Updates: January 26th - 24 days old

Mario is really making progress with his feeds. He nippled all but one feed today and took a large percentage of those feeds he did nipple. He took one full feed from a bottle and we had two combo breast and bottle feeds. The only feed he didn't nipple was one that we know why he wasn't in the mood for either breast or bottle. He had just received his Hepatitis B shot and could have been a little irritable from that. But, I think the real culprit was his belly/intenstinal area was not happy. The little man had been very gassy all morning, according to his nurse, and hadn't had a bowel movement since at least the previous afternoon. He was working on trying to get things moved out and was very aggitated due to that. So, we gavaged the noon feeding and when I went to change his diaper with the 3pm care routine, he had filled it enough that it went up and out the top. So, not only did he get a diaper change, he got a mini sponge bath, a new outfit, and some new bedding components. He felt much better after that and nippled very well!

We breastfed both at the 3pm and the 9pm feeding and he did very well with that. Both times he took some of the bottle after, the first time he took 8mL and the second time he took 22mL. He's definitely showing us that he can eat. Hopefully we'll get rid of the feeding tube soon. I've started to talk with his resident about that and she indicated it could come out in the next few days as long as he continues to improve his nipple feeding skills. His feeds were increased again today to 48mL/feed.

His weight was up slightly tonight to 5lbs, 8.2oz, which was a gain of .6oz from the night before. Tonight was bath night, but we couldn't do a full tub bath due to the circumcision. So, he got a sponge bath and got his hair washed. Towards the end of the bath routine he was getting grumpy because he was a hungry little boy.

Sarah, his nurse today, said he did very well with his Hep B shot and didn't really cry at all. He's such a good little boy! All in all, he continues to improve and we're working toward that end goal.