new to the twins club, and could use advice

Hello everyone! I am new to this site and am very excited to meet some wonderful new people and also get some parenting advice. My husband and I have 4 week old twin girls. They were born early (33 1/2 weeks) and were in the hospital for 3 weeks. One baby weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz. and the other 4 lbs. 12 oz. We just went to the ped. on Tuesday, and she told us to put our one daughter on regular formula (Similac Advance with iron) and keep our other daughter still on the preemie formula (Neosure). HOwever, both babies especially the smaller one, are VERY gassy, fussy during and after their feedings. They both are eating every four hours and have there days/nughts mixed up. While they eat, they arch their backs, grunt, scream, and seem in pain or uncomfortable. What am I supposed to do? I hate seeing my girls this way, it brings me to tears.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Jen

 

Welcome to twinstuff and congratulations on your baby girls! I wish I had advice to give you, but I know there are a lot of women here who will have great advice for you. Good luck with your new beauties

 

Thanks! If you don't mind me aksing, how much did your twins weight at birth?

Thanks,
Jen

 

Oops, sorry for my misspellings.

Jen

 

My babies were born at 37 weeks and weighed 5lbs 7oz and 4lbs 14oz.

 

Hello, :sign0016: to TS, I look forward to getting to know you. I don't have a lot of advice for you but are you sure its gas and not reflux. Talk to your pedi, because by the sounds of it it may be reflux. Good luck.

 

Hi Jen!

Welcome to TS! And congrats on your twins!

Are the babies spitting up at all? Even if they aren't, they could possibly have reflux. The symptoms you are describing...the arching, fussiness...those are symptoms of reflux. I would talk to your ped about it.

As far as the gas, have you tried giving them Mylicon drops?

Having their days and nights confused is a normal newborn thing. I would actually try feeding them more often during the day, every 3 hours, as opposed to 4. #1, they will get more stimulation during the day, and hopefully be awake more for those feedings, and #2, they will get more calories in during the day, and hopefully won't need AS much at night, and they will be more sleepy.

Hang in there! You are in the roughest part right now! :hug99:

 

Hi, Welcome, this is a great site. I can't offer you much advice. My babies also did this, but not at every feeding. Mine were born at 33 weeks, and weight 4lbs14oz and 4lbs5.5oz. I don't think mine had reflux, they do spit up alot but do not grunt and groan anymore, and I would think reflux would last much longer that 4.5 months. Hope someone has some good advice for you, all i can say is talk to your pedi about it. Good luck!!!!

 

Thanks, I'll check with my pedi again, I have already asked her and she basically said "yeah that happens". Anyways, any advice on how to get my girls to sleep more through the night without screaming for hours after we feed them? Did you let you babies sleep through the night without waking them for a feeding?


Jen

 

How old can your babies be when you give them Mylicon drops? And yes, both Lillian and Annabelle spit up after and during feedings. What do pedis do for reflux?

Jen

 

We did let them wake up on their own at about 4 weeks, they were in the hospital for 3 weeks also, for about a week we woke them, then we stopped. The right away went for 4.5 - 5 hours. (We had to wake them every 3 hours)

 

QUOTE(stanley @ Apr 19 2007, 07:46 PM) [snapback]227509[/snapback]
How old can your babies be when you give them Mylicon drops? And yes, both Lillian and Annabelle spit up after and during feedings. What do pedis do for reflux?

Jen


You can give it to them as newborns, the dosage is on the back of the bottle.

It really sounds like it is reflux to me. Some babies are put on meds for it, and some are put on formulas with added rice, to help weigh it down.

I would suggest keeping them upright in a bouncy or swing after every feeding for at least 30 minutes.

 

QUOTE(stanley @ Apr 19 2007, 07:46 PM) [snapback]227509[/snapback]
How old can your babies be when you give them Mylicon drops? And yes, both Lillian and Annabelle spit up after and during feedings. What do pedis do for reflux?

Jen


I had a friend who had a baby with reflux and they gave him a liquid RX med. They also had to sit him up for a half hr after he ate so the formula did come back up.

You can give Mylicon drops to new borns, just make sure you give them the amount suggestedon the bottle.

I also never woke my girls up to feed. They gained weight really well and it was never a issue. I figured sleep was more important and they would wake up if they were hungry.

 

QUOTE
Did you let you babies sleep through the night without waking them for a feeding?


I think, since they were so early, you should probably talk to your ped about this. Is weight gain a concern? Hannah(my 2nd) was born at 35 weeks, 5lbs9oz, and was sent home on a strict 3 hour schedule, around the clock. She was kept on it for at least 6 weeks.

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Apr 19 2007, 07:53 PM) [snapback]227515[/snapback]
You can give them as newborns, the dosage is on the back of the bottle.

It really sounds like it is reflux to me. Some babies are put on meds for it, and some are put on formulas with added rice, to help weigh it down.

I would suggest keeping them upright in a bouncy or swing after every feeding for at least 30 minutes.


Too funny, I was posting just about the same thing while you were. :lol:

 

QUOTE
While they eat, they arch their backs, grunt, scream, and seem in pain or uncomfortable. What am I supposed to do? I hate seeing my girls this way, it brings me to tears.


At 8 weeks my boys were diagnosed with reflux. If I new what reflux was at the time and that babies get it, I woud have talked to my ped sooner. I thought I just had 2 colicky babies that cried a lot. But then I noticed the pattern of arching the back and actually screaming through feedings even when they were hungry. They tried to suck but could not because they were in pain. My boys did not spit up much but like Becky said, they dont have to to have reflux. All I did was tell these symptoms to the ped and they were put on prevacid and they were fine in 2-4 days. They are still on the med. It is horrible to see them like that. I would talk to your ped again. Good luck. I am glad you have found us. Ask questions anytime.

 

Welcome to TS! Like others have mentioned, it sounds like reflux. My girls never had it but were very colicky. We switched to the Dr Brown bottles and that helped. Maybe you could try those along with talking to your doctor about reflux. Good luck and I hope that you get it figured out!

 

Sounds like reflux, Dr. should put them on prevacid and Reglan (empties out the stomach faster) and they should be better soon, Also ask about thickening formula with rice cereal or simply thick, helps keep the food down!

Hope this helps,