Infant Driven Feeding: How Do I Feed My Preemie?!

When you take your baby home from the NICU, you are so relieved. You finally get this little bundle of joy all to yourself in your own space. However, there are a few things to consider that could help you avoid future struggles with feeding. These bottle feeding strategies also really could be applied to any baby though, they are the same strategies I teach my clients with full term babies too. You also can use these practices during your NICU stay - your nurses may or may not be teaching you these practices already. Many Level 2 or 3 special care nurseries do not always have feeding therapists, so here is the advice you would be getting from a Level 4 NICU SLP/feeding therapist.

First things first, all babies exhibit cues that we need to look out for. Some cues are common among babies, but your baby will also have their unique cues too. Preemies have even more specific tells, and they are not always intuitive. For examples, premature babies from 32-38 weeks gestation are really not always efficient or alert feeders. Many times before 34-35 weeks they are exclusively tube fed, and then gradually will begin taking partial feedings by mouth - either by breast or bottle.

So, if your baby is coming home bottle feeding, you want to first consider position. You want them laying on their side - we call this side lying, either on your lap or on a pillow. This is so that their chin/throat and profile are parallel to the ground, the same position they would be in if they were breastfeeding. Biologically this is the safest and easiest position for newborns, and especially preemies to swallow in and avoid any issues with the milk going down the wrong way. If they are struggling with milk flow at any point, they can slow down and pause, or let the milk dribble out, as opposed to having to keep chugging if they are in a different position than this.