I got quite a lot of info today. Over the past 2 days, the boys have been refusing their bottles of frozen/thawed milk. They nurse just fine and take fresh milk from a bottle. After talking to the lactation consultant, it sounds like an issue of the milk tasting metallic because of extra lipase in the milk. Lipase is a natural enzyme found in breastmilk that helps break down some of the fats in milk so they're more easily digestible and also helps to keep the fats well mixed. Lipase starts to break down as soon as milk is expressed and as it breaks down, it can change the taste of the milk. I guess when it's frozen and then thawed, it can be noticeably more metallic. The milk isn't bad though, it's just that the babies don't like it. So, this milk that they're having a problem with is from when the boys were a few days old and I'm hoping that it's just a small batch of milk. They had been taking frozen/thawed milk from a bottle before I brought in the older stuff. Once We bought and organized the chest freezer, I pulled the oldest stuff to the top so we could use it sooner.
So, for now, they asked me to bring only fresh milk in and see if that helps. They're both allowed to either nurse or bottle feed at every single feeding, as long as they're showing interest! Combined, they're only eating about 13 ounces per day and I'm pumping 35-40 per day so bringing in fresh is no big deal. I have to scald the remaining milk before storing it which is a mild pain in the rear but well worth the hassle.
The boys both nursed well today. They both nursed enough that their nurse only gave them half of their regular feeding. Addison took his from a bottle and Riley took his through the tube.
Addison is up to 3lbs. 9oz. and Riley now weighs 2lbs. 11.7oz.
Riley was turned down to .5 litres on his cannula. His nurse said that she doesn't think he needs oxygen at all but since they were just taken off the high flow and turned down to 1 litre yesterday, she didn't want to push for too much from the doctor. He almost never has the prongs in his nose and always has saturations in the mid to high 90's. His nurse told me that she doesn't think, for one second, that he'll go home on oxygen!
Addison has stayed on the same oxygen settings but did finally have a huge poop today and was bumped up to 36cc per feeding.
That's about all I can think of for now. I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I'm going back in at 10pm tonight so I'll recap all of their info.
1 comment:
It is so awesome to hear all the positive things happening and the pictures are great! You are all doing so well! I can't believe how much the boys have changed in their appearance - they've filled out so beautifully!
Congratulations on a job very well done. And, as I told Ian today, even if you have to dump all of the old breast milk, you're still ahead of the game.
Enjoy those babies, you'll be amazed at how fast they will grow up!
Love and blessings to all of you.
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