From tube-feeding to breastfeeding

• It’s a good idea to encourage mothers to start expressing their milk as soon as possible and as frequently as possible after the birth of their baby. This breast milk can then be frozen and stored for when the infant is ready to take it
• When starting breastfeeding, daily increments of 30 ml per kilogram per day have been linked to earlier full enteral nutrition and discharge¹
• When an infant starts opening or closing their mouth during a tube-feed, this is a sign they are ready to start practising sucking
• It may take several weeks before an infant establishes breastfeeding; this depends on how prematurely they were born and their medical condition.  Also, as with term infants, some infants take longer to learn than others. The important thing is to encourage parents to be patient and try not to worry

For more information have a look at the “benefits of breast milk for preterm infants”