Thumb sucking – caught out!
Well, i’ve visited Matthew twice today so far, and on both occasions, i’ve caught him sucking his thumb. That’s actually a good thing. Babies, in particular preemies, need to practice non-nutritive sucking in the leadup to taking to the breast (which is likely to be a fair while off yet). In general, he’s been doing really well. He’s still on the HFO, but his oxygen saturation is a bit more stable so they’ve dropped the oxygen level down a bit (now around 38%) and they’ve dropped the mean pressures a bit. His oedema is of course getting a bit worse, but that’s not really a concern, as it will subside when he goes back onto normal ventilation. Also, he’s started back on 0.5 ml of breast milk per hour which will also stimulate fluid disposal (something about the protein which aids in ridding the body of excessive fluid).
September 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Aww, ain’t he a cute little bubby? Thumb-sucking champ, that guy is… like his dad. Pic’s worth the wait.