Tonight on ESPN

Mom is getting ready to feed the little girl right now. And I thought it would be fun to give you the play-by-play. There's only one of me so I have to be the play-by-play announcer and the commentator, but I'll pretend I'm two different people. ;) ... okay it got a little wordy, but oh well ... She's awake and rooting. ... And they're off! Mom is putting the bottle in ... OH, and she took it right away! What's this? And she set the monitor off for just one beep. Mom is "pacing" her ... and she's back on track! Now she's getting into a groove. Mom is trying to keep her in position and the bottle at the proper angle. "Yeah, you mentioned that mom is pacing her. That means mom is tipping the bottle down so the baby can take a few breaths without getting any milk." Now the nurse is talking to mom, coaching her. Ellie is still eat--OH there's a cough. Mom's taking away the bottle and the nurse is patting her back. There's a little drop in the heart rate and some definite color change. "You know I think the nurse was coaching her earlier on that first quick brady at the start of the feeding. Sometimes these kids, they're so used to the pacifier and they get surprised by the bottle when they feel the milk coming out. So sometimes they'll startle and hold their breath for a bit." And as the girls take a burp break we'll take a break for a word from our sponsors.

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If you're just joining us Ellie has already taken 8 mL as we come off of the first burp break. "Now you see mom is having some trouble getting the nipple under Ellie's tongue. Babies this young sometimes try to suck on the nipple with their tongue on top of it and ... well, it just doesn't work." Yeah it can be pretty difficult to sneak that nipple in when Ellie's got her tongue up. And you see the nurse again coaching mom as she tries to get the nipple in. There it goes! Ellie is still wide wake and at this point -- oh and you see she's pacing herself now -- at this point you have to think she's going to put forth a good showing. "Well I have to agree with you there. And you know with these babies they'll be going along having trouble or maybe doing okay and then one day it will just click. I don't think we're at that point yet with Ellie but she's doing very well for being 35 weeks gestation and having been born at 28." You see she's still progressing at a steady rate as we near the 25 minute mark. Now you mentioned that it hasn't quite clicked for Ellie yet ... although I think it's only fair to say -- oh and there's a burp -- it's only fair to say that she is showing a lot of promise, but how to you help these babies to get to that point where it finally clicks? "Well a lot of it starts soon after they're getting milk force fed to them. Things like starting to give them a pacifier during the feedings helps them to associate sucking with that full feeling." Now the feeding will be over by the 30 minute mark so as mom takes another burp break we see that we're winding down here today. "You'll notice she has the hiccups during this burp break, which makes it hard for anyone to eat. But it's also important to consider that sucking can help get rid of those hiccups." So mom puts the bottle back in ... and she's off again! She must have reached her second wind, she's got a loud suck now. And she's pacing herself again ... milk is spilling out of her mouth a little but she's handling it well. "Now you see a couple other nurses coming in to see how she's doing. Ellie's a popular girl around here." She's still awake but she's slowing down now and mom's going to take the final burp break. The final tally is in at ... 12 mL. Good work Ellie!