Taking a Prem Baby Home?

(25 Posts)
FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 14:01:18

I've posted in the prem section three times now and while trying not to jinx our little boys progress, we may be heading home next Wk.
Our boy will hopefully be demand BF with no breathing issues or any other medical complications.
Any tips/information/obvious stuff about taking a prem baby home that they don't tell you or is different from a term baby. I am a first time Mum too. Thanks in advance x

Parsnipcake Fri 22-Nov-13 14:13:51

Congratulations! I foster prem babies, and the main thing is keeping them warm enough in this cold weather. I found a portable radiator very useful in the same room as baby otherwise the whole house would have to be very hot. The other thing is that they are often more unsettled when they arrive home and the sleep and feeding can go awry, just take it very easy. I always limit visitors, even though everyone wants to see them. They respond better to a calm environment IMO.

MoominsYonisAreScary Fri 22-Nov-13 14:18:06

Just what parsnip says really, a comfortable temp is key as from my experiance they sleep lots anyway and you dont want them struggling in this weather to maintain their temp as it affects feeding

Congratulations and enjoy your baby! Although I know it can be scary when they are prem

RhondaJean Fri 22-Nov-13 14:21:11

One thing I found with dd2 was that she was in a great routine but she had never been in the dark as dimmed lights are always on in the ward. It took me a couple if days to figure out she was terrified when I put all the lights out.

Sounds daft but I wish I had know. To watch for it when I brought her home.

Methe Fri 22-Nov-13 14:21:59

Congratulations smile. You might ind you need a bit of background noise t help little one to sleep for a while. NICUs are noisy places and it can be very weird leaving for your average peaceful house!

YY to limiting visitors. Tbh the absolute best thing you can do is sit around in your nighty with your baby attached to your boob eating biscuits and drinking tea. You have plenty of time for people to come and have a nose.

Madlizzy Fri 22-Nov-13 14:24:43

Continue with the routine that he had in hospital as much as you can as it'll help keep him settled. As Parsnip said, keep people to a minimum and anyone who has even so much as a sniffle needs to stay right away. Worth keeping some antibac gel for visitors to use before they hold him as it's bronchiolitis season. Most of all, enjoy being able to cuddle him in your own home without anyone else around.

FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 14:36:04

Thank you. Some really good tips that i had not thought about. He is currently in a three hourly routine and I'm very keen to try and keep this going.
I've posted twice by mistake so there are two threads running which are the same. Thanks MNers, brilliant as evergrin x

Agree with the points re background noise and lights. Also expect a noisy sleeper! Our neonatal outreach nurse told us they are notoriously grunty and snuffly at night.
Don't feel you have to accept visitors if you don't feel ready to, and do insist n good hygiene - but equally don't feel you have to avoid all other people and stay indoors.
DS came home at effectively 34 weeks, and like your LO, no problems, and I just got on with getting out and about with him. I did avoid baby groups for quite a while though, until I felt comfortable his immune system could deal with it.

FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 14:44:46

Would anyone recommend a thermometer please? Although we will have a temperature gauge on the Angel Care monitor do i need to test our baby like they do in NICU to be sure he is not too cold or hot? X

MoominsYonisAreScary Fri 22-Nov-13 14:54:46

Oh yes, id forgot about the noise! I found it really hard to sleep at first. the hv used to come round to weigh him so we could avoid baby clinic

MoominsYonisAreScary Fri 22-Nov-13 14:55:39

We had a thermometer but didnt use it very often

FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 14:57:34

Can I ask which one? Being a bit thick here about which one to get? X

FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 14:58:26

Also what an amazing thing to do Parsnip x

Madlizzy Fri 22-Nov-13 15:04:02

Ah yes, grunty babies. :D My triplets were in their own room as we couldn't fit them in ours. Good job too, we'd have not slept a wink with their little chorus going on. grin

Oh yes, I had a travel cot downstairs that they slept in during the day, hoovering round them and having normal noise and they slept right through it all.

MiaowTheCat Fri 22-Nov-13 15:22:54

We had the day and night collossally muddled thing going on here.

Biggest one - if/when you go out (we got discharged in what passed for "summer" that year so thankfully not the cold and bronchiolitis season) it takes fucking ages to get anywhere because you go through the "oooh what a tiny baby, what birth weight, were they early, I was born at 28 weeks..." conversation about 9 million times a day (which actually I never begrudged at all but it did make walking round the shop an epically long saga and I considered just hanging a sign off the pram with the info on at one point).

We not only had grunty - we had farty - was like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles from her moses basket... grunt grunt snuffle snuffle, legs appear above the basket... PARP, grunt grunt...TRUUUUUMMMMPPPPP all bloody night long (both my kids were right little farters). And no bugger ever believes it's this teeny tiny baby just making earthquake shaking levels of noise and looks at you holding them like you're lying completely!

Madlizzy Fri 22-Nov-13 15:24:10

At least you can blame them when you let one go though. wink

Madlizzy Fri 22-Nov-13 15:35:52

This has good reviews, and we do seem to sell a lot of them where I work.

FraggleRock77 Fri 22-Nov-13 17:53:05

Did you add a link MadLizzy i can't see it? grin

Madlizzy Fri 22-Nov-13 18:55:30
MoominsYonisAreScary Fri 22-Nov-13 21:42:46

Yes the grow ones are good. I also had a digital one that you put in the ear but I cant link.

Yep we had a little farter, god awful noise and Smell grin

clabsyqueen Fri 22-Nov-13 21:51:11

How exciting! Good luckI'd say the noise when they sleep is likely to be spectacular, especially if he had a feeding tube. It's like they're constantly clearing their throat to hear it.

eatyourveg Fri 22-Nov-13 22:22:43

I remember the hospital ordering us to put the heating on 25 and to keep it on all day and all night - it was roasting! For the first month we weren't allowed to take him outdoors (save from house to car - no walks in the park with the pram) and then one afternoon the HV rang to say the temperature was warm enough to take him out if I wrapped him in swaddling clothes and used loads of blankets.

Took forever to get out the front door with all the layers of wrapping up

Pipsmilkmaid Sat 23-Nov-13 02:16:14

Congratulation and well done to you and your ds.
We found after ds went back a bit after coming home was quite unsettled by the new environment. I nurse him to sleep so to be able to put him down we have to warm the crib with a hot water bottle.
We ask all visitors to wash their hands but gradually introduced him to new people, no one got a cuddle on their first visit. Don't be scared to say no to people holding him especially now through rsv season.
A slung is also useful for when you want to do things like make s cup if tea, ds hates to be put down or lied flat!
Enjoy your ds and as has been said already spend your days cuddling him for a while at least.

ipswichwitch Sat 23-Nov-13 03:13:47

DS was too small for sleeping bags for a good while and would always kick blankets off during his wriggling, grunting fart-fest at night, so I got him a couple of quilted sleep suits (from mothercare I believe) to keep him warm at night. Yes it was a bit faffy for nappy changes but meant he kept warm during feeding and no more twisted/lost blankets.

ipswichwitch Sat 23-Nov-13 03:15:15

Oh and DS is 2 now and still a grunty sniffly farty sleeper!

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