stretching feeds

so i've got my boys on a 4-5 hour feeding routine (their choice not mine) with about 4-5ounces per feeding. they will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and i was just wondering when would be a good time to start trying to increase the feeds to every 6 hours so that mommy and daddy could get more things done and maybe even sleep a little??

 

Um...honestly? Maybe when they are in college! :lol: My kids ask for milk still every 3 hrs (except at night). 4 hrs during the day is very normal and you'll be there for a while! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!

 

during the day is one thing but what about at night? will that not be until i can add cereal to their bottles???

 

I don't think you will ever get them on a 6 hour feeding schedule. They just need to eat more often than that (with the exception of nights, when they start sleeping through). Mine were still eating every 3 hours at that age & still rarely go any longer than that without some kind of food at age 3. I'm sure that isn't what you wanted to hear, but babies do eat a lot! :hug:

 

5/6 hour stretch during the day, IMO, is too long. my girls still eat every 3/4 hours. adding cereal to their bottles at night won't make them sleep longer, that is one of the biggest old wives tales there is. i wouldn't add cereal unless it is medically necessary, like for reflux. otherwise they are going to get a lot of empty calories and gain weight very fast. around 3/4 months they might start sleeping 5/6 hours stretches.

 

how much are you feeding your kids throughout the day at closer intervals? mine will go 5 hours between feeds when they get their 4-5ounces of formula. they sleep in between and wake up when they want to eat again and it works out to be between 4-5 hours. are you doing smaller portions more frequently? and wouldn't that make them want to stick to that schedule for night feeds too? eating every couple of hours i mean? i know it will be another month or so before they start sleeping through the night but i was just wondering in any event.

i'm new to this whole mom thing so i don't know all the secrets except what my mom did and she gave me cereal.

 

Mine eat every 2 1/2 hours like clock work. Sometimes they have to wait 3 hrs, but they are'nt happy about it. I honestly have'nt heard of any baby going that long between feedings and I know my pediatrician would not have found that acceptable at 6 weeks. They are supposed to be putting on weight quickly right now, so I think they should be eating more often during the day. Maybe at night they can go for 6 hours.

 

my pediatrician doesn't have a problem with it at all. they are growing like weeds. babies, from what the doc told me, gain 1/2lb a week and mine are gaining over a full pound a week. so they are chunking up nicely.

 

If you try to get them to eat at least every 3 hours during the day they might start sleeping a little longer at night. That means you may have to wake them up from naps to feed them.

Try having them get up eat, play and then nap. They probably should only be up 45 minutes to an hour at their age and that includes feeding them. That would mean they get 4 naps per day. Also try getting them up between 10-11 to do a dream feed. They are basically half asleep while they take their bottle. Then they should be able to go at least 6 hours for you at night. It might take a few days of doing it like this before they get the hang of it but then they should start sleeping a little longer for you.

I have 5 kids and I have done this with great success with each of them. My twins who are just a little bit older than yours are sleeping from 11:30pm to 8:00am.

 

at 1 months my girls were eating every 3 hours on the dot, including through the night. they drank about 2-3 ounces. every month they would go up 1 more ounce. now they stopped at 7 ounces because they get two solid meals a day. if they are hungry they're hungry. you can't change that. so if they wake up every 3 hours that means they aren't ready to drop feedings and sleep through the night yet. they will let you know when they are ready and there is nothing you can do to change that. going every 4 hours is fine, but i think 5 is pushing it. our moms gave us cereal in the bottle, but a lot of things have changed since then and that is no longer what pedi's recommend. i'm new to the whole mom thing too, so no worries. if you have any concerns though you could always call your peditrician they usually have all the right answers. i know mine didn't want us to feed them longer than 3 hours in between.

you're in the thick of it now, so you're not going to get much sleep right now, but know that sleep is in your near future.

 

how much are you feeding them at 3 hour intervals and how much at the 10-11pm feed?

right now it takes about an hour to feed them because i have one slow eater and one good eater. we try and play with them at night before their last feed so they sleep a little longer but it doesn't usually work.

this sounds like a great idea, i'm going to try it out for sure!

