Hey MicroPreemie: Suck, Swallow and Breath

Suck, Swallow and Breath – Seems pretty simple, Huh!  

Not for our MicroPreemies – they are just not born with the ability to Suck, Swallow and Breath.

It takes time, sometimes a very long time for these extremely early babies to learn something most of us take for granted.  But these babies are Fighters and Stronger than is able to comprehend.  They are born way to early and are extremely fragile yet they fight and grow and soon enough learn to take a pacifier then a bottle.  

• Stats: A Preemie can usual start sucking on a pacifier at 28 weeks gestation.  At 30 weeks a baby can usually start to suck and swallow together.
• Definition of a MicroPreemie:  Baby born before 26 weeks gestation and/or weighing less than 1 pound 12 ounces (800 grams)

So when taking into account that a Micropreemie is born at minimum 2 weeks before a baby in utero learns to suck and a minimum of 4 weeks before they coordinate sucking and swallowing you can understand why all this takes time and growth.

My daughters Amazing Nurses would put a pacifier in her Isolette and every time they accessed her or needed to go into her Isolette they would put that pacifier in her mouth.  Suck Baby Suck!!  You have to build those muscles!  The Nurses know if were going to get this baby HOME she has to learn to Suck and Swallow.

So Hey There Hey MicroPreemie you need to Suck and you need to Swallow we want to go HOME! = GOAL!!!

Now Breathing is another thing, at least it was for us.  We battled those Lung throughout our NICU stay and even after we were discharged.  Don’t think for one minute that the Breathing is going to keep you in the NICU.  Yes, we were on a copiously large dose of Steroids.  The doctors tried a few different steroids until they found what worked for her.  Every baby is different.  Steroids were a bit scary as with all drugs they have a lot of side effect.  We weighted our options and decided to try the dose the doctors recommended.  Aggressive approach worked for us, we still came home on oxygen, but we came HOME!! And before her due date at that and today she is a happy, health 4 year old.

For a Micropreemie this can take weeks or even months before they learn to suck and swallow and sometimes even longer to breath on their own.

Just Remember to Take it Day by Day!  They need Time!  They need Growth!  

This is not a Sprint!