17ml from the bottle today.

I got to feed Jac from the bottle today at his 3pm care. Jac's nurse noticed that he was awake and giving off signs that he was ready to eat. Because he seemed ready to go, she decided to defer some of his cares so that he could start feeding right away.

Two ladies from the NAP (Neonatal Assessment Program) came in to monitor and guide the feeding. They suggested that I start by holding Jac more-or-less upright and facing directly toward me. After brushing his lips with the nipple ("like putting on chapstick") to get him to taste the milk, Jac opened up and started drinking.

He did a really nice job today. He sucked firmly to draw in milk, then paused to swallow and breathe on his own. The NAP ladies said that he was self-pacing very well. Making sure that the nipple was full of milk seemed to help. Eventually, Jac pushed the nipple out with his tongue. We stopped to give him a break. The NAP ladies showed me how to best hold him and burp him.

Despite a few minutes of firm patting, we didn't hear any definite burps. We tried resuming the bottle feeding, but by this time, Jac had pretty much fallen asleep and wasn't interested in bottle feeding anymore. I spent a couple more minutes burping him, and we finally got a good strong burp.

Jac ended up taking in 17 ml this time. Yeah! We gave him the rest of his feed via gavage. BTW, since Jac broke 1200 grams last night, his feed has been upped to 25ml per feed. Jac semi-kangarooed with me until 5pm. He and I had a nice nap together. Although he showed signs of reflux (twitching, and 2 brady's), he didn't cry or fuss. When I finally returned him to his isolette, he stayed very calm and barely opened his eyes. We left him to have a nice sleep.

It seems like the nurses, the NAP ladies, Jac's doctor, Taj and I all feel like he's about to "turn the corner" and start growing quickly.