Conner is still working on bottle feeding this week. He started off the week doing well and hit a bit of a "preemie slump" and hasn't been feeding well the last part of the week. The speech therapists recommended a barium swallow test to see if Conner was aspirating any of the milk into his lungs. It turns out he wasn't aspirating, but there was a little bit of milk that was getting into his nasal passages while he was eating compromising his ability to breathe. This may account for some of his drops in oxygen levels and heart rate. The speech therapists recommended strict "pacing" with his feedings (even more than we were already doing), which means to pull back the bottle after 1-2 sucks to allow him to breathe. I was concerned that it was going to take so long for him to feed that way that he would tire out before he could get his bottle down; however, when we tried it, he did much better since he wasn't having to work so hard to breathe and got his full bottle down! It's great to see progress! Hopefully we will keep moving in the right direction! On a lighter note, Conner got his first tub bath this week and he grew to 5 lbs 9.8 oz and 18 3/4 inches long!
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