More questions about feedings and sleep!

I have 7 week old twin girls and I have a couple of questions....

-We use doctor brown's bottles- some plastic, some glass- how often do you replace the plastic bottles? I try not to run them through the dishwasher too much because I feel like they will break down the plastic. I wash them with really hot soapy water after each use...

-When do you go up to the next nipple with bottles? We were using preemie nipples because our girls were choking so often...we are now trying the level one's and they still choke a bit but are getting the hang of it.... speaking of choking during feedings- is that common?? I'm a speech pathologist by trade and any amount of coughing or choking bothers me a lot (I don't specialize in feeding/swallowing disorders in infants) because those are red flags for aspiration in children/adults in my field.. I get a bit panicky whenever it happens but I'm wondering how common it is with all infants during feedings..


-my doctor's office says that kiddos my babies' age should be consuming 26 ounces/24 hour period.. we offer our girls 28 ounces/24 hour period (4 ounces and 7 feedings per day)... but a lot of times they will not want all 4 ounces.. is this common???

-onto sleeping.... how much do babies sleep at this age. Is it too early to try to get a schedule going- even if it means tons of naps during the schedule? At what point do babies sleep during the night more than 3-4 hours at a time???


Sorry about the ridiculous amount of questions!!! Thank you so much for your help!!!!!!

 

Hi - Our twins are 19 wks old so much of this is still fresh in my mind.

1. Dr. Browns - We used level one from the get go. Had tons of issues with one of our girls being a bad feeder/choker. She would even turn blue. Discussed with the dr. on a number of occasions. He said all within the range of normal, but to count how long she was choking/not breathing. Anything over 6/7 seconds was something to be more concerned about. Anything over 10 and it was call 911. She never got over 5 seconds. Totally understand how this is worrysome cause I was freaked out by it. Good news is that it went away totally by about 10 wks. We moved our good feeder on to level 2 around 12 weeks, waited to about 15 wks for our bad feeder. Now both do great on the level 2's and man, is it nice for them to be able to finish a bottle in about 10 mins. Way faster!

2. Oz's of formula. Every baby is different, just read their cues. Our good feeder and bigger baby took about 25 oz a day, our bad feeder about 32 - 35. Ours started around 2/3 oz and now take about 5-6 each feed. Can never get them to take more, even now and they are nearly 5 months! They feed every 3.5 to 4 hours.

3. Ours still can't stay awake for much longer than 2 to 2.5 hours during the day. Right now, they are taking about 3 to 4 hour long naps, depending how how long the naps go, usually around 1 hour, but could be as much as 2 hours. still sorting themselves out for naps. Night - ours didn't used to go to sleep before 9/10 until they were about 10/11 weeks old. Now, they go to sleep btw. 7 - 8 pm. Get a dream feed at 10 and wake at 5 and go back down till 630 or 730. This just started in the last week. Before that, they were waking btwn. 2 to 4 am for a feed then back down till 6/7 am.


All your info sounds really normal in terms of what to expect! But if you are ever concerned about the choking or anything else, just ask your dr. Mine was great about it.

 

-We use doctor brown's bottles- some plastic, some glass- how often do you replace the plastic bottles? I try not to run them through the dishwasher too much because I feel like they will break down the plastic. I wash them with really hot soapy water after each use... I never replaced the plastic bottles. We used them the whole first year.

-When do you go up to the next nipple with bottles? I moved up a nipple level when it seemed like they were working and working for the formula. You'll be able to tell. It would take theme forever to eat and seemed like they were sucking forever. Then when we moved up to level 2 they seemed much happier. We didn't go to level 3 until about 11 months old.

-my doctor's office says that kiddos my babies' age should be consuming 26 ounces/24 hour period.. we offer our girls 28 ounces/24 hour period (4 ounces and 7 feedings per day)... but a lot of times they will not want all 4 ounces.. is this common??? Yes, sounds totally normal. The most I could ever get mine to take at one time was 6 ounces.

-onto sleeping.... how much do babies sleep at this age. Is it too early to try to get a schedule going- even if it means tons of naps during the schedule? At what point do babies sleep during the night more than 3-4 hours at a time??? I started mine on a 3 hour feeding schedule right when we got home from the hospital. By 12 weeks old they started going longer stretches. During the day I did 90 minutes awake (feeding and unswaddled) and then 90 minutes swaddled, nap time. All day long. Around 12 weeks they started sleeping longer than 3 hours but they weren't sleeping 12 hours a night consistently until 6 months old.

 

-We use doctor brown's bottles- some plastic, some glass- how often do you replace the plastic bottles? I try not to run them through the dishwasher too much because I feel like they will break down the plastic. I wash them with really hot soapy water after each use...
I never used dr. brown's, but I did use playtex plastic bottles, and never replaced them, and washed them in the dishwasher often

-When do you go up to the next nipple with bottles? We were using preemie nipples because our girls were choking so often...we are now trying the level one's and they still choke a bit but are getting the hang of it.... speaking of choking during feedings- is that common?? I'm a speech pathologist by trade and any amount of coughing or choking bothers me a lot (I don't specialize in feeding/swallowing disorders in infants) because those are red flags for aspiration in children/adults in my field.. I get a bit panicky whenever it happens but I'm wondering how common it is with all infants during feedings..
I agree with Aimee, when it looks like they are struggling to eat, or taking forever and getting bored before they finished, I would go to the next level nipple. Preemies will take longer to get the whole "suck, swallow, breath" thing down, so they tend to choke more often. It's very common. Just take the bottle out and let them calm down before continueing the feeding.


