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Home › Articles › Preemies, Multiples and Adoption › Breastfeeding Your Preemie

Breastfeeding Your Preemie

Breastfeeding Premature Infants

By Gail Pirics

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When complications throw a wrench in your pregnancy and the prospect of a premature delivery seems imminent, can breastfeeding your newborn still fit into your mothering plans? According to Carri Buerger and Lori Kolder, both nurses and lactation consultants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill., the answer is an emphatic yes.

"It is absolutely a reality," Buerger says.

"We encourage breastfeeding to promote shorter lengths of stay for the baby," Kolder says. "The acuity of illness is decreased and it lessens the chance of colitis and illnesses during hospitalizations."

The key is starting right away – and sticking with it.

Getting Started: Pump Early, Pump Often
Usually babies born prior to 31 or 32 weeks gestation cannot breastfeed until they are deemed stable. However, breast milk can still be given to the infant through a feeding tube that goes through the nose or mouth to the stomach.

In order to establish a milk supply, start pumping your breasts within six hours of delivery. Then, pump every three to four hours for 15 to 20 minutes to continue stimulation and mimic a full-term baby's feeding schedule. Kolder recommends using a hospital grade, double electric breast pump with a cycling of 60 to 70 times per minute and a suction strength of 215 to 225 to maximize efficiency.

"A lot of pumps at the local stores have a cycling of 18 to 20 times per minute and suction strength of 20 to 30," she says. "And the strength of a battery-operated pump is dependent on how good the batteries are."


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