over her/him all wrapped up, make it easy to spot them in the nursery too
Nakita also had to have formula at the very start as her blood sugar levels were only 0.9, which is dangerously low. It MUST be treated quickly, there is not time to wait in this situation. It shattered me and I think it made the expressing thing harder, but it is critical, and she might be able to start to think of it as a medicine rather than Forumla if you know what I mean.
Bubs sucking reflex should be developed shortly, but she may have to go through some hand expressing and some pump expressing, it can be very stressful and she may start to worry about "how much" it is common for you not to be able to express a lot especially when stressed (been there done that ;))
You could take in some food to hosy (the food in the hospital I was in was terrible, but once we transferred to my Priv hosy it was fabulous!!), something she really likes, as she won't have a lot of time to sit around and read etc, so books not as useful, maybe organise TV for her room for when she is expressing. At this stage bubs is prob on 3 hourly feeds and she will need to try expressing 3 hourly, she will also be back and forth between her room and SCN, so some great slip on sock/shoes (Bonds have some) are fabulous, especially as you can wear them in bed and get up at night toe express or go to the nursery.
The max she should go without expressing is 5 hours, or your supply will struggle, I had a lot of problems and I wish I have know more about it all.
She will also need to try and keep her feet up, and relax as much as she can.
You may even want to give her a diary, she may wish to write down a few things no matter how long or short the journey is.
35 weeks is a great gestation, and with a 3kg bub that is just fabulous.
Bubs is sleepy due to the LBS, and also at this age they are supposed to be sleeping a lot more, more at day than night as well. It iwll take time for bubs to get enough energy to feed properly. We were only allowed 1 attempt at a BF a day, and really that was Nakita having a play, she didn't have the energy, she was fed via a NGT (Nasal Gatric Tube) for almost 2 weeks. She can ask to have a try at BF'ing if not today, tomorrow. After a few days we were allowed to try a second time if she demanded a feed.
There is more but that is a start, wishing your friend a safe journey, and being there for her is the best, especially making her room homely as it will feel very lonely by herself and no baby in the room with her :)
COngrats on your firends bub!
3kg is an awesome weight for 35 weeks :D
I probably wouldn't bother with the prem nappies, 3kg isnt really that small I'm not sure that the prem nappies would even fit. My lil man was 1.5kg and went straight into huggies newborn, they had to be rolled down and adjusted to fit him, but they did the job. I also wouldnt bother too much on 5x0 items, at 3kg she wont be in them for very long.
As for things for mum, you seem to have a good selection of things, the most important thing right now is your friendship, someone to talk to, someone she can call at awful hours during the night if need be.
All the best i hope your friend is home soon.
00000 suits would be good (some warmer ones for cooler days because prem Bubs need to be kept warmer than term Bubs). Sam was 2830grams at birth so similar size. We just used newborn size nappies from the start. The BEST thing that I was given was a book from the ABA on breastfeeding prem bubs. Ditto to what Liz, rufalina, janie & beema have said about BF. Good support for her re: BF is essential. Another thing I was asking people to bring for me was fresh fruit - something that was hard to come by in hossie. My sister also did up a nice pack with some shampoo/conditioner & body wash which I enjoyed using.
Oh yeah, the ABA has a booklet (quite detailed) on BFing prems, it should be available from their website for a small amount. I'm sure it would be very useful for her!
How is she going? Have you heard anything later today?
ETA If you go to the Mothers Direct website (which is the ABA's shop) and look under booklets you will find the premmie one, it's $5 :)
re the blood sugar levels.. DD was put on a drip to fix her blood sugars while we waited for my milk.. no formula :) She was on it a few days. They were still threatening formula, but when i asked if the drip was maintaining her levels and they said yes, then I just said, well she can stay on the drip until I have enough EBM!
Not sure how/when the drip can be administered, but it's obviously an option.
We were allowed all sucks to start with coz DD was so good at it, but she lost a STACK of weight with the effort (down from 3.5kg to 3kg), so it had to be cut back to 1 suck feed to 2 tube feeds. Again, I didn't let the staff bottle feed her, only tube feed her, while I went and sat at the dairy again and again. LOL. Gosh I knew that pump so well.
I ended up with SOOOOOO much EBM it was ridiculous. But the freezer broke and it all thawed, not long before we were due to go home. So a lot of it got dumped :( Wish we could have handed it round to all the little prems that weren't getting any breastmilk :(
If she is going to be expressing, having a photo of bub there to look at while she pumps can help with milk supply too. And can she give bub a small teddy or blanket that has her smell on it?
Great suggestion, we gave N a small panda, which sat on her isolete and in her cot when we couldn't be there and she loves it now, I think Panda will be a stayer! :D:
Wish we knew about the drip option Liz, I guess N had enough needles and stuff poked into her, and in the end it didn't matter.
