Nursing a Preemie: What to Do When Your Boobs are Bigger than Your Baby

When Elizabeth Abraham began nursing her daughter, her breasts dwarfed the baby. Born at 32 weeks gestation, her little girl had a lot of growing to do before she was big enough to nurse.

Nursing a healthy baby is hard enough. As Elizabeth puts it, “Nursing my son was easy. I could just pick him up and cuddle him. There’s nothing cuddly about a Medela breast pump.”

When a newborn is too small even to take food by mouth, here’s some expert advice from moms and lactation consultants on how (and why) to breastfeed. Continue reading »

Dad, Friends Grow Baby Beards for Preemie

Friends show their support through a crisis in all kinds of ways. Some bring casseroles, some send nice notes to cheer you up, and if you’re Jason Sucharski, some grow beards.

Jason Sucharski’s son, Chase, was born months early, weighing only one pound and 7 ounces when he arrived in July. While he was being treated in the NICU at Sisters Hospital in Buffalo, Continue reading »

Newborn Baby Can’t Cry

Crying - it’s the only method newborns have to signal to their parents that they’re in distress.  Hunger, pain, fatigue, discomfort — it’s all expressed through one kind of cry or another.

But what would happen if your baby couldn’t cry? Little Devon, son to Jody Woods and Joshua Sutterfield of Cullman, Alabama was born without that ability. His vocal cords are paralyzed.
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They Say: NICU Stay Can Cause PTSD For Parents

When I had my first baby, I shared my room with a young woman who’d delivered her daughter prematurely. I felt so bad for her; here I was with this healthy, crying baby while hers was stuck in the NICU. When she left the second day I was there, her baby stayed behind. I’ve thought of her often through the years and wondered how she and her little girl fared.

Some interesting new studies are now finding that having a baby endure a long stay in the NICU can actually cause post-traumatic stress disorder in the parents. Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine followed 18 parents, Continue reading »