[naca]

Hey all I think I mentioned that we got our FS's new baby brother. We've had him for a week (he was in the hospital a week, then went to respite for a week while we were on vacation) now. I've watched him extra close b/c FS has had numerous medical issues.. So far he seems good The only thing that concerns me is how sleepy he is. Granted he's a preemie -born at 35w3d and now 3.5wks old , heck he's not even DUE til next week lol! So I'm really not sure if the sleepyness is because he's a preemie and he's not supposed to be on the outside yet or what? The boy literally (and I asked DH to confirm that I wasn't overexaggerating) awake with eyes open no more than 1hr out of every 24 IF THAT much! He eats every 3hrs and does wake and fuss to eat but not to the point htat he opens his eyes. He drinks his bottles with his eyes shut &falls asleep after 1- 1.5oz to the point where I have to change his diaper & burp him to get him to wake up enough to finish his bottle, then he falls asleep again after the rest is done.
Does anyone have thoughts on this? Is it normal for preemies to sleep this much?

Side note- his newborn screening came back today and the nurse called to tell me that he needs additional bloodwork. Something to do with the thyroid (or thymus?) came back borderline.. I doubt anyone knows anything about that either but figured I might as well ask LO!L!

THanks all!

[committedsoul]

Originally Posted by naca

Side note- his newborn screening came back today and the nurse called to tell me that he needs additional bloodwork. Something to do with the thyroid (or thymus?) came back borderline.. I doubt anyone knows anything about that either but figured I might as well ask LO!L!

THanks all!

I don't know anything about things like this, but I just want to wish you good luck with the little one...

Withay? Withay? Where are you??

She knows a lot about preemies and their habits. She'll be able to help you out.

Good luck!

[jency]

Our preemie was born between 33-34 weeks and he too stayed at NICU for a week before we got to take him home. The first month we had him home was the easiest. He slept only to wake up every 3 hours for his feeding then went right back to sleep. Half way through his feeding I'd burp him so he'll wake up and finish all 2 ounces. By the tine we burped him after finishing his milk, he'd be asleep. The nurse suggested we change his diaper before we fed him so he can go straight back to sleep. He's now going on his 2nd month and it's not as easy any more. There's times when he'd stay away awake for 3-4 hours (and he'd do this when it's after midnight). Finally read the book Baby Wise and is now in track of getting him to sleep longer and right away after feeding. Good luck!

[athikers]

I would verify with your doctor that his oxygen saturation is good and he's not using up all his energy to breath. When our kiddo is off his O2 he cannot gain weight, and sleeps much more, because he is using so much energy just "being". I know before kiddo came to us (at 8 months) he did sleep a LOT so it may be normal.

The thyroid might be part of it too... speaking of my kiddo, he's alarming, gotta go!

[Withay]

The first thing I thought of was "was this little guy prenatally exposed to drugs and/or alcohol?".

If so, this could be a huge factor. Many of the babies that I work with are prenatally exposed, especially to meth and a lot of them are what I term "very sleepy babies". These are the ones that you have to wake to feed and work to keep awake to finish a feeding.

The first thing I would do is find out from the pediatrician, not the cw, what if any drugs/alcohol he was exposed to. Also, was he exposed only at the beginning of the pregnancy or was did the exposure continue? Another thing to ask the ped is what his Apgar scores were. These scores can give you information about the little guy. If he was having respiratory difficulties in the minutes after birth then that could affect him.

How much is he eating every 3 hours? How long does it take him to eat? You don't want a preemie to suckle for more than 20 minutes at any one feeding because after that they are burning the calories that they are taking in while they eat. Doing that does not allow them to grow properly. You may want to try giving him 1/2 of a normal feeding every 1-1/2 hrs. If it takes him more than 20 minutes to finish, you may need to try feeding him small amounts every hour. I know it gets tiring, but it will help him so much.

How is his suck? Is it strong, weak? If it is weak you might want to ask the ped or public health nurse about getting a Haberman feeder. These work well for babies who have weak sucks. You are able to gently squeeze the nipple to assist them so they don't have to work so hard.

Problems with the thyroid can make him more tired, so that may be an additional factor. Ask the ped exactly what the issues are that they are looking at.

