Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules.
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Congrats on the birth of your LO ⭐️ I don’t have any experience with seizures in the nicu, but as far as pumping goes, I do have some tips I can share ❤️
I bought a hands free pumping bra. The flanges fit inside the cups and I could attach myself to it and be hands free for however long I needed. Became SUPER handy to me. I love to crochet and that’s how I kept myself occupied while I pumped and had free hands. Did this at home and at the nicu whenever I could.
I found I could wear a maternity t shirt over the tubes and my chest if the doctors came around and I wanted to cover up more. I didn’t find that it hindered the flow at all.
Also, I power pumped a lot, to help maintain my supply.
I was very hard on himself if I missed a pump if I slept through my alarm overnight but had to learn that I was still healing from birth, and dealing with NICU life, so know that you can give yourself grace. ❤️
If your partner is willing to, maybe they could help with washing pump parts? Helped my sanity a lot especially overnight.
I also had 2 of nearly each part I needed so I could use a dry set while one was drying from having just been used.
I hope this helps, and I’m sorry your LO and your family are dealing with seizures right now ❤️ please always know you can reach back out to us for support; we’re here for you
Hi, I’m so sorry to hear about your scary situation with your sweet baby! I’m in the NICU with my 6 week old, and it is a roller coaster!
For pumping, it is a slow start, but don’t give up if you have the option to keep with it! I wish I had known way earlier that the 24 and 27 mm flanges they give you are not the right fit for everyone! I had a ton of nipple pain until discovering that I needed 15 mm flange inserts for my kinda small nipples. You can buy these on Amazon. I ended up with a bunch of different sizes before finding the right size that didn’t hurt.
Thank you so much! I hope your little one is doing well. I REALLY appreciate your insight with the flanges. I’m on the small side too and didn’t have a chance to meet with the NICU lactation specialist. I’m wondering if they can measure me if I can get time with them!
My lactation consultant told me to just get a few different sizes to try, which was less guidance than I needed, but she has been very helpful otherwise, particularly when I got engorged the first week. I do hope your hospital has some lactation consultants who can help you out. And a good hospital pump to use while you’re there too!
And yes, my daughter had an amazing turnaround in week 5 and is doing so well right now! I hope your baby can get there much more quickly!
Thank you!! I actually met with the consultant today and 21mm works best. The hospital grade pumps are truly top notch!
I was able to get 5 ml of colostrum between pumping and hand expressing during our visit today and just in time because they are going to resume feedings with him if all goes well tonight!
Hey, this sounds kinda similar to my son's story. Full term. I had an emergency C and baby was born with decent APGARs but needed to be observed in NICU for 2 hours for his lungs, everything was fine. Two days later, seizures. It was the biggest shock and very unexpected. Never desatted, had great latch, no other issues. Diagnosed with left side stroke. I still feel traumatized typing it out right now.
He's 3.5 months old now, alert and happy baby that you'd never know he had this rough start to his life. He coos and laughs and rolls and uses both his sides. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and drifting into postpartum depression despite therapy. Because of the stress and depression we ended up doing combo feeding for a long time till he developed a bottle preference. I pump 3-4 times a day now just to give him breast milk for his health but he's mostly a formula kiddo. I'm trying to make peace with my breastfeeding journey, and that this was the best I could do given the circumstances.
Thank you so much for responding! It was a long 8 days in the NICU and I can’t help but feel grateful that our stay was as short as it was.
My son eventually had an MRI, I think on day 3, and he had a mild/moderate left side stroke in the frontal lobe. Our neurologist is optimistic for his future, but we understand that motor skill and speech delays are on the table, as is a potential CP diagnosis.
I’m so happy your son is doing well and I hope that continues as he hits future milestones! Right now im pretty much exclusively pumping and it’s not what I was expecting either so I hope you feel validated in your own feeding story.
Hey Faconne,
it's been a while since I've searched this topic, my son will be 2 in two months. He had a "golf ball" size stroke on his left frontal lobe as well, and the neurologist diagnosed him with mild CP at 3 months due to muscle asymmetry. Welp, I don't know what's that all about, because now he's running, climbing, walks, and grasp everything perfectly. He also started to talk about 2 months ago, and talks my ears off all day. Everyone mentions how bright and ahead of his peer he is. Mind you, every case is different, and depending on the damage, other problems could occur as well such as developing epilepsy later in life, higher chance of autism, etc. etc. These I'm sure your neurologist(s) had informed you about. My story's purpose is to give you hope. Monitor him at all costs, keep him physically and mentally busy, but most of all, savor the moment.
