>
>
>The Ped told her not to wake baby at night to nurse - "let her sleep" this baby is sleeping from 11pm til 8 am or so.  Mother is not pumping during night and wakes up engorged (really??).  Since I am still new at this - my advice was to follow her instincts(she called because she felt that long night sleep was too long) I told her to either pump during the night or wake up baby after 4 -5 hours ( I think even sooner is better)  I didn't want her to "not" listen/trust doctor - but is this normal ??  for a preemie ?
>
I think this baby is lucky to have a mom whose instincts are still /
already functioning at full force. Sometimes prematurity or
complications can take a toll on what we feel is normal / natural. Of
course Karen's suggestions to look at output and overall health are
first thoughts, but a few things you noted are indications that things
might not be optimal: the baby has to be woken during the day, the
mother is engorged, and especially the mother's instincts are saying
this doesn't seem right.
It can be hard to wake a sleeping baby and harder to get him to nurse
well. The most pleasant way, I have found, is to pick up the baby after
a couple of hours and place him skin to skin near the breast. This
relates to the thread on arousal and sleep. The physiological norm seems
to be to have mother and baby in close proximity and frequent nursing
day and night at this age -- actually, at this age, what would be normal
would be to have the pregnancy continue! The baby is a bit young to be
foraging for food on his own, in my opinion, and it is not unacceptable
to simply offer it to him... :-)

Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes

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