Should I talk to her pediatrician or wait it out? (feedings)

My 29 weeker has been in the NICU/ISN for 47 days now(her due date was Oct 28, 2012, she was born August 18, 2012), she was off oxygen the next day she came to the hospital and didn't have any serious problems after that, right now she is just in for feeding, she is still on the NG tube and right now is only get 2 bottles a day and the rest is on the tube, she has to take 8 feedings I beleive in a 48 hour period in order to get discharged, I personally feel like the tube is holding her back, and with every feeding they want her to take 45 cc's, and on some of her feedings she only takes 32 cc's or 25 cc's sometimes or 15 cc's, should I talk to her peditriation about trying without the tube etc or should I just wait it out? (I was a preemie born in a Germany hospital(my daddy was Military) and the way they did it was if the preemie could suck and swallow and breath then they send you home to work on feedings, my mama said I did great, so the stateside way is new to me!) Also with my husband deploying soon, the stress of the feeding is weighing on me.

(also she has been on 1-2 bottle feedings for 20 days now)

I personally would talk to her pediatrician. There is no harm in asking, KWIM?

Quoting Missybaby:" My 29 weeker has been in the NICU/ISN for 47 days now(her due date was Oct 28, 2012, she was born August ... [snip!] ... deploying soon, the stress of the feeding is weighing on me. (also she has been on 1-2 bottle feedings for 20 days now)"

hey
i remember the days when the girls just started to try and take bottles... those were very frustrating!

i also thought the tube was getting in their way, especially for my littler girl, who was a few days behind her sister.
while it definitely doesn't hurt to talk to the doctor, I don't think you want to rush the tube, for a few reasons. the more she eats, the more calories she gets, the quicker she'll mature enough to take her bottles (and to do everything else).
i know it's hard, but every gram counts for her.
as you've probably realized, it's very rare for anyone to go home before the 36 week mark. that's usually around the time that everything happens, and very quickly!
my girls went from taking a few grams per day, to all feeds by mouth at exactly the 36 week mark, within just a few days of week 36.
best of luck!

i would talk to her care team about it. I felt the same way about the NG tube. It felt like there were some nurses that were willing to sit and do a feeding with him when we weren't there and others that weren't so willing and would default to the tube almost every time. I finally got tired of it and was talking to a day nurse and she pulled the tube and it didn't go back in. my son was born at 25weeks4days and had the tube in for about 65 days the remaining 15 days of his stay he was off it.

I was the same way when DD was in the nicu, but after discussing with OT and the nurses I realized that taking the tube out too early can make her stay longer. Basically eating is a lot of work, so they get tired and eventually too tired to eat and then can start to lose weight which means the tube is replaced. Also if they are too tired they could choke and end up with pneumonia which happened to my DD, we ended up staying an extra 10 days!

It doesn't hurt to discuss your concerns with the Drs, but honestly I doubt the tube is holding her back. If she can't take a full bottle it's likely not because of the tube.