How can I successfully breastfeed my premature baby?

Question

My baby was born at 32 weeks. He was born without a sucking reflex, so needed to be fed through a nasogastric tube and needed to be in a humidicrib.

How can I manage to feed him exclusively on my breast milk?

Answer 1

WARNING! This response may contain discussion of breastmilk that some may find 'icky'.
Yet most people are usually ok with drinking milk intended for baby cows...

Getting milk

Probably the most pressing thing is the supply issue - how do you obtain breastmilk for a premature baby. The odds are good that you aren't producing any useful milk yourself.

If you have good friends then one who breastfeeds may be able to express (pump) some to share with you. Asking for it or discussing it may be more than a little awkward, especially when quite a few people find feeding a human child milk from a human odd to begin with. There are 'milk banks' where some nursing mothers donate milk for babies just like yours. If all else fails you can sometimes buy it frozen online (despite it being illegal in many places.) That will get your baby onto breastmilk initially.

Supplying your own milk

Following on from that is securing your own milk supply. There are ways to stimulate your supply. Essentially the cheapest method again relies on friends and feeding their babies to stimulate your supply. There are also some things doctors can do to trigger your milk supply, but you'll be in close contact with doctors already and should discuss it with them and even if your milk supply has 'dried up' they may still be able to help.

There was a TV programme broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK about people sharing their breastmilk called 'other peoples breastmilk' some years ago. If you're in the UK or can access the 4OD service it is still available (last time I checked).