Zachary -- Week Six

Mon Feb 1^st – Sun Feb 7th

Zachary had an amazing week!! HUGE NEWS: On Feb 3^rd, he took a full bottle feeding!! A full 65 ml with no spells!! Why is this such amazing news? Zachary can’t go home with the nasogastric tube (NG tube) to supplement his feedings. As a little guy, he often doesn’t have the energy to finish the bottle or just refuses to take more at a single sitting. When he doesn’t take a full bottle, they put the rest down his tube. We need to work up to full feedings, by bottle or nursing, each and every time in order for them to take out the NG tube. Since Feb 3rd, he has taken a few more full bottles and many almost-full bottle feedings – he is making amazing and rapid progress. He is also displaying hunger, something he hasn’t shown in the past 6 weeks. This suggests that his digestive system is maturing and he is digesting his feedings more efficiently and rapidly.

The other big news is that he has put on 8 ounces this week! As of Sunday night, he was 5 lb 12 oz. This is slightly faster weight gain than expected (only very slightly), which suggests that he is doing a way, WAY better job nursing than we thought. Usually, he nurses for half an hour and we subtract 15 to 20 ml from his 65 ml feeding. We’d been choosing this amount because he only *really* nursed for about 10 – 15 min and kind of slept / nursed for the remaining 15 min with it being mostly sleeping. Nursing really wipes him out! All in all, an amazing week for our little one – he should be home this week!