To encourage her suck feeding, we gave her a dummy and held it for her to suck when she was getting tube feed, this encouraged the when I suck I get full, we didn't try this until we transferred but it made a big difference in her suck feeding. We also only gave bottle after boob, on 2 occassions, the rest was tube feeding or boob.
Thanks Ladies for your overwhelming support and advice.
I met the little miss today and she is just beautiful. Tiny and petite!!
Thankfully mum and dad refused bottle feeding and they are now not allowing formula. Mum's milk is coming in today too. Bub has had 3 bf's in the last 24hours. The hospital have only just given mum the option to express if needed but they are determined for bub to bf as often as possible. Bub is still so sleepy. I was there for one hour and she just would not wake to feed, this was after 6 hours of sleep. We tried everything to keep her awake and finally she attached and sucked for 15 mins. If bub feeds well this arvo they are going to let her stay with mum overnight.
Now I am off to the ABA website to get that booklet....mwah and heartfelt thanks
I have no experience with prems, but i just wanted to say my daughter was born at 42 weeks, and was only 2.7kg, so you can tell your friend she did fantastic growing her to 3kg at 35 weeks!
Just remember to give your friend lots of cuddles, and also maybe something special for her? Like a nice giftpack of shower stuff or something to make her feel nice? I'm sure she is exausted from all of this, and not at all like she was thinking the first few weeks would be like.
Bek firstly what a kind and good friend to be doing this.... :hug:
That's a great weight - and she will be sleepy for a while - she is meant to be in amnio land for a while longer! ;)
Help with breastfeeding is important - and if the baby was hypoglycaemic it sometimes is necessary for a bit of formula. Depending of course on how low the baby's bsl was. I am extremely pro breastfeeding but prems can sometimes bottom out and in the absence of an iv line to which a bit of glucose can be added a few mls of formula can do the same. So maybe this is what happened & perhaps why she wasn't asked. My guess is that her bsl was too low and action was required. Hypoglycaemia is not something we want in a newborn...
She does need to express every 2-3 hours around the clock. This is so very important for supply. It's not easy, it's tiring so she needs lots of kudos and support for this - without being too pushy. She will be feeling stressed about her baby being in SCU without feeling stressed about her boobies too!
A lactation consultant is a good idea - and the ABA will be able to help there.
She needs loads of support, loads of congrats and loads of love. Being the mother of a prem is damn hard, challenging work.
Congratulations to your friend! :hug:
I just feel the need to say. If a baby has no iv line & BSL's are very low the quickest and most effective method of increasing the blood sugar levels are colostrum. With a prem that is in SCU or NICU this is near impossible ( expressing immediately post op after an emergency c/section is a big ask).
IV access is painful and invasive and this needs to be weighted against some formula via syringe.
I am very very very pro breast feeding & formula is not something I have ever used - however my DD4 was very hypoglycaemic post birth and after much trying to raise her bsl's with breastfeeding some formula on a finger raised them in a flash. Just once to prevent a hypo.
Decisions always need to be weighted on individual situations. As a nurse I would be very very anti putting in an iv line for glucose rather than trying some formula first. It is traumatic and painful for a baby to have an iv inserted and this is only done on a need to basis...
Yep, like I said, I don't know how/when the drip can be administered, and my memory fails me on why Kayla was on it in the first place (should dig through my buddies thread and see if wrote anything) I just remember her being on the drip and they were still pushing for formula until I questioned it. Just thought I'd mention it as this is what helped me avoid formula. I'm glad too, coz her gut flora was screwed up enough by the antibiotics I had in labour, I'm sure of it. Hate to think how colicky she would have been if she'd had formula too. Just shows how much sugar is in formula hey if just a bit on a finger can raise the sugar levels :o
I had some absolutely beautiful, supportive midwives & nurses in the NICU who helped me stand up to the paeds when they did their rounds. Except for one cranky one who kept telling me to wean DS and who used a bottle for one night feed which distressed Kayla, and the other nurses told her off for me LOL. Anyway, that's a bit off topic!
Sounds like they're doing really well BekZ. It's definitely tiring trying to feed a prem, it takes forever to get them to wake up enough to get a good drink. I found it impossible to document how long she fed for, coz I could be sitting there for an hour and she could have fed for 5 lots of 5 minutes or something.. I'm sure I fudged my figures a lot of the time LOL. This is probably why they like to bottle feed so they can measure it. And then after an hour of feeding, I'd do 1/2 hour of expressing, then you'd have about an hour to go and do something (sleep was rarely an option LOL) before you had to be back for the next feed. Thankfully all my meals were cooked for me! altho I had a lot of those cold coz they arrived while I was feeding or something. So yeah, some well-timed hot meals would probably be appreciated! heh.
A huge kiss and hug to everyone!!!
I am pleased to say that mum and bub have gone home and breastfeeding is happening!!! I mean really happening, apparently she is a hungry little mite.
