So how have I failed to mention this until now? I was so focused on all the pumping I did, I forgot to mention our breastfeeding experience. Yes! I was able to breastfeed Peanut in the NICU and it was encouraged!
When Peanut was really little, they gave him a pacifier during his tube feeds. So while he wasn't eating orally, he could start to associate sucking with getting full!
When he hit 34 weeks gestation, first we had a non-nutritive "practice" session. That means no actual milk - just getting used to the idea.
After that, I was allowed to breastfeed and limited per doctor's orders. I was allowed to breastfeed at first up to 1 feeding per day, later up to 2 per day. No more because breastfeeding is a lot of work for preemies. Sometimes he'd breastfeed for a few sucks, sometimes 15 minutes. I was told to guess how well I thought he did, and they'd supplement his feeding with more milk in his feeding tube.
When he came home (3 weeks after his due date) he was breastfeeding 1-2 times per day, depending on how often I could get to the hospital and when he happened to be hungry.
My goal was to drop 1 bottle feeding and replace it with one breastfeeding session every few days to transition into exclusive breastfeeding. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.
At 1.5 months adjusted age (more on that later) Peanut was really struggling to finish bottles - taking an hour to eat, falling asleep, nearly dehydrated, so we ended up using a faster flow nipple on his bottle. I also believe that because I was pumping so frequently and had a mature supply at that point (noting that he was only "newborn"), the flow was overwhelming him. He immediately developed a bottle preference and refused to breastfeed, and hence the exclusive pumping began...
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