Quiet Baby/Oral Feeding

Hi everyone. I have two questions I was hoping to get some help with:

  1. I had our little boy at 33 weeks due to placenta previa and we’re coming up on 4 weeks in the NICU. He was initially struggling with his breathing, but is now on a .06 scant flow of oxygen. Now we’re waiting for his oral feeding skills to kick in so he can come home.

The nurses have told us that baby boys develop slower with their oral feeding skills than girls. They also said his oral feeding skills should kick in around 35-36 weeks. We’re almost 37 weeks with super slow progress though. (He’s drinking about 20 ml of milk with the nurses during each feed—he drinks 54 ml total. I’ve been able to get him to drink 31-38 ml when I’ve fed him.)

It’s so depressing to leave each day and feel helpless. The NPs and nurses have told us there isn’t anything we can do to speed the process up. (I’ve given up on breast feeding until he is out of the NICU since bottle-feeding seems to be easier for him and I think it will get out out faster.)

Have any of your babies experienced this and did you find anything that helped? Did your doctors give you any tips that helped your preemie with bottle feeding?

  1. Our baby is also a calm little guy who usually only fusses when he’s being moved around during cares. However, he frequently has painful gas, but he doesn’t cry whenever it happens. He just turns really red and scrunches up with quiet grunts. When I’m there, I help him by rubbing his back and belly, and pumping his legs. But when I mentioned this to his nurse, she said since she hasn’t heard him cry and he’s generally a calm baby, she thinks he’s fine and hasn’t noticed his gas problems.

This made me wonder if my baby is getting less attention and care from the NICU team because he’s quiet/struggling in silence. We’ve also been with them for longer than some of the other babies, so maybe they’re used to him and he’s at the bottom of their priority list?

Should I bring this up with the nurses? Am I over-reacting about his gas and her comment?

Thanks for the help!