Feeding low birth weight babies – The low birth weight infant has an immature alimentary system which causes special feeding problems which need to be tackled in a special way.
Important tips for mothers on feeding low birth weight babies !
In order to make up for a child’s weight deficit, he needs more milk. He also needs additional vitamins – A, C, D, E, and K, as also iron and folic acid for the first month.
As a rule, he should receive his first feed early rather than late. Most good centres have a policy to give the feed just three hours after birth.
If the baby is less than 1,200 gms in weight, especially when breathing difficulty or abdominal distension are also present, doctors prefer to start intravenous drip in order to give 5 to 10 per cent glucose round the clock.
Breast feeding low birth weight babies
Most babies with weight over, 1,800 gms and some even with less of it are able to suck well from the breast or the bottle. Doctors would like you to breastfeed such a baby.
Breast milk-fed babies have lower mortality and lower incidence of infections and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) than those fed with infant formula.
One precaution – feed the baby small amounts but make it at more frequent intervals. Most babies weighing between 1,200 and 1,800 gms would need to be fed in the hospital through a tube passed through the mouth or the nose into the stomach.
This kind of feeding is indicated if the baby becomes quickly tired or takes more than 20 minutes to finish the recommended amount to feed.
Also, in babies weighing <1 kg at birth, start nutritional feeds at 15–20 mL/kg/day and increase by 15–20 mL/kg/day. If the feeds are tolerated for around 2–3 days, consider increasing faster. For babies weighing ≥1 kg at birth, start nutritional feeds at 30 mL/kg/day and increase by 30 mL/kg/day.
Tube feeding low birth weight babies
There are two types to tube feeding. First is the intermittent tube feeding in which milk is given at certain intervals.
The other is the intragastric infusion in which a tube is permanently left in the stomach with the other end attached to an infusion bottle containing milk.
Since the baby keeps receiving continuous supply of milk in this way, continuous intragastric milk infusion is now winning pride of place in feeding the low birthweight baby.
With this regimen, the baby takes a higher amount of milk, gains more weight, nursing time is cut and baby is least handled. Moreover, chances of regurgitation and aspiration into the lungs are minimized.
Hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose), a common complication in such babies, occurs only infrequently when the baby is fed by this method. The doctors may ask you to supply your expressed milk for the baby. So, be prepared.
How to express milk from your breast
In order to express milk, cup the breast with your hand so that your fingers are behind the areola, the thumb is on top and the remaining fingers beneath.
As you push tow the breast back towards the chest wall, squeeze the fingers rhythmically. Keep rotating your hand around the breast so that milk ducts in all directions get emptied.
Repeat the process in the other breast and again return to the first breast. Do this changing back and forth several times.
Expressed milk should be collected in a previously boiled container. This milk (often separated into two layers which is all very well and normal) needs to be stored in a refrigerator before it is used.
In case this facility is not available, you may store it in the coolest possible place in the house. In the latter situation, the milk must be used within two to three hours.
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