do you wake a sleeping baby to feed?

just wondering.... in hosp they had me waking the girls for 4 hrly feeds around the clock.

should i be waking them to feed? how long do you let your twins sleep at any one time.

the midwives told me as they were 4 weeks early not to let thjem sleep longer than 4-5 hrs without a feed. they are 3 wks old now any suggestions, what do you do?

most of the time they keep their own clocks and wake up 15 min either side of the 4 hrs, but sometimes i have to wake them if they don't awake on their own.

we feed (appro) 6 10 and 2 aound the clock, but are fleible in that if one is hungry an hour b4 a feed i feed that one and then let her have another go when i feed the other an hr later ....

any suggestions???

 

I only wake them if the other has already awakened to feed. They only go that long at night though. During the day I can almost set my clocks by them for 3 hour feeds. Mine are 3 weeks adjusted age, but 12 weeks actual.

 

I was told that we could move from 3/4 hourly feedings to totally demand lead feeding (ie letting them sleep) at two weeks or when they re-gained their birth weight, whichever comes later, but that is because my twins were over 5 pounds each.

 

In the beginning my pedi told me not to go more than 3 hours and that is what I kept to. They are STILL every 3 hour feeders like clockwork. I would just make sure they are eating enough at each feeding. You can always call your pedi and let them know, that is what they are there for.

GL

Damiane'

 

QUOTE(natasha163 @ Mar 22 2008, 01:15 AM) [snapback]681850[/snapback]
just wondering.... in hosp they had me waking the girls for 4 hrly feeds around the clock.

should i be waking them to feed? how long do you let your twins sleep at any one time.

the midwives told me as they were 4 weeks early not to let thjem sleep longer than 4-5 hrs without a feed. they are 3 wks old now any suggestions, what do you do?

most of the time they keep their own clocks and wake up 15 min either side of the 4 hrs, but sometimes i have to wake them if they don't awake on their own.

we feed (appro) 6 10 and 2 aound the clock, but are fleible in that if one is hungry an hour b4 a feed i feed that one and then let her have another go when i feed the other an hr later ....

any suggestions???



my b/g twins were 3hr feeds in nicu and we continued that at home...they wake on their own most feeds and if they don't i wake them...otherwise you could be feeding round clock....mine are 7 wks 3 wks adj...and we just started letting them go 4 hrs at night with larger feeds.....i think you should wake them early on to keep their weight up.

 

This is definitely something to ask your pedi about. He/she can make the judgment call whether it's ok to let them sleep as long as they'll sleep.

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Mar 22 2008, 07:38 AM) [snapback]681941[/snapback]
This is definitely something to ask your pedi about. He/she can make the judgment call whether it's ok to let them sleep as long as they'll sleep.


Agreed! It really depends on how big your kiddos are their gestational age. I had to wake the girls every 3 hours around the clock until they were about 2 months old (actual age). Then our pedi gave us the ok to see how long they would go still getting at least 6-7 bottles a day. They stretched themselves to every 4 hours around the clock and it wasn't until they were 4 months old that we were told by our pedi to see how long they'd sleep at night. This is when they started sleeping from about 12-1am until about 6am. So definitely check with your pedi. GL!

 

We wake them up if they do not wake up on their own at the three hour mark. They did this in the hospital and told us to do this once home. We wake them mostly to keep them feeding around the same time. Normally if both are sound asleep will wake one baby about 20 minutes earlier to try to get him changed and mostly feed before his brother wakes up. Will switch each time as to who I wake up. Normally this works, yesterday not so much as they were waking up at the exact same times.

I don't know when we let them sleep longer...four hours would be great lol

Dianna

 

My boys were 7 weeks early and I woke them every 3 hours for a month. After that, they woke every 3 hours on their own. Only in the last month or so have they been going 4-5 hours at night (still pretty much 3 hrs during the day).

 

mine are 3 weeks tomorrow, adjusted age a couple days. my pedi told me yesterday that 4 hours is as long as they should ever go.

one of mine needs to be awakened sometimes during the day to feed but the other is ready about every hour and a half, lol!

gl, jl

 

I fed them every three hours like clockwork during the day. At night, I would let them go longer.

 

Mine need to be woken every 3 hours to feed. My doctors also consider them "late preemies" even though they were born at 37 weeks 4 days. Also, 1 of mine was 4lbs 8oz. at birth, which is low, so she has to eat every 3 hours. The doctor said I could let the other one go a maximum of 4-5 hours w/out feeding.

