Day 9 - Breast is best
MILLIE had her first breast feed shortly after midday today.
She managed a very short nuzzle on mummy's breast, a few short sucks and promptly fell asleep.
Whether she drank very much is a big mystery, but it shows that she knows what she should be doing.
The nurses gave a little helping hand by dribbling a few drops of milk from a syringe on to her lips as she snuggled up to mummy.
She will continue to have a nuzzle with mummy every day.
But for the time being her main source of milk will be the plastic tube into her tummy. It's not hard to see which she prefers.
The other big news of the day is that Millie wore a dress for the first time. You can catch a glimpse of it in the picture above.
The Special Care Baby Unit has a cupboard full of small cardigans, tiny dresses, miniature hats and other baby things so there is no need for anyone to buy clothes.This is quite a good job, as the babies change sizes rapidly.
Millie's dress has small red tulips on it. She looked rather sweet, even though it was a few sizes too large.
She gained 36 grammes (about 1 1/2 ounces) over the past 24 hours.
This is less than the day before, but we are told to expect anything from 20-50 grammes each day and not to worry if it is above or below that.
The nurses have a slight concern over Millie's potassium levels, which are not as good as they should be.
This indicates that her kidneys are playing up a bit.
Sorry to be a bit vague on this one, but daddy can't remember whether her potassium levels are slightly too high, or slightly too low.
It is, however, a common occurrence in a baby of her age. Mummy and daddy view it as a hiccup, rather than a set-back.
The doctors are rectifying the situation by adjusting the potassium chloride levels in her Total Parenteral Nutrition.
This evening, daddy and Millie had another kangaroo care cuddle.
She started noisily but soon went to sleep - probably dreaming of tulips and breast milk and not thinking about potassium levels at all.
posted by Johann @ 9:38 PM
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