Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Elizabeth’s Feeding

We’re now at 48 hours after Elizabeth’s bloody stool issue¹. So far all of her x-rays have been clear so we’re even more confident that she’s got some sensitivity. Today they have started her on the soy-based formula. They’ll move slowly here to make sure that she is tolerating it well.

Magic Age

I’ve talked about this before. Thirty-three weeks seems to be a magic age for starting to attempt bottle and breast feeding. It will still take quite a bit of time to get them doing so fully. We’ll start out with some trainer pacifiers and other techniques just to try to get them familiar with the process and to build up stamina for it.

They’ve been getting all of their nutrition with no effort so far. That starts in the womb with the umbilical cord and continues into the NICU with IVs and enteral tubes into their stomachs. We’re now going to ask them to work for their food. That’s going to take some muscle toning and reflex building. They need to be able to do a suck-swallow-breathe cycle which won’t likely come naturally to babies this young. This is a big difference between preemies and full-term babies. A full-term baby will be prepared to go for this practically immediately.

Assuming Elizabeth tolerates this well (and Aspen doesn’t show any symptoms like her sister), we’ll start moving forward with this. Being able to eat on their own is really the last major checkpoint before we get to take them home!

Extra Bits

Here are some more pictures for your viewing pleasure.