Tube!

No not a term of abuse, a description of how he is fed!

Our wee boy is doing super. He is now off all the monitors and his heated mattress has been removed as he is managing to regulate his own temperature (with a hat and lots of warm clothes to help). He's even managed regain the weight he lost in the first few days and he now weighs 4lb 3oz, which is 2oz more than when he was delivered.

The only thing he's not doing like a full term baby is feeding. He's trying, bless him, but he's just not quite coordinated or strong enough to manage that yet. So he's still getting fed through his tube, which goes up his nose and down into his tummy.

For every feed, first the nurse screws a syringe into the purple fitting and pulls just a little fluid up through it. This fluid is then checked with litmus paper for acid. If the acid is there, it proves that the tube is still where it's meant to be in his stomach. If there's no acid (that's not happened yet) then it could mean the tube has moved! If that happened you wouldn't want to try feeding him through it - it could go in his lungs by mistake!

Once the tube is checked, we can attach a syringe containing milk and gently deliver it to him. Simples :-)

We've now started trying him with more conventional feeding, and once he's mastered that properly he'll be allowed home. It could take a week or two, but we'll get there!