I am going over to see her this arvo
Aww that's great to hear! Enjoy your cuddles :)
Oh yay. Pleased to know they are going well. Hope it continues. xo
I have to agree with you here, I think I was a zombie for the first 8-9 weeks, as the neborn stage lasts until they would have normally gotten over being a newborn. For me feeds to and hour and a half, then expressing, sterilizing, oh,, gee almost time for another feed :lol: But looking at it now it was all worth it.:
At the hossy without fail food arrived when I was expressing or feeding! And I don't think I ate a lot at home.. :redface:.. but museli bars were really handy cos I could just rip one open and eat it and get a boost!! Wish I had someone to cook for me!!
Great news Bekz, enjoy your cuddles, give her a kiss and cuddle for us!! :)
Well bub did not stay home for long. She has jaundice and has lost too much weight. I knew they went home too early.
I don't know much more than that but I am sure the hospital will be trying to get bub to feed as much as possible.
:hug: BekZ
Gee I can't believe they let her go home only for overnight in the end.. poor mum it must be very hard.
I hope she can just have some more time to get things happening
We didn't have a weight gain until day 23, which was 12 days after leaving hospital, infact on the day if disharge she lost 40grams and was 10 grams above her lowest weight :redface: but her Paed was happy for her to go home (on a Friday). The following Wednesday we had her weighed and she had lost another 10grams, so was back to her lowest weight. We were lucky that the RN wasn't too worried (albeit I was shattered) and we went back the next week and got a decent gain!
DD also had jaundice, was under lights for a couple of days. It also got worse when we were home but we hadn't realised how bad (as she was really yellow and we didn't know any different and our private MW/LC wasn't concerned until it had returned to her torso) at 10 weeks, we had her Bilirubins done and they were the same level as they were when she had just finished her phototherapy, so we were lucky we didn't have to go back in, but it also meant that she wa probably above that for quite some time and had just gradually come down by themselves.
DD's Paediatrician said that in breast fed infants, the same thing that breaks down the breast milk also resolves jaundice, he referred to it as breastfed jaundice. So it is common for Breast fed babies to be jaundiced for 3 months or more (especially premmies).
I hope that with a bit of phototherapy and adjustments with her feeds that they can return home and stay there. xxoo
Oh dear. Sorry to hear this. Must admit I thought it was early to let them go home too, I thought they liked to keep them until they were close to 37 weeks?
Jaundice is a common problem, I hope it's just a mild case. Kayla had to go under the lights, but then hers went away. DS tho, who was born at 37 weeks had breastfeeding jaundice for a long time, but never needed the lights.
Weight loss.. that's pretty common too with prems. They're not meant to be burning all this energy eating and breathing and all that comes with being born. They should still just be floating and growing!
I hope she's not too disheartened. Tell her to hang in there, bub just needs time to rest and catch up with things. Hope it's all sorted soon for her. It's such a waiting game really with a prem.
Oh I'm really sorry to hear that Bek. I hope she can come home soon.
Gosh, I never really thought about it too much, I just thought we were a bit lucky bringing our 35 weeker home with us. I guess we were REALLY lucky. DS was jaundiced, and we did think he would have to stay in, but his last BT on the day we were going home showed some improvement, so we got to take him with us. Yeah, I guess we were very fortunate.
Baby Maja is home...for good!!!
They got home yesterday and so far she has gained 90g since being at home. Mum is breastfeeding really well thankfully.
Thanks so much for support.
Yay, that's great news! Thanks for letting us know Bek :)
Bek that is great news. Well done to your friend and her little Princess.
Fabulous news Bekz, so thrilled for you, I hope this is the end of their hospital journey and they can relax and grow together at home. xxoo
I thought that too until I had a prem, the WCH (where i had her as I was too early to go to any of the Private Hospitals in Adelaide) wanted her for 4-5 weeks which would have made her 37-38 weeks, but we transferred to our Private Hospital only because a specialist Paeditrcian agreed to take on her case and monitor her daily (they would only accept them from 36 weeks she transferred at 34 week 2 days, we brought her home at 35 weeks 1 day old, was only 10grams above her lowest weight (which she lost that again her first week home:redface:). But as soon as she had been on all suck feeds for 24 hours, they are generally happy to have them go home, where as it wouldn't have been possible to do that at the WCH. I boarded which allowed all suck feeds, with at least 50% on the boob. I would have been comuting a few times a day into the WCH if we didn't get the transfer.:
mind you having the head of the NICu at the WCh as your paeditrician certainly has a lot of pulling power!!
But even so, every prem is different, we have a prem playgroup with the bubs ranging from 24 weekers to 35 weekers, it is amazing to see the differences, especially of those that are the same gestation. Most look like normal babies, others are on oxygen, NGT's, quite underweight etc I have learnt sooo much becoming a mum of a prem, but there is soo much more to learn!!
Beema - thanks to all of you lovely ladies and my friend now having a prem bub I have learnt heaps too!!!