Breastfeeding is even more important if your baby arrives early. This is because your body will automatically produce breastmilk that's specially designed to nourish your premature baby, with extra calories, vitamins, and protein.
What's more, the live cells in breast milk that protect babies from infection can be even more important for premature babies: Preemies face a higher risk of infection because their immune systems are particularly immature.
At many hospitals it's standard practice to start off feeding very premature babies expressed breast milk through a nasogastric (NG) tube. Once your baby is able to start nursing at the breast, be prepared to nurse frequently, although preemies may not take in much milk at each feeding until they're closer to term.
For this reason, you will need to use a breastpump after feeds to keep up your milk production as well as have milk for any necessary supplementary feedings. It will also help your milk production to get as much skin-to-skin (kangaroo care) with your baby as possible, under the guidance of a neonatal nurse; this will help elevate your prolactin levels and increase your breastmilk supply.
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