Term baby in NICU:Feeding Issues

His sugar levels are stable according to them and have been for the past 5 days.

I think what sucks is the lack of communication with me from the doctor.

I will wait a couple of days and seek a second opinion elsewhere.

Its hard without all the information - what are his suger levels like? Are they going up???

Heres the thing, there is no definite sugar amount in babies, so each doc/health authority seems to asign a random number as an indication of two low... The academy of breastfeeding medicine is trying to change this to looking at symptoms rather than the number - so a child should be treated for hypoglyceamia if showing the signs of hypoglyceamia. The "gold standard" should be that if a baby is shown to have low blood sugar at birth, mom should be given the opportunity to feed with colostrum (high fat, and sugar content) and the sugar should be tested an hour later to see if it has risen. If yes, then colostrum is probably sufficient. If no then supplementation may be neccesary. SOme mothers who wish to preserve the vigin gut of a newborn baby can request iv glucose rather than the standard formula.

50mls sounds like a LOT for a 4 day old baby. IS his sugar levels going up? Are you pumping/breastfeeding (breastmilk is far superior to formula for stabilising blood sugar if mom is producing sufficient, but you should be having lots of opportunities to pump/offer the breast to encourage adequate supply and you should be feeding before the hospital supplements otherwise your supply will be adversely affected.

Otherwise if his sugar levels have increased perhaps it is worth asking for a second opinion, as not all paediatricians are worthy of their title........

Vuvs that does sound strange as 50ml should be enough for now.
The only thing I can think of why they want to keep in him longer (and perhaps also increase feeds) is maybe his sugar levels are still not stable?

Ask them what his levels have been over the last few days. And since he has gained since birth - that's also a good sign.

Hope they can give you some answers!

Hi Everybody, I've actually never posted before but here's my story:

I had my gorgeous son on 17th march 2011 at 38wk 5days, He was then admitted to the Nicu for low blood sugar levels, he was simply not getting enough from wat little colostrum I had.

He has since been in the nicu and is on abt 50mls at 3hrly feeds. Naturally I have googled this no end. It seems like this is well within the range for a 4 day old but his doctors seem to think it is not enough and he shud be on 100 mls and want to keep him longer until possibly the end of this week. BTW he was 3.18kg at birth and n0w weighs 3.20kgs yesterday.

Has this or any similar happened to any of you? If I sound a little anxious to get him home, Its becos i am and yes I am a FTM.

Lastly here is a pic of my angel!!!