Only Bottles for Ben

Sunday was a big day - 3 bottles.

Monday was an even bigger day - all bottles, all the time. No more feeding tube!! It's definitely exhausting for such a little guy to drink 6 bottles a day - but Ben is getting the hang of it. At his 12:30 feeding, he did great - slurping down 37 ccs in 15 minutes. His 3:30 feeding was a different story. He was dead asleep when we started and kept falling asleep during the feeding. Nurse Ilene kept showing me tricks to wake him up, like putting a cool, damp cloth on his head; opening up his sleeper; tickling his foot. He would squirm, grimace, and go right back to sleep. That feeding took 35 minutes. The goal is for each feeding to take only 30 minutes. Otherwise, he expends more energy than he gains. When he's that tired, he forgets to breathe. That can be a bit scary.

Nick did the 9:30pm feeding and Ben handled it like a champ. Slurp, slurp - burp - done. It was great. Then, Ben was wide awake, totally content, hanging out with his parents.

And, as of this morning, he gained another ounce - and is up to 4 pounds 2 ounces.