Bottle feeding question ?

I have twins which just turned 6 weeks old. They were born at 34 weeks and spent 2 weeks in the NICU.

They came home on a 4 hour schedule which had been working out. For the last few weeks I find that one baby always wakes up about an hour early screaming and fussing until she feeds at that four hour time. The other one waits until closer to the time. They are on formula and breast milk which I pump.

With my first child I just breast fed and basically fed on demand. I am just not sure what to do with the bottle feeding the one that wakes earlier, I would love to keep them both on the four hour schedule but I am wondering if maybe she needs to be on a three hour schedule.

Can anyone offer any advice ? do you feed more when they are having growth spurt ??

Any advice is really appreciated.

Thanks
Bel

 

It's probably their 6 wk growth spurt, and she is hungrier than normal because she's growing.

I personally think 4 hrs is a very long time for a baby to go between feeds. None of my kids every went that long. So for me, I would move them to a 3-3.5 hr schedule and try that. If you are feeding them seperately, you can feed the one that's crying first, and then feed the one that's not quite as hungry second.

 

My boys (34 weekers) ate every 1.5 hours. I can't imagine 4!!! I wished. Anyway.... I would feed the hungry twin at the 3 hour mark. It could be worse. Like what i had!

 

my guys were born at 33 1/2 weeks and spent a little over 2 weeks in NICU. we bottle fed, too. the nurses sent us home with a recommendation to feed them on a 4 hour schedule because that's what they were on at the hospital. we figured out pretty quickly that home is not the hospital. these boys were hungry and the only reason we were making them wait every 4 hours was for our convenience.

this is just my own personal opinion, but babies are born with very few needs, and one of the biggest need is food. when they need it, they need it. they're too little to fake it. if they're waking up at 3 hours, feed them at 3 hours. it's such a simple concept but we struggled with it at first because we kept thinking, "but they did fine every 4 hours at the hospital..." and we didn't want to question the pros.

my advice is to feed every 3 or 3 1/2, whatever they need. i would still strongly advise that you feed them at the same time or you'll go nuts. we found a really happy medium by combining the "feed on demand" idea with the schedule idea. we knew one or both of the boys would be hungry about every 3 hours so we just planned on that. it worked out so whoever was hungriest made the schedule, and even if the other guy wasn't asking for it, we fed him anyway. we let them guide us so we stayed with what they needed until they started showing us that they could go longer between, which was months later.

 

I agree I'd feed them every 3hrs at least. My nieces were born at 33.5 weeks and the NICU put them on a 3 hr schedule. We used that for our boys too, though the lactation consultants were trying to talk me into a 2 hr schedule <_<

 

I have 29 weekers that spent 8 weeks in the NICU. They came home on an every 3 hour schedule as that's what the NICU had been doing. They continued to follow that every 3 hours with absolutely no problem. Eventually it changed over to every 4 hours. That was around 5 months only, but only 2.5 months adjusted. There's still a time every so often that they are hungry around the 3 hour mark, so I will feed them BOTH a little early and I feed them an ounce extra. Then they usually make it another 5 hours, which puts us right back on "schedule."

Have you tried offering an ounce or so more? It might make them last the 4 hours.

 

If one of the twins starts fussing to eat earlier than normal, I offer them a couple of ounces of breastmilk. If they're going through a growth spurt, they need this little bit of nourishment in between regular feedings. I've been able to keep them on their schedule this way. While it's no fun to feed in between, if that's what they baby needs, then that's what I give them. Some days they just need more nourishment than others.

 

I agree about 4 hours being a very long time for a 6 week old to go between feeds. I never got mine to go more than 3 hours the entire first year, and the first 6 months was more like 2 - 3 hours. If she is waking up crying at 3 hours I would definitely feed her and if you want to keep them on the same schedule you could move the other twin up to a 3 hour schedule and see how she eats.