 

Mine were also 36 weekers, and they came home from the hospital on a 4 hour schedule. During the day, I would wake them to feed, and at night, I let them wake me. We did this from the day they came home from the hospital.

 

How long does everyone keep them on the 3 hour schedule? How do you know when it is ok to stretch that time?

Dianna

 

My two are 4 months old and I needed to push the fluids to get their weights up -- I gave them a bottle at 9 pm even if they were sleeping and they drank it !! Never knew you could feed a sleeping baby. I change her bottom then too, then back to sleep.

At 3 weeks like you we were every 3-4 hours.

Heather

 

my twins were born @@ 38 weeks & are currently 3 weeks old && my ped said to feed every 3-4 hours and only allow one 5 hour stretch in a 24 hour period. my boys were on a 4 hour schedule & are now waking up every 3 hours like clockwork.

 

Not if there was a BOOGEYMAN with a loaded shotgun standing next to my bed TELLING ME to...


I was under the mistaken impression that I was supposed to........... my boys were 35 wks and 6lbs a piece.. Thought I was supposed to and did for a few days (UGH....) and then asked Ped and said "Negative.. if baby is sleeping.. let him sleep.."

 

Ours were on a 3 hour schedule from in the NICU. They were born at 31+weeks, and were there for 6 weeks. They are now 9 weeks old, adjusted age newborn. We keep them pretty close to the 3 hours, except at night, we let one wake us then we feed them both. At night, we usually go for 4 hours between feeds. They are now 8 and 7lbs.

 

We came home on a 3 hour schedule with instructions that they could go up to 5 hours at night, so we set the alarm for 5 hours after their last feeding. The day we came home we got 2 5 hour stretches. (DD came home at 4-13 and DS at 5-15 weight wise). If one woke though, we always woke the other. During the day they ate every 3 hours like clockwork. Nice full feedings.

At 5 weeks they slept 8 hours at night, had a feeding and then went 4 more hours.

At 8 weeks they were sleeping 12 hours with feedings every 4 hours during the day.

At just over 6 months we dropped to 3 bottles a day and they now sleep 11 hours at night, but play in bed for an hour when they wake up.


My PED approved all of this.

 

QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Mar 24 2008, 08:15 AM) [snapback]683899[/snapback]
We came home on a 3 hour schedule with instructions that they could go up to 5 hours at night, so we set the alarm for 5 hours after their last feeding. The day we came home we got 2 5 hour stretches. (DD came home at 4-13 and DS at 5-15 weight wise). If one woke though, we always woke the other. During the day they ate every 3 hours like clockwork. Nice full feedings.

At 5 weeks they slept 8 hours at night, had a feeding and then went 4 more hours.

At 8 weeks they were sleeping 12 hours with feedings every 4 hours during the day.

At just over 6 months we dropped to 3 bottles a day and they now sleep 11 hours at night, but play in bed for an hour when they wake up.
My PED approved all of this.




WOW I HOPE I LUCK OUT LIKE YOU.. THATS WONDERFUL!!!

 

QUOTE(babymOmmax2 @ Mar 24 2008, 08:45 AM) [snapback]683940[/snapback]
WOW I HOPE I LUCK OUT LIKE YOU.. THATS WONDERFUL!!!



We wroked hard during the day to feed every 3 hours, no snacks between and only full feedings! We sort of used babywise to sleep train them, but did not follow it exactly. I think it worked well as we had a plan!

 

QUOTE(natasha163 @ Mar 22 2008, 01:15 AM) [snapback]681850[/snapback]
just wondering.... in hosp they had me waking the girls for 4 hrly feeds around the clock.

should i be waking them to feed? how long do you let your twins sleep at any one time.

the midwives told me as they were 4 weeks early not to let thjem sleep longer than 4-5 hrs without a feed. they are 3 wks old now any suggestions, what do you do?

most of the time they keep their own clocks and wake up 15 min either side of the 4 hrs, but sometimes i have to wake them if they don't awake on their own.

we feed (appro) 6 10 and 2 aound the clock, but are fleible in that if one is hungry an hour b4 a feed i feed that one and then let her have another go when i feed the other an hr later ....

any suggestions???


Our pediatrician told us we could stop waking them at night to feed (we were doing every 3 hours) when they hit their birth weight again, which mine did at a week old. We still woke them up every three hours during the day to help them get their longer stretches of sleep at night. Mine were fairly big for twins though.

 

At that age, I woke them for feedings except for night time. I would wait at night til one woke up, then I would wake the other one up and feed them then.