Learning to Eat from a Bottle

Most of us would think that a baby eating from a bottle is an easy task and something they just know how to do. Often that is the case, but sometimes babies have a hard time with it. Evan didn't really have an issue with it until he started refusing to eat because of the MSUD and now having had the feeding tube for a while. We reintroduced the bottle to him a couple of days ago. At first he wasn't really sucking on the bottle and would only take about 10 mL.  The geneticist and the dietician have set up a specific feed amount that he is to take each day and divided it into 12 equal feedings. That means right now he is feeding every 2 hours! He gets breastmilk from a bottle 3 times a day. This helps to keep his amino acids in a normal range instead of dropping to nothing. He gets 55 mL of breastmilk at each of his 3 feedings. The rest of his feeds are MSUD formula and he gets 40 mL of that at each feed. Anything Evan doesn't take from the bottle within a reasonable amount of time we place into a syringe and feed him through his tube.  This is to make sure he is getting the calories he needs.

Twice today he has taken his entire MSUD feed from the bottle! YAY! Most of his feeds are averaging about 25 mL from the bottle and the rest from the tube. This is a great start and it seems he is getting better and better with the bottle! This is good because the sooner he is completely on bottle feeds, the sooner we get to go home!

Daddy gave Evan a bath today while Mommy went to lunch with some friends from the squadron. It was good for Mommy to get out for a little bit. Daddy said Evan enjoyed his bath. After his bath his hair decided to stand up in a mohawk! Too cute! :)

Evan's leucine levels are normal and now it's all on him to take the bottle. It's just a waiting game. When he is ready to go home he will tell us by taking more of his feeds through a bottle. Evan is our "little warrior" and he is doing great! :)