Breastfeeding a Preemie

My first child was born eight weeks early. Born at 4 pounds and 3 ounces (which dropped to 3 pounds and 9 ounces), he was too little to nurse.

I really wanted to nurse, so I pumped every day at the hospital and at night at home. Boy, those electric breast pumps at the hospital were wonderful.

Danny's premature problem was an immature digestive system so although we were feeding him breast milk, he wasn't gaining weight very fast. He was almost 3 weeks old and I was still pumping.

My best friend (who didn't nurse her child) asked me, "Why are you bothering? Just bottle-feed him formula." I had to reply, "Because, he will need my milk even more now that he's a preemie." Plus, I wanted that special bond a mother and child have from nursing. After being an incubator, Danny needed that bond too.

Finally at 3 weeks, Danny reached a weight where I could start nursing. I took him a while to catch on, but at 5 weeks old and on his Dad's birthday, Danny came home.

Danny caught up to his peers in weight, height and everything else by the time he was 4 months old. I truly believe nursing helped him get there so fast.

Today Danny is a 5 feet, 11 inch, 230 pound, 16-year-old. He will be a junior next year carrying an A/B average. You'd never guess he started life as a preemie. I THANK GOD for making it so I could nurse.

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