 

did you ever try to get them to eat more than 2-3 ounces or was that all their bellies could take? my boys eat 4-5ounces already and sometimes want more. they won't wake up in 3 hour intervals unless their diaper is dirty or they have an upset stomach. they are pretty good about going the distance i just wish they would go longer at night so we could all get more sleep but alas that is the price you pay when having twins, or any kids for that matter.

our pedi was impressed that we are able to get them to eat so much and they are very impressed with their weight gain so i don't think we are doing anything wrong, feeding wise, with our current routine. i just wondered if there was a way to improve it.

 

if this all is working for you than all of our advice doesn't really matter. if it works for you then go with it. I wouldn't make my girls eat anymore than 2-3 ounces because that's all they could handle. they weren't big babies when they were born both just a little over 5lbs. at that age their stomachs are the size of their fists closed, so if they are getting tummy aches in the middle of the night for you you may be giving them too much food. this is just my opinion though. if your ped isn't concerned then go with what you have.

i would try to feed them smaller portions going every 3/4 hours. it might work better for you in the end.

 

They may just be really sleepy right now! Dont be surprised if they stop going that long during feedings in the day. My LO's only go about 3 1/2 hours during the long afternoon nap. They are sleeping from 8 until about 5am, but still sometimes get up for that dream feed. Good luck to you, hope it keeps going well for you!

 

my boys are only 3 months and they still eat every 3 hours. to be honest, they are only eating about 4-5 oz for formula or EBM.

 

At their age of about zero adjusted, I personally would go no more than 3 hours in between feedings during the day. That way when they do sleep a little longer at night that would be nice. They need the extra calories right now. I would start with a morning feed and go from there. Then every three hours after that until say the 10/11pm feeding. Then let them wake you at night.

 

so you guys think that if i went 3 hour intervals with 2-3ounces of formula during the day until 10pm they would sleep longer through the night?

if they wake up for a "dream feed" how much should i give them?

and when i stomach aches i mean gas issues...my babies aren't good burpers so we have to give them mylicon a lot and they are reflux babies so they get medicine twice a day.

right now it works out to be about 4-5 feeds per day at 4-5ounces of formula and about 2 feeds in the middle of the night, again with 4-5ounces of formula.

 

I always fed my boys until they didn't want to eat anymore. We were trying to get them to gain more weight though. They were only 4lbs when we brought them home at 4 weeks old. For you, do what you think is right. Make a bottle of 4 oz. If they drink it all, fine, if not, fine. To get them on a 3 hr schedule is going to take a few days (maybe even a week) and you need to be consistent. Set a timer if you have to. The first bottle they may want a little more, but then after they learn that they are eating more often they will not drink as much. This baby feeding thing is not science and there is no way to know what will make them sleep longer or not. My boys didn't sleep more than 4 hrs at a time until they were 6 months old. Hang in there. It will get better.

 

MY DD takes 4oz every 3 hours and 4oz at 11pm feed. My DS takes 5oz at a time.

If they are taking that long to eat they really should just eat, have a diaper change and then go back down.

Keeping them up in the hopes that they will sleep longer can actually back fire. If they are overstimulated and tired they actually have a harder time going to sleep and staying asleep.

 

i agree with everyone else on the 3 hour schedule during the day. we were on that schedule until 8 months! the did start STTN at 3 months though so that was great. i never found that keeping them on that schedule during the day affected when they wanted to eat at night. STTN is about brain development, not full tummies, so regardless of how much they eat, if their brains aren't ready, it's not gonna happen.

you will also find that they will be staying up more during the day soon and i would be suprised if they would be able to go 4-5 hours between feeds when they are more alert. there are plenty of things that you can get done in the 3 hour window, you just have to plan ahead and be ready to dash out the door as soon as they are done eating and be home when it is time for the next bottle. believe me, as you get into being a twin mom more, you will find amazing and creative ways to get things done without disturbing their schedules! the feeding schedule is easy, just wait until they are on a nap schedule and you are terrified to interrupt it for fear that you will have two insanely crabby babies on your hands!!

oh, i forgot to say how much they were eating.. usually 3-4 oz at a time, i fed them until they stopped eating. by 3 months or so DS was eating 6 oz bottles and DD was eating 5 oz bottles every 3 hours, the same amount at the dreamfeed.

