u/asii8726

My daughter was born at 22+3 weeks and she is now 28+3 weeks. We have been trying to establish feeds, but unfortunately she hasn't been tolerating them well.

This has happened around 3–4 times now. Whenever they try to start feeds, her tummy becomes distended, so the feeds are stopped again. She has had periods where they’ve tried feeding again, only for the same thing to happen.

I know every micro-preemie is different, but I’d really appreciate hearing from parents who went through something similar.

Did your baby also struggle with feeds in the beginning?

What did the NICU team do when the tummy became distended?

How long did it take before your baby was able to tolerate feeds?

Were there any things that helped your baby eventually progress with feeding?

I’m especially interested in hearing from parents of babies born around 22–24 weeks, as I’m trying to understand what others experienced and what the feeding journey looked like for them.

Thank you ❤️

I’m a mother of two. My first pregnancy was full-term, but this time, with my second pregnancy, I had to deliver my baby at just 22 weeks and 3 days.

At my 20-week scan, my cervix measured 5.1 cm, and everything seemed fine. But within just two weeks, I had dilated to 5 cm, and my membranes were already bulging. I went to the emergency department, and after three days of contractions, I delivered my baby.

Throughout this pregnancy, from as early as the first trimester, I had pelvic girdle pain. Every time I mentioned it to my OB and MFM, I was told that there wasn’t really anything they could do about it, so I learned to live with the pain and assumed it was just part of the pregnancy.

After everything happened, I saw a new OB, and she told me that I had experienced painless cervical dilation. But when I think back, I remember having quite severe pain for about two days before I went to the emergency department. At the time, I thought it was just my usual pelvic girdle pain, so I ignored it and tried to rest.

Now, my baby is in the NICU, fighting through so much, and I can’t seem to stop the thoughts running through my mind.

I keep wondering if I should have known. If I should have recognized the pain as something different. If I should have done something sooner.

And most of all, I feel like my body failed her.

She is already going through so much, and as her mother, it’s incredibly difficult not to blame myself for what happened.

I know I can’t change what happened, but I’m struggling to make peace with the fact that my body couldn’t protect her the way I thought it would.