Not Yet

Well, James's return to feedings didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped. They gave him 3 ml of milk at 2 PM, and it hadn't digested by 5 PM. (Feedings and other care, like diaper changes and temperature checks, are done every three hours -- they group it all together so that they don't have to disturb them in the meantime.)

The way this works is that they use the stomach tube to pull the contents out (into a syringe) and look at them. (In practice, this is not quite as disgusting as it sounds. This is also how they get rid of excess air; a bit more direct than burping!) They're looking for the residual, or how much milk is left over. Ideally, this will be a low amount, less than half the amount they put in. In Matthew's case, for instance, he's having "trace" residuals, which is great, because it means almost everything they're giving him has gone through the digestive system. For James, though, the residual was basically the entire feeding, except it had turned an unpleasant green color.

So, we were a bit freaked out about this, but apparently it's not unusual for it to take a little while for the digestion to get back in order. In other words, he just might not be ready yet. They'll try again tomorrow, and the doctor said to be patient, because it might take several days before he's ready to start tolerating the food. He doesn't have a fever or breathing problems or other symptoms that would lead them to worry about an infection or a more serious problem, so hopefully it'll just be a matter of time.