10 week old (but 6 weeks early) sleep and eat habits - help!

Someone please help me! I have read every book there is and am still so confused. My girls were 6 weeks early, so my doctor keeps telling me they are only a month old but I think they are 10 weeks old. They eat 3-4 oz of neosure every 4 hours and one has terrible reflux. They eat at 7,11,3,7,11,3. They stay in a bouncy seat until after the 11pm feeding and the I put them in their craddle to sleep and they do...but the wake to eat at 3am and I put them back in their craddle and they do noty go back to sleep...they whine until 7am to eat again. I am wondering if they think sleep time is between7pm and3am. I am dying to cut out the 3am feeding. Should I feed them at 10:30 and hope they sleep longer? Should I let them cry at 3am? Or are they too young to eliminate this feeding?

 

my girls were also 6 weeks early & they kept that 3:00am feed until they were 6 & 7 months old respectively. as much as you don't want to hear it, it sounds to me like it's too early to cut it.

also, being 6 weeks early is definitely significant in terms of hitting their sleep development milestones. because your LOs were 6 weeks early, it means that even though their actual age is 10 weeks, their developmental age is equivalent to a 4 week old. does that make sense?

 

I agree with Rachel, I think it is too early to cut out that 3 am feeding. My two were not early but during those early weeks they were eating every 3 hours around the clock.

 

Its hard to grasp the concept of adjusted age, but it will come easier over time. You're just lucky to have such a schedule this early on! With me the first weeks & months there was no schedule at all, and we got NO sleep... Still aren't getting much sleep actually.

But yes its waaaayyy too early for you to cut that feeding... You will be doing 1 to 2 & sometimes 3 feedings for each baby through the nighttime house for months, eventually it will become normal.

My babies are 8 months old (they were 11 weeks early so their adjusted age makes them 5 1/2 months old). And we are doing 2 to 3 feedings between 9pm & 8am for one, and 1 to 2 night feedings for the other.

Its normal, what you are going through. its just hard to get used to.

I wouldnt try to change their schedule, just let them eat every 3 hours and grow & eventually they will cut down the feedings themselves.

 

My boys were 5 weeks early and were on 4 hour feeds with regular formula and both had horrid reflux. We would be lucky if we could get them to take 3oz in an hour and have it stay down. Putting them in an upright position didn't work, nothing. Finally we spoke to the pedi and they put them on meds and those didn't work so their GI put them on Prevacid and we gave it to them 30min before their morning meal. I don't think we cut the every 4 hour feeds until they just didn't want it any more which was around 3 months and they started sleeping through the night. And while they were awake we stuck with a 12 hour awake time with feeds every 4 hours and 2 naps during the day.

What are their weights and why does the doc want them on Neosure? Have you asked about adding rice to their formula to help keep it down??

 

I agree with all the previous posters that it's too early to cut out the feedings. What you might want to talk to your doctor about though is letting the babies make their own schedule.. that is, if they want to sleep longer in between certain feedings whether it's ok at this point to allow them to do so. Sometimes doctors recommend a strict schedule to make sure that early babies are getting enough to eat and are growing, but at some point it's going to be ok to just feed them when they demand it. In the meantime though, keep it up.. the schedule is killer in the beginning, but it eventually gets better. Perhaps you can get some sleep and your partner can take a feeding through the night occasionally to give you some relief?

 

So, you say yours slept through the night at 3 months, is that the real 3 months or real 4 months? the upright position didnt work for us either and the prevacid isnt working either, they spit it up. so, please explain what you mean by the awake 12 hour period and how you got down to the 2 naps..mine nap every day all day! they are both almost 10 lbs, they were on neosure at the hospital and te doctor said to stick with it for a few months. I have not discussed rice.

 

A good way to guage where your kids are developmentally is to look at the milestones for their actual age vs. their adjusted age. (like these ones) If more of their behaviours fall closer to the 6 week mark, then you probably won't be able to expect their feeding and sleep patterns to change for a while. I would guess that because your babies are still sleeping most of the day, they are closer to the 6 week mark, and will eventually "wake up" and become more aware. Then the fun of trying to figure out nap schedules begins as their habits start to change.

As for spitting up, it's hard to believe, but most of the spit up that comes out of kids is actually saliva and digestive juices, and if they're growing well, they're getting enough formula. The meds, like prevacid, can take away the pain but may not actually reduce the amount of spit up.

I know it's terribly tough to be sleep deprived with twins, but I assure you that you will do it and your twins will eventually be able to sleep through.