Demand Feeding -- To Young Still?

My little girls, Eva and Bella, will be one month on the 9th. Last night my husband and I picked up Eva because she was fussing to calm her while her sister nursed (I haven't started tandem feeding). We all ended up falling asleep and not waking until a few hours later. Making it about 5-6 hours since Eva nursed. The doctors at the NICU (they where born at 34w) said not to let them go longer then 4h between feedings. When she woke after that 6h span, she wasn't acting anymore fussy/hungry then normal. Is it too early to let them both nurse when they wake up on their own? From what I've been reading online about the topic, I've gathered most didn't start that until they where about 9 lbs or 2 months old due to babies not being able to regulate their own blood sugars.

Since she's been sleeping longer between feedings, I've been worried she might become dehydrated or she's more lethargic do to log blood sugars. Are there any signs I should be looking out for? Thanks!!

 

Since they are still so young, and were preemies, I would follow the advice of the doctors & not go longer than 4 hours. If you think they might be ready to wait longer, I would bring it up at your next visit with the doctor.

 

I agree with Tina. Our doctor had us on a three hour feeding schedule and gave us the okay to feed on demand.

 

Hannah was my only preemie(35 weeks) and was sent home on a strict 3 hour schedule, for at least 2 months, and I was formula feeding. I would wake them. Is she having plenty of wet diapers?

 

I also would continue to wake them, not only for weight purposes but to keep them on the same schedule as well. I can tell you from experience, having 2 babies wake you at seperate times to nurse at night is exhausting! You don't get more than an hour's worth of sleep at a time. I tried that at about 2 months for one night, that was it, quickly went back to waking both up for every feeding!

 

Definately be careful- I knew a woman who didn't wake up her 1 mo. old and ended up taking her to the ER... turns out she was dehydrated.

I've got rules with these kids- I don't set an alarm at night, but we chart each feed. If they both happen to sleep longer than 3.5 hours, I start setting an alarm for the rest of the night for 3 hours from the start of the last feed. During the day, I feed them every 2 hours (will do 1.5 hrs if they are hungry) in the hopes that at night we do go the longer time. We've gotten as far as 4 hours naturally, but I don't worry as long as it's 1 time in 24 hours and they pee/poo ALL THE TIME. :ibiggrin:

Good luck,

Michelle

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My babies were born a month early, but they had trouble gaining weight during the first 2 months. For the first month we woke them every 3-4 hours if they didn't wake on their own. (The pedi. actually wanted us to feed them every 2 hours, including at night. That lasted one night. We were way to exhausted to keep that up). After a month, we let them wake on their own. However, they didn't go more than 4 hours on their own until they were about 2 months old.

I think you should ask your pedi. about it.

 

When I worked in NICU we would let the babes demand when they were getting closer to going home. They usually woke on their own between 3-4 hours but we were allowed to let them go five hours once in a 12 hour period. This was part of their criteria to getting to go home is they had to be able to wake on their own to feed and still grow. I let my boys demand when they got home but they rarely went past 3 hours. I would say that if your babes are continuing to wake to feed and are growing fine then letting them demand should be fine. If they are having long stretches like that only once a day I don't see a problem with that. That being said if you are concerned about it then talk to your pedi. Best of luck

 

I would still wake them every 3 hours.