I have found that most times the babies 'outgrow' this tremendous need for sleep by the time that they are 2 months old.

Another person to check with is the public health nurse. Develop a relationship with this person for future little ones. He/she can help you connect to the different services this little guy may/will need.

[mommy2fiveplus]

My 34 weeker slept almost 24/7 as well. We had to wake her (take off all clothing and expose her to cold air) just to get her wake enough to eat. You will know if he is getting enough if he gains wt (might be a little slow) and has adequate wet diapers (8-10/24 hours). If this is not happening he may need to be fed via gavage (a tube from mouth to stomach) it is not all that difficult and many parents with babies who have heart trouble or feeding difficulties are taught to do it. They may have you bottle feed as much as he will take and then finish the required amount via gavage.

As far as the thyoid issue, itr really depends on whether or not he is producing too much or too little thyroid hormone. If the TSH(thyroid stimulating hormone) is high then he probably is not producing enough TH (thyroid hormone) conversly if TSH is too low it likely means he producing too much TH. Too much TH is more common in drug exposed babies and can lead to poor weight gain (causes increased metabolism), aggitation, poor sleep (seem hyperactive) and sometimes a "racing heart" which means a fast heartbeat (beware a newborns normal heartrate is 140-160 bpm compared to a adult 60-100 bpm). Hypothyroidism is basically the opposite and is more common in preemies because the tymus is underdeveloped. This condition usually clears between 8-12 weeks. The real trouble comes when you have a preemie drug exposed baby because the signs can be confusing and contradictory. Also you should know that if these labs were drawn in the NICU, the baby could have been on IV fluids at the time of blood draw and that could have "watered down" the results, causing a borderline result, which means you might have nothing to worry about.

Good Luck!

[Gentin]

My bio son was born at 29 weeks gestation and in my experience with preemies - I learned that the time they sleep is when they are growing and developing - so you want them to sleep. My son slept ALOT we took him home after 7 weeks and he was still not due to be born at the point and he slept all the time - like the other posts stated he would wake up to eat and would be sleeping before I was done!! I would still talk to the doctor but with my preemie experience I found the same thing - hope this is helpful!

[aedems]

Concerning your placement's newborn screening, generally they screen for congenital hypothyroidism. The baby will need more tests to confirm or rule out the diagnosis. It is a genetic disorder that causes infants to not have enough thyroid hormone. It can cause growth and brain retardation, but there is good news - it can be easily fixed by thyroid replacement. The symptoms can be mild to severe, so read what you find on the web with that knowledge and know that this really can be treated once detected. That is the wonderful thing about newborn screening!! Let us know how your little one does.

[naca]

Thanks for all the advice everyone !!

Withay- yes he was exposed to both cocaine & marijuana. We are switching him to our dr & have an appt this coming week for his 1mo check up so I'll see if he has received his birth records yet & can tell me the Apgars I do know that he was an emergency C-section, water broke 24hrs before Biomom decided to go to the hospital and get checked out. At the hospital, the dr checked her only to find out the baby was breech & his foot was hanging out ! Ack!

He's eating around 3oz every 3hrs. He takes probably 10mins to do the first 1.5oz then falls asleep.. We've been changing his diaper /burping /ect and then he'll usually eat the rest but not always. Thanks so much for all the advice!!

Mommy2fiveplus- thanks for the thyroid info!! I have no clue if the TSH is high or low, they jsut said it came back borderline and needed to be retested. He's been gaining weight pretty good - 4lb12oz at birth to 6lb @3wks old. And he was never in the NICU so I doubt he had IV fluids but not sure. He was in the hospital for a week but the hospital there doesn't have a NICU so they just kept him in the reg. nursery.

Gentin- Thanks I kinda figured it was normal but wanted the reassurance After all he's still not even due yet so why should he be awake right?!

[lazshay]

Many preemies need to have their thyroid rechecked because it just hasn't developed correctly yet. Ours was a 32 weeker. She didn't pass the first one, but was fine on the one given before she left the NICU 6 weeks later.

[mama-2-3]

My preemie foster baby slept a LOT too. I think they just need the extra sleep time to grow and develop. As long as he is eating, I wouldn't worry.