You can watch the video here -
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp-6nX5h_U5/
I have always been hesitant to post a video of Nolan eating. My own mom guilt has worried someone would see this and judge for us not feeding him like a “normal” baby.
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I shared this concern with our pediatrician and cardiologist and they both said, “if he is eating and tolerating it, you are doing nothing wrong.”
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As Nolan’s surgery approaches Joel and I are taking videos and photos of him how he is today. We want to one day show him how far he has come, but also we don’t want to forget these days. While many have been hard they are all we know, and they are all Nolan knows.
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This video started about 20 minutes into the process of eating. He has already calmed down and was letting the bottle near his mouth. This is how we feed him. Slow sips, on the fastest flow nipple, and lots of breaks for him to catch his breath.
You can hear how hard he is breathing in this video.
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Eating is the hardest exercise a baby does, and is extremely difficult for heart kids. They tire easily and do not have much interest in eating at all.
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We do this for about 60 minutes at each feeding and repeat that 5-6 times a day.
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The is all we know. It is hard. But we are looking forward to more progress on the other side of surgery!