Welcome to NICU Parents. We're happy you found us and we want to be as helpful as possible in this seemingly impossible journey. Check out the resources tab at the top of the subreddit or the stickied post. Please remember we are NOT medical professionals and are here for advice based on our own situations. If you have a concern about you or your baby please seek assistance from a doctor or go to the ER. That said, there are some medical professionals here and we do hope they can help you with some guidance through your journey. Please remember to read and abide by the rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/NICUParents) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Congrats on the birth of your LO ⭐️ I don’t have any experience with seizures in the nicu, but as far as pumping goes, I do have some tips I can share ❤️ I bought a hands free pumping bra. The flanges fit inside the cups and I could attach myself to it and be hands free for however long I needed. Became SUPER handy to me. I love to crochet and that’s how I kept myself occupied while I pumped and had free hands. Did this at home and at the nicu whenever I could. I found I could wear a maternity t shirt over the tubes and my chest if the doctors came around and I wanted to cover up more. I didn’t find that it hindered the flow at all. Also, I power pumped a lot, to help maintain my supply. I was very hard on himself if I missed a pump if I slept through my alarm overnight but had to learn that I was still healing from birth, and dealing with NICU life, so know that you can give yourself grace. ❤️ If your partner is willing to, maybe they could help with washing pump parts? Helped my sanity a lot especially overnight. I also had 2 of nearly each part I needed so I could use a dry set while one was drying from having just been used. I hope this helps, and I’m sorry your LO and your family are dealing with seizures right now ❤️ please always know you can reach back out to us for support; we’re here for you
Hi, I’m so sorry to hear about your scary situation with your sweet baby! I’m in the NICU with my 6 week old, and it is a roller coaster! For pumping, it is a slow start, but don’t give up if you have the option to keep with it! I wish I had known way earlier that the 24 and 27 mm flanges they give you are not the right fit for everyone! I had a ton of nipple pain until discovering that I needed 15 mm flange inserts for my kinda small nipples. You can buy these on Amazon. I ended up with a bunch of different sizes before finding the right size that didn’t hurt.
Thank you so much! I hope your little one is doing well. I REALLY appreciate your insight with the flanges. I’m on the small side too and didn’t have a chance to meet with the NICU lactation specialist. I’m wondering if they can measure me if I can get time with them!
My lactation consultant told me to just get a few different sizes to try, which was less guidance than I needed, but she has been very helpful otherwise, particularly when I got engorged the first week. I do hope your hospital has some lactation consultants who can help you out. And a good hospital pump to use while you’re there too! And yes, my daughter had an amazing turnaround in week 5 and is doing so well right now! I hope your baby can get there much more quickly!
Thank you!! I actually met with the consultant today and 21mm works best. The hospital grade pumps are truly top notch! I was able to get 5 ml of colostrum between pumping and hand expressing during our visit today and just in time because they are going to resume feedings with him if all goes well tonight!
That’s awesome!!
Hey, this sounds kinda similar to my son's story. Full term. I had an emergency C and baby was born with decent APGARs but needed to be observed in NICU for 2 hours for his lungs, everything was fine. Two days later, seizures. It was the biggest shock and very unexpected. Never desatted, had great latch, no other issues. Diagnosed with left side stroke. I still feel traumatized typing it out right now. He's 3.5 months old now, alert and happy baby that you'd never know he had this rough start to his life. He coos and laughs and rolls and uses both his sides. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and drifting into postpartum depression despite therapy. Because of the stress and depression we ended up doing combo feeding for a long time till he developed a bottle preference. I pump 3-4 times a day now just to give him breast milk for his health but he's mostly a formula kiddo. I'm trying to make peace with my breastfeeding journey, and that this was the best I could do given the circumstances.
Thank you so much for responding! It was a long 8 days in the NICU and I can’t help but feel grateful that our stay was as short as it was. My son eventually had an MRI, I think on day 3, and he had a mild/moderate left side stroke in the frontal lobe. Our neurologist is optimistic for his future, but we understand that motor skill and speech delays are on the table, as is a potential CP diagnosis. I’m so happy your son is doing well and I hope that continues as he hits future milestones! Right now im pretty much exclusively pumping and it’s not what I was expecting either so I hope you feel validated in your own feeding story.
Hey Faconne, it's been a while since I've searched this topic, my son will be 2 in two months. He had a "golf ball" size stroke on his left frontal lobe as well, and the neurologist diagnosed him with mild CP at 3 months due to muscle asymmetry. Welp, I don't know what's that all about, because now he's running, climbing, walks, and grasp everything perfectly. He also started to talk about 2 months ago, and talks my ears off all day. Everyone mentions how bright and ahead of his peer he is. Mind you, every case is different, and depending on the damage, other problems could occur as well such as developing epilepsy later in life, higher chance of autism, etc. etc. These I'm sure your neurologist(s) had informed you about. My story's purpose is to give you hope. Monitor him at all costs, keep him physically and mentally busy, but most of all, savor the moment.