-my doctor's office says that kiddos my babies' age should be consuming 26 ounces/24 hour period.. we offer our girls 28 ounces/24 hour period (4 ounces and 7 feedings per day)... but a lot of times they will not want all 4 ounces.. is this common???
Every baby is different, I used the 24-32 oz guideline, anywhere in that range is pretty normal. When we started taking more than 32 oz consistently, we started adding solids in as well.

-onto sleeping.... how much do babies sleep at this age. Is it too early to try to get a schedule going- even if it means tons of naps during the schedule? At what point do babies sleep during the night more than 3-4 hours at a time???
You can get a "routine" going, but i think it's too early for a schedule (meaning scheduled times for each thing like naps at 9, 12, 3...etc). Mine took 45 mins catnaps up until about 4-5 months old, they couldn't stay awake more than 1-1.5 hrs or so, around 5-6 months we started getting into more of a schedule. At 3 months mine started going around 6-8 hrs at night, and by 4 months they were sleeping 10-12 hrs a night. 3-6 months is the norm for babies to start sleeping through the night.

 

we abandoned plastic completely when we found the heat of the dishwasher was warping them and making the rings fit less securely (thus, more leaks). we switched to glass evenflo bottles and used dr brown's nipples. once we switched to glass we never went back to plastic.

talk to your pedi about any concerns with choking. we had some issues with owen where he would get overwhelmed and hold his breath to avoid choking. we had to keep an eye on it at home once he was released from NICU. so if you feel like you're seeing some distress, don't hesitate to talk to their doctor.

we probably didn't step up nipple sizes until they were several months old. it's okay if they're on a smaller hole, as long as it's comfortable to them and you don't get the feeling they're working too hard to get enough.

again, talk to your pedi if you feel like there's a problem. that said, my boys never ate as much as the guidelines said they should. our pedi explained that not everyone will eat the same amount of food, and babies are no different. if they seem satisfied and they're growing consistently then i wouldn't worry too much about ounces.

easier said than done, of course. i say that as a year 2 mom looking back. in year 1 i struggled to cram every ounce in those boys i could. :laughing:

you can try creating a schedule around their wakeful periods but it's a bit early to try to enforce a schedule. you could be another month or two out from longer sleep periods, but if you've got preemies you'll probably find they'll progress according to their adjusted age.

 

Dr. Brown bottles were a pain if you ask me. They take too long to clean. I used them & several other brands before I found my favorite, evenflo's pure & gental. I don't have a dishwasher so I have no idea what it does the plastic. I replace plastic bottles every 3 months.

Not sure on this one. I had lots of problems with both kids, cuz one has stomach issues & the other had a cleft lip. But by trial & error we figured it out. I'm using a faster flow for one baby cuz she has a lazy suck, right now.

Thats pooy. Doctors will always give you a number but seriously, do YOU eat the same everyday? No. Neither will they. Someday's will be more than others, but the baby will know when its hungry & when its full. As long as they aren't dehydrated or losing weight they are fine. Just feed them when they are hungry. Mine are 6 months old and half the time they wont take a full 4 ounces either.

Babies sleep alot still at that age, and they won't develope a schedule until they are closer to 4 months. As for sleeping through the night, I'm not sure. Mine are 6 months & we're still getting up about every 3-4 hours.



Hope this helps some.

 

-We use doctor brown's bottles- some plastic, some glass- how often do you replace the plastic bottles? I try not to run them through the dishwasher too much because I feel like they will break down the plastic. I wash them with really hot soapy water after each use... I use Avent bottles, so I don't know how different the plastic is, but I haven't had to replace my bottles and I always use the dishwasher. I haven't had any problems with the plastic breaking down--I always use the top rack.

 

We used Dr. Browns glass, but I would imagine the plastic bottles should last a long time. Or at least through one set of babies.

We started with preemie nipples as well and went to level one at about 3 months. Then level two at about 6 months. My one daughter had issues of turning blue and choking and we did end up back in the hospital to reteach her to eat and breathe. Some choking is normal, they guzzle or start to fall asleep and sometimes would choke. I would recommend just watching their chests to make sure the suck swallow reflex is there. She was basically holding her breath when she ate.

The amount of food sounds perfect. We started a 3 hr feed schedule from the hospital and by about 3-4 months were on a 4 hr schedule. When they start to get hungry before the 3 hr mark, increase slowly. Let them lead the way with how much they want. And if a bottle doesn't get finished here or there, as long as they are gaining weight I wouldn't worry too much

Napping was every 1 1/2 hrs for the longest time. When they are little just let them sleep when they want to sleep. At 4 months one of ours started sleeping through the night, but the other took until 6 months to go through the night. I started around 5 months to try to get them to nap around the same times. I found it helpful to write down when they started getting sleepy and look for cues that they were tired and then realized a pattern. From this, I set our schedule. By 5/6 months they were doing 3 naps a day.