The Milky Way

Why skin-to-skin contact?

• It is important to your premature child
• It stimulates your child's ability to suckle and swallow
• It provides your child the safety and contact it needs
• It stabilizes the condition of your child and stimulates your child's development.

How to practice skin-to-skin

• Your child lies on mum or dad's bare chest, only wearing a nappy/diaper. Cover your child with af blanket/duvet, avoiding the child getting cold.
• Your child may also be positioned at the breast - or enjoy suckling on a dummy/pacifier

• Position your child on your chest or close to your breast so he child can sense, feel and smell your breast.
• Squeeze a little milk from your nipple and let your child's lips touch and taste the milk.
• Let your child sense the smell of your skin and milk.
• It is encouraged for your child to have his/her tube-feed while placed by your breast.

• Your child licks and tastes the milk and may open its mouth to attempt to suckle on the nipple.
• A little milk in your child's mouth stimulates your child's ability to suckle. The positive stimulation of your child's mouth is progression in the process of successful breastfeeding.
• Your child is encouraged to have its feeding-tube while placed at your breast.

• The first signs that your child wants to suckle may be weak. The signs can be:
  opens/closes and moves mouth and lips, tongue moves in and out of mouth, puts hands to or in mouth, turns head with open mouth/rooting.
• Support your child to lie comfortably and well balanced.
• Your child practices at the breast, holds nipple in mouth and attempts latch/suckling.
• Your child gets its tube-feed while it practices at the breast.

• Your child is placed at the breast. Your child's interest in the breast may be different at each meal and may to start only be once a day.
• Your child may only be able to suckle shortly before needing a rest or even falling asleep.
• It is important to let your child take the lead as it will show it's need/interest.
• Your child still gets full tube-food minimum 8 times per day.

• Your child is offered the breast when awake and showing signs/interest/is rooting.
• Be attentive of when your child is about to wake up (or wake him/her up by changing the nappy/diaper)
• Your child's ability to and desire for breastfeeding will vary and must be respected.
• Your child is offered the breast and no longer a dummy/pacifier.
• Your child breastfeeds before the tube-feed is commenced. When he/she breastfeeds with audible swallowing, then the tube-feed volume can be reduced.

• Your child has now got the energy to breastfeed effectively and does so with obvious swallowing sounds several times within a 24 hour period.
• Your child is fed when he/she is hungry.
• Your child has a minimum of 8 feeds a day.
• An individual breastfeeding plan is made/agreed upon.
• Your child will have smaller tubefeeds when he/she has been breastfeeding.
• Your child will be weighed every 2nd day.

• When your child breastfeeds well and appear full after this, he/she will not be given milk via feeding tube.
• Your child has a minimum of 8 feeds a day.
• Your child is breastfed when he/she is hungry or you wake him/her up for instance by changing the nappy/diaper.
• Be aware of the amount of wet and dirty nappies/diapers per day.
• Your child will be weighed every 2nd day.
• Mum continues to pump/express milk after an individual plan made with the nurses.

• Your child is now purely breastfeeding and decides when/how often with a minimum of 8 feeds within a 24 hour period.
• Your child is weighed every 2nd day until you are going home.
• Breastmilk pumping/expressing is reduced, however, it is a good idea to continue with this 1-2 times a day until breastfeeding is fully established and your child is thriving/gaining weight as expected.

Click here for more information: Videnscenter for amning af børn med specielle behov