How to train premature babies to suck milk

It usually takes about 9 months for a baby to develop. If a baby is born before 8 months of development, it is a typical premature birth. This phenomenon is a consequence of the baby's immature development and will have many adverse effects on the baby's growth. Many premature babies are unable to breastfeed and cannot master the skills correctly. Let's take a look at how premature babies are trained to suck milk?

1. Pulling the nipple

First, you need to observe whether the mother's nipples are too small. If the nipples are too small and the baby cannot hold them in his/her mouth, you can wash your hands and gently pull the nipples outwards with your hands so that the exposed part of the nipples is longer.

Specific method:

You can first pull the nipple slightly outwards and put it into the baby's mouth, allowing the baby to completely hold the nipple. This is a good time to train the baby to suck milk, especially when the baby is hungry. After a few pumping sessions, your baby will learn to suckle.

2. Use a breast pump

Because the ducts through which milk flows from the nipples are not very smooth, premature babies often have to put in a lot of effort when sucking milk, but still cannot suck out much milk. At this time, you can use a breast pump to suck out the milk and then feed it to your baby.

Specific method:

1. When using a breast pump to suck milk for the baby, first use a clean towel to clean the mother's nipples;

2. Then, use the negative pressure of the breast pump to suck out the milk. The sucked milk can be placed in the baby's bottle and fed to the baby.

3 Pay attention to the physical condition of the newborn

Premature babies may not be able to breastfeed due to some physical illness.

1. For example, when a premature baby suffers from nasal congestion, the baby will not drink milk because it is not easy to breathe after sucking the nipple.

2. In addition, babies with cleft palate or cleft lip may also have difficulty sucking.

3. How to correct the milk drinking habits of newborn babies

There are two typical types of feeding problems:

The first type: the child is used to putting the tongue against the upper palate, while the tongue should be at the bottom when feeding. This problem is relatively easy to correct.

The second type is incorrect tongue movement when sucking milk. During normal sucking, the tongue should move from front to back, but some babies' tongue moves from back to front.