New baby in ICU on I.V drip

[advancebooking]

My wife gave birth premature 35 weeks a few days ago.

Last night the babies glucose level dropped to 38. We believe this might be due to my wife having problems expressing milk. They have taken her to ICU and we visited today for 2 hours and farang noi took some milk. They have been feeding her formulae milk in the last 24 hours and she is on an IV drip. Her glucose is now up to 62. They are saying that she might have to stay another few days under observation as low glucose levels are no good for the brain.

I worry for my wife as last night we had to walk outside to the other building to see our baby and then suddenly she started getting extremely cold- even though it was a hot balmy night. I took her back to her room and the nurse took blood and urine. The urine results were normal but the blood came back with 3 anomalies (which I dont have in front of me now). The total WBC count was normal and this is the important thing. Is this correct?

A few months ago my wife was diagnosed with Thalsemia. Last night she looked yellow colour in the face. I gave her an iron tablet. Assuming its ok to give Iron tablets whilst breastfeeding?

Thanks if your able to able to give me an opinion on any of this. Im a new dad and worried about the fact that my wife is having issues expressing the milk. She tried this morning using an electronic pump and was only able to get a small amount of milk. What can she do to improve this?

thanks

[Sheryl]

1. It is common for premature babies to have difficulty regulating their blood sugar and to require a stay in a NICU. It sounds like this is being properly managed.

2. I can't say anything about your wife's condition without knowing what the "anomalies" in her blood test results were.

3. Iron tablets are not contraindicated in breast-feeding but they are often contraindicated in people with thalessemia and what you are doing is potentially very dangerous. It is extremely unwise for you to give your wife any medications while she is in the hospital, and after she is discharged should do so only after consulting her doctor.

4. In the first few days after delivery, breast milk is naturally small in amount - actually what comes is not milk but a substance called colostrum. It can take a few days for breast milk to really start flowing. Staying well hydrated helps as does frequent sucking, since the last is not currently possible she should continue the regular pumping even if very little comes out. Nipple stimulation is also useful.