Your baby needs good nutrition to grow and develop. Nutrition has an impact on the health of your baby now and in the future.
Premature babies (born before 37 weeks) have more nutritional needs. They may need extra support and patience.
They need time to mature and develop their feeding skills.
Feeding in the hospital
In the early days in the hospital, your baby may not be able to feed from the breast or a bottle. They may need tube feeding. The tube will contain expressed breast milk or a special formula for premature babies.
As your baby matures and grows stronger, they will progress to feeding from the breast or a bottle. This change often starts in the hospital and continues at home.
When your baby goes from tube feeding to feeding by mouth, it may not be easy. You may feel anxious and need some extra support.
Your baby will stay in hospital until they are feeding enough and growing.
Give your baby time to build their feeding skills. Try not to rush them. Your baby's sleep time is just as important as their wake time at this age.
Getting support
You can get support from your hospital lactation consultant and midwife.
Talking to other parents on a similar journey can help. But remember that every baby and family's journey is unique.
After your baby leaves hospital, you can get support from:
- your public health nurse (PHN)
- lactation consultant
- GP
You may need to bring your baby back to the hospital for appointments. Your hospital will continue developmental checks if your baby was very premature (born before 32 weeks).
Feeding at home
When your baby is at home, they should be able to feed well enough by mouth to meet their nutrition needs for growth.
Feeding should be a relaxed and enjoyable experience for you and your baby.
Give your baby time to feed. Their feeding skills will improve with time and practice.
Continue skin-to-skin contact. This improves your baby's feeding reflexes, which helps them to feed.
Your PHN or GP will check that your baby is:
- growing
- able to feed with no problems
- improving their feeding skills
