i cant even get a feeding schedule going

sadie came home monday and elena came home wednesday, and we cant even establish a feeding routine yet. they both had initial breathing issues in the nicu, and then needed to learn to bottlefeed and they havent even been doing that a week. neither are the best eaters, i really have to struggle with especially elena to get her to take more than 1 oz. i am trying to feed every 3 hrs, but i cant get enough formula down either of them for them to make it another 3 hrs. they are hungry after 2-2.5 hrs. any ideas? i've tried so many different tricks to get them to suck, and poor elena just fights so hard, moving her head from side to side, pushing the bottle away, and they are both about 5 lbs now! but she's a strong one. so she vigorously eats her 1st oz of formula, but is not interested after that. i usually wont stop bugging her til i get 2 oz down her, but after that it's a crap shoot if i can get her to eat more. and 2 oz is not holding her off til next feed. help!

oh yeah... am i a bad mother for not even giving either of them a bath yet?? it seems like there is no time for that stuff cuz i'm constantly feeding and trying to feed. how often did you bathe your newborns?

amy

 

i think every 2-3 hours is the norm for that age. So if they are hungry in 2 hours, well, you will be tired! not a whole lot of help there, sorry!

We did a bath once a week at that age. At about 2 months we started 2x weekly. I'm getting ready to do every other other day. Just make sure their bottoms and faces are wiped off daily. It takes two adults to do baths for twins imo.

congratulations on coming home from nicu!

 

2 hours is fine. My ped always said to feed them every 3 hours (wake if necessary) or more if they want it. Also, my ped said not to bathe them the first few weeks. I think I bathes them after the cord fell off, and when they were that younjg I only did once a week at most. Now I bathe every 3 days

 

Their little tummies are so small at that age, that they need to refill every couple of hours. I would let them eat as often as they want, maybe try a 2 hour schedule during the day?

As far as baths, at that age, we were still just basically doing spongebaths because they hated it!

:hug99:

 

QUOTE(foppa2102 @ Jun 28 2008, 09:20 AM) [snapback]850628[/snapback]
sadie came home monday and elena came home wednesday, and we cant even establish a feeding routine yet. they both had initial breathing issues in the nicu, and then needed to learn to bottlefeed and they havent even been doing that a week. neither are the best eaters, i really have to struggle with especially elena to get her to take more than 1 oz. i am trying to feed every 3 hrs, but i cant get enough formula down either of them for them to make it another 3 hrs. they are hungry after 2-2.5 hrs. any ideas? i've tried so many different tricks to get them to suck, and poor elena just fights so hard, moving her head from side to side, pushing the bottle away, and they are both about 5 lbs now! but she's a strong one. so she vigorously eats her 1st oz of formula, but is not interested after that. i usually wont stop bugging her til i get 2 oz down her, but after that it's a crap shoot if i can get her to eat more. and 2 oz is not holding her off til next feed. help!

oh yeah... am i a bad mother for not even giving either of them a bath yet?? it seems like there is no time for that stuff cuz i'm constantly feeding and trying to feed. how often did you bathe your newborns?

amy


When mine came home they were on the 3 hour NICU schedule and were content with it. The NICU nurses told me to try to keep them on the 3 hour schedule - for my sake. They both started going to a 2 hour schedule within a few weeks. Our ped said the 3 hour schedule is the "ideal" but if they need to eat every 2 hours then that's what we should do. It was hard. One hellish night in particular they were on opposing schedules so that I was awake feeding a baby every single hour from 10p - 6a and they took 20 mins or so to complete each feeding. They both did a good 3 hour stretch of sleep from 5/6a - 8/9a. I got them back on the same schedule immediately after they woke that morning. Good luck. It goes by faster than it seems at the time.

Christy

 

I agree with pp, every 2-2.5 hour is normal at this age. You want them to eat as much/often as they want, so I would say follow their clues. Ultimately they will learn to have larger feedings and may space them a little.

A suggestion, have you tried different types of nipples? That may do the trick.

For the bath, I also waited until the cord fell off. Until then, I was sponge bathing them maybe every other day. Do not worry too much, in the early days you're on the surviving mode, so do what you can.

Hang in there! It will get easier

 

I kept the girls on the feeding schedule they were on in the NICU. At that age and size mine didn't eat more than an ounce at a time. Things that I did to help my lil ones eat (gosh I remember those frustrating days!), use the little bottles they had in the NICU... did they give you extras? If not, get some tiny preemie nipples (gerber makes them). I sat them up on my lap facing me with my hand behind their head (so their head rested in my hand) and fed them upright. If they started to move around or push the nipple out (or fall asleep), I spun the nipple around. It used to take them nearly 20 minutes to drink an ounce! Here is a picture of me feeding Ana in the NICU (she is almost 2 weeks old in this picture):

 

the first 2 weeks mine were home i was a complete wreck about them eating, and how much, and are they gaining. they'll catch on though. mine were taking 3oz for the past 2 weeks and now all of a sudden theyre taking 4 without a problem. do you try burping real good after the 1oz? mine will not eat anymore if they have a burp stuck. the 2 hour thing, mine did too. theyre going 2 1/2-3hours now. a bath... well theyre not out playing in the dirt so dont feel bad lol. i bathe mine in the kitchen sink. i put a handtowel or cloth diaper aka spit up rag on them, between their legs and on their butt so they dont slide around. good luck and try not to worry!! heres a pic of feeding them one of the ways

oh and i forgot i know some might say its not a good idea, but mine were obviously very hungry and would suck real hard but wouldnt get any milk, so i moved to a faster flow nipple. they kinda sputtered for awhile but they have it down now and dont get frustrated when eating. just make sure you have a rag or something under their chins if you try cuz it tends to come out the sides alot lol. and i do it upright and stop if they are gulping. worked great for me!

 

Like a couple others have said, you might try a different bottle/nipple. My little guy did ok on the hospital nipples (which you can reuse, and fit on various bottles!), not bad on Evenflo, but it wasn't until we hit on Dr. Brown's that he started eating decent volumes at nearly every feed. The nipple was just the right shape and easier for him to suck on than some other bottles. 6 months later it's STILL the only nipple he'll use.

Burp them as best you can after that first once and try some more. If she's fighting she might be uncomfortable from a burp. (Or reflux. Mine were about 3 weeks old when the reflux struck.)

But other than that, you're sort of stuck feeding them whenever they're hungry. It'll get better once they get a bit bigger.

 

One thing that helped Jon to eat was making him take a paci. It allowed him to strengthen his suck. He went from a very tough eater to a champ, and the easier one to feed within a week. That said, he never did like the paci, and gave it up on his own by 3 months.