preemies: too sleepy to eat

My boys were born 10 days ago at 36w2d due to IUGR and are about 5lb each now. They are both SO sleepy, we can't hardly wake them to eat, I'm afraid we're not gaining weight.

I've seen the ped twice now and go back next week for another weight check, but does anyone have stategies to get them to wake up to eat?

When will they be able torecognize their hunger cues and wake themselves up?

 

Jon was that way. What I did was "force" him to take a pacifier, to strenthen his suck. It really worked, and in a few days he was staying awake to finish his bottle. Also, keep in mind, that other than eating, all they should do at 10 day is sleep. Try changing their clothes to wake them up. At that age, I would always wake them to eat during th day, and let them wake me at night.

 

We had this a lot too. We would change their clothes. And it got so bad with dd that I would have to get a cool washcloth and wiper her face to wake her to eat. Good luck!

 

Yes, we had this issue too for the first couple of weeks. Most of the time they woke at 3 hours but if not we woke them to eat. I would strip them down to their diapers at times. Sometimes just talking to them and moving the nipple around in their mouths helped as well.

 

This was the biggest problem my boys had in the NICU (and maybe at home, but I was so used to it by then!). To keep them awake and eating a nurse taught us to massage their jaws. It keeps their mouth stimulated and they are kind of like "what are you doing??". I also agree with the paci idea. Jake took one right away and he became a better eater for it.

 

We were also taught to massage their jaws or under their chins to get them to keep sucking, we would also strip them down as well to "wake" them up to eat.

 

My little boy is still in the hospital because he won't eat. I'm so frustrated. The nurses always gavage feed him if I'm not there. So I think he thinks there is a tummy fairy that just comes and makes him feel full. I don't think we are ever going to make any progress this way.

 

We changed diapers with cold wipes and also left J.T's legs out of his pjs to make him cold so he would eat to "warm" up. Also our Dr told us to forgo the pacis bc you want them used to the bottle and not tire out on the paci so we ditched them for awhile. He also told us that their consiousness levels cycle through about every 20 minutes so he could open his eyes for a couple minutes and you could miss a feeding just like that! So we started changing his diaper and shoving a bottle in his mouth at the slightest peep of an eyeball looking at us They are great eaters now (mess) but they are eating more than my nephew who is 3 weeks older than them!!! (9 if you count adjusted age!)

 

Yup we definitely had this issue when the girls were super tiny. The NICU nurses gave us some excellent tips for keeping them awake enough to eat- Strip them down a little so they are a little uncomfortable and will wake up; Swirl the nipple in their mouths (assuming you are bottle feeding- I don't know how you'd do this if BF) to wake them up; Also the NICU nurses said to try to get them to finish the bottle within a half hour of starting it to conserve their energy. Finally, the NICU and our pedi told us to wake them every 3 hours around the clock to feed them because of weight gain. Check with your pedi about how many times a day they should eat. GL and hang in there!

 

We were on the every 2 hour schedule, and to get them to stay awake, we would pinch their heels. But it's only for a few weeks, soon they'll be waking up on their own to eat, and they'll be growing fine.

 

We also changed their diapers using unwarmed wipes before every feeding. Leaving them slightly undressed seemed to help. We also did the jaw massaging that the NICU nurses taught us as well. Good luck!

 

I am having that issue now with my full-term DD. I clean her cord area which needs to be done anyway and it wakes her up. Or change I her diaper and sometimes put a cool wipe on her foot.

 

i agree with the pp. try to wake them up to eat. they should be eating 30ml every 3-4 hours. i know how hard it was to get them to eat that so I would feed them 15ml every two hours to get that much in them as they wouldnt eat all of 30ml. dont worry they will begin getting hungry on their own. i believe it was around 2 weeks old (mine were born at 35 weeks 4 days). they soon ate 2 oz before I knew it! mine dropped a lot of weight during those first few days. they were 5lbs 7 oz nad 5lbs 9 oz and dropped to 5 lbs even and 5 lbs 1 oz within 2 days. push the feedings until they are able to eat on their own. since our babies are premature they will have a hard time waking to eat. i wish someone told me that before I had them! good luck!