 

My 16-wk-old LOs feed on demand and I looked back through their feeding log. Here's how it's been going for us: At this time they take 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours. They started going longer at night (5-6ish hours) around 12-13 wks or so, and just last week they each started sleeping from 8 or 9 p.m. til 5 or 6 a.m., sometimes 7 a.m. Pedi considers 5 hours straight to be "sleeping through the night," even though that's not my definition, lol. We never did try out the dreamfeed, so I have no advice on that, but if they wake up after they go to bed and want to eat, they eat. When my LOs were your babies' age (6 wks) they did 3 oz roughly every 3 hours, sometimes less. Our pedi didn't want them going more than 3 hours w/o a feed for the longest time, probably the first 2-2.5 months. Her rule of thumb when increasing the ounces was to offer another ounce if they drained their bottle. They just started accepting the 6th ounce more consistently this week. HTH!

 

WOW, that is a lot every 3 hours. i don't think i could get my boys to down that much that frequently. i'm thinking that if we tried this we would have to scale down to 2-3oz. they don't consistantly finish the 5oz bottles just yet.

but yeah, with a slow eater that gets bored eating and wants to explore, go back to sleep or just not suck (i'm wondering if a level 2 nipple might help that problem) it makes feedings challenging to say the least. and that's pretty much what we (i) do; change them, feed them, swaddle them and put them back to sleep. if they wake up we play if they sleep we let them sleep until they wake us up for their next feed.

 

You've got some great advice already. :good: I found that no matter what I did, they didn't sttn until they were ready. I had to put cereal in my ds' bottle and that help the reflux but didn't make him sleep through. Good luck. :hug:

 

I fed them every three hours at that age. I think they were getting 4-5 ounces or so, 8 feedings a day. It seemed they were getting a ridiculous amount of forumla, but they kept taking it. They eventually dropped one of the night feedings, so then they were getting 7 bottles instead of 8, probably around 2 months. They gradually dropped their night time feedings and I started increasing their daytime bottles. By 4 months we no longer fed them at night, and stretched out their daytime feedings to every 4 hours. So from about 4 months on they were getting 4 8oz bottles (or 32 oz) a day. They didn't always finish them, but that's what I gave them. they went from drinking 35-40 oz when they were much younger, to 32 oz later on. So it seemed weird they actually ate more when they were younger. But they grew really fast early on (my son went from 5 lbs 14 oz at birth to over 10 lbs at 4 weeks old).

 

I feed my two approximately every 3 hours during the day from 730am to 730 pm. I usually wake them up from their third nap between 6 and 7pm. After they eat, I play with them, bathe them, and they get another bottle around 830 to "top them off". They then sleep until 1am (new this week) and wake up a second time at 5am. They eat 3-4 oz per feeding. I make sure that when I wake them at 730 am, they are up for about 45 mins then they go and take a nap. Today they slept from 9-11, They were then up for about an hour and slept 12-230. I just put them down for their third nap of the day which is hit or miss. I've been doing the eat/play/sleep from day one and it really has helped them organize their sleep.

 

I wanted to add (but it wouldn't let me edit anymore) that we kept the 4 hour (4 bottle) feeding schedule until we weaned them off bottles/formula at a year. Now they get meals/snacks & sippies every 3-4 hours.

 

Mine are eating 5-6oz. every 3-4 hours. At night we give them their bottles around 10pm and then they sleep until 2-3am. We give them a bottle then and the next feeding is usually around 7am when they wake up. I can't wait until they sleep through the night!

 

You got lots of good advice, all I can re-iterate is my babies were eating every 3 hrs or so at that age. I switched from breastfeeding to bottles at 6 wks and they were taking 4-5 oz every 3 hrs. (I have chunkers).

If you feed them more often during the day it's going to increase the chances of them sleeping through the night. My babies were going 7-8 hrs by 3 months, and by 3.5 months they were going 10-11 hrs. 4 months they hit 12 hrs a night.

They'll continue to eat every 3 hrs or so until around a year when you transition to a more normal 3 meals a day, but even then they'll need snacks probably mid morning and mid afternoon.

 

Right around the 6 week mark, my boys started eating every 2-3 hours during the day, but then giving us longer stretches at night. They would usually give us one 5 hours stretch, meaning 5 hours from when they started eating. I pretty much feed them on demand, so it was a natural change for them. I don't know how much they are eating since my boys get a combination of breast and bottle.