Feeding: How it all worked out

As I mentioned in a previous post one of our first hurdles with the cleft was going to be learning how to feed Wyatt. Because he has a cleft lip and palate he is unable to get suction. For Wyatt sucking is like drinking through a straw with a hole in it. Nursing or using a traditional bottle wasn't going to work for us. The Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Clinic Coordinator/Speech-Lang. Pathologist we were working with at the University of Minnesota assured us early on that she would be right by our side when he was born to help us get off to as normal a start as possible with feeding. This meant calling her when the baby was on his way so she could come to the hospital right after he was born to help us get started. So, the first person we called after Wyatt was born was Anna. She was our first visitor and volunteered her time to help us. Anna is amazing and I know part of the reason why is because she herself was born with a cleft. She is a strong advocate for Wyatt and other children born with this condition. She even changed Wyatt's first diaper in the chaos of those first hours!

Anna brought several bottles to try including the MeadJohnson and the Haberman. Wyatt rejected the Haberman and some of the others but seemed to take to the MeadJohnson. We used this bottle for the first couple of days in the hospital but Wyatt seemed to get tired from the effort it took to eat and we couldn't tell if he was getting enough. We didn't see Anna again during our stay in the hospital but there was a Speech-Lang. Pathologist at the hospital, Kellie, who also wanted to work with us. After observing a feeding she thought we should try another bottle. She had us try the pigeon bottle and it seemed to work better. Kellie was so helpful! She came back a couple of times to check on us and did a lot of running around/research to help us find bottles and pacifiers that might work for Wyatt. We had a lot of support from eveyone at the hospital. We also got a lot of extra help and advice regarding pumping so I could get off to the best possible start with all of that. The very first time I pumped I got a whole ounce and impressed all the nurses! Looking back this seemed to be a sign of future pumping success because that has gone very well.

We were still using the Pigeon bottle when we got home from the hospital. When Anna observed us feeding the day after we got home she tried a few different bottles again and some adaptations (combing the nipple from one with the bottle of another). We left that appointment using the Pigeon nipple with the MeadJohnson bottle. The doctors and cleft team monitored feeding and weight gain closely. At Wyatt's first weight check he wasn't gaining enough weight. I was so stressed out and sad my baby wasn't getting enough to eat. He cried all the time and looking back it was probably because he was hungry. Poor guy. I left that appointment a highly motivated Mommy. We were going to get food in this kid if it killed me! We decided to give the Haberman bottle another try because so many babies do well with it. We were also going to be more rigid with our feeding schedule. No more long naps for Wyatt. We woke him up to feed him every 2-3 hours. What do you know? It worked and within the first week Wyatt gained 11 oz! Three weeks after that he was still gaining weight like a champ.

We have been in a "normal" routine with feeding for a while now and are so proud of ourselves and Wyatt for tackling this first hurdle.