All You Can Eat Buffet

Today was "challenge day" for Dexter. The thing with preemie babies is that they do not have well-developed muscles to suck for dinner and they need to be trained. The object of the challenge is to see how well he can feed from mom's breast in a 12-hour period.

For the last 10 days we've been monitoring how much Dexter has been feeding at each session. If he did not get enough, the nurses simply topped him up with additional breast milk that they gave him through a feeding tube that went directly into his stomach. He's been doing really well with the part breastfeeding/part feeding tube system, but before they can discharge him from the hospital, he needs to perfect the breastfeeding thing.

It was a long day for both of us. I was at the hospital for 14 hours today, with me feeding Dexter every three. Dexter was a real trooper and he actually did really well. However, by the last feeding, he was simply exhausted by having to work for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This self-serve, all you can eat thing was new to him and he was completely wiped. I was as well but it would be nice to get rid of that feeding tube and passing this test is another step closer to going home.