Sleep through night.

My b/g twins are 4 months old (2 months ols adjusted age). They have been sleeping through night since this week. They are on 3 hour schedule in the day. Last feeding is mid night and they sleep till 7-8AM in the morning. I should be happy about it. But im worried they dont get enough nutrition. They take like 4 oz / 3 hours in the day. Now they sleep through night, so they have like 6 feeding/day which is like max 24 oz/day. before they had like 7-8 feeding. It means they eat less than before. So im worried. But I dont think they are ready to go up to 5 oz. My boy is so distracted with what is going on around him. Its hard to feed him. My girl has bad reflux. I dont see how I can feed them 5oz/feeding now. I kind of want to wake them up at 5 for another feeding. My husband and I have been agruing about it. He thinks let them sleep through night so its easy for the family. But im worried they dont get enough food. My kids dont have great appetite. I think they should intake more at this age, not less. Please help!

 

Yeah, I would try to push it to 30ozs. Especially if one of them has reflux which makes her intake even less than 24ozs. What about their weight gain? Some people may think 24ozs is enough. I tend to feed my babies a lot.

 

Anytime I've tried to fatten up any of my kids it has never worked for me. I let them go at their own pace. My daycare provider (w/ over 40 yrs experience and has had 8 sets of twins) said it perfectly once "a baby or child will not starve themselves, they eat waht they need."

I would let them sleep and maybe see if they can move to 6oz bottles but I wouldn't force it. Chances are, they will want more through the day in the next ccouple of week since they have started STTN. They are still young. My boys were born at 38 weeks so I never adjusted anything and at 2 months old, they were eating in the neighborhood of 24-30oz a day. I BF'd them and gave them about 6oz of formula so that is an estimate but anytime I pumped, I made 9-10 oz in one session, so each boy only fed on one side.

I give you a HUGE congrats! I would be very happy!

 

i would try squeezing in an extra feeding during the day rather than wake them up at night, but then, i believe sleep is sacred. have you asked your doc for their opinion? they'd be in the best position to tell you whether your babies need those extra calories or not.

 

last visit, I told thier pedi that they ate like 7-8 times/day, 3-4oz/feeding. she said its too much and asked me to only add 3 oz in each bottle. I just disagreed with her. She said my girl likes eating because she just likes to suck. its not true. She doesnt sucks on pacifier when shes not hungry. When she is full, she pushes out the bottle.My kids eat like 24-26oz/day each. I dont think its alot. I even think its too little. But Im ok with it because they gain weight. They gain like 2-2.5oz/month. And I like to keep it that way. the pedi thinks its too fast and too much to gain like that. Well, my kids were premature. I'd like they catch up as soon as possible. I dont force them to eat until they puke. I just dont want not to give them enough. With breast milk, they would go like 2-2.5 hours then hungry again. Pedi said if they're hungry before feeding time, just give them pacifier. I am totally against that. I keep them on 3 hour schedule. But if they are hungry before feeding time, I go ahead give them their bottles. The past 2 weeks, I only cut off 1 night feeding. So far they still gain weight.The past 3 days, we cut off 2 feeding so they can sleep through night. If they eat like 4-5oz/feeding, i'd be happy about it.I will see how they take it this week. Thanks ladies

 

sounds like you're following their cues, and you can't go wrong that way! :good:

 

Agreed! Our boys were 29 weekers and they were on a 3 hour schedule as well for many, many months. But during growth spurts it was not unusual for them to start screaming to eat at 2 or 2.5 hours, and of course we fed them then because like you I wanted them to get as many calories as they would take (not to mention we didn't want them screaming!). But once they started STTN I didn't dare wake them to eat! Also, at that age (4 months actual/ 2 months adjusted) I am quite sure our boys were still only taking about 3 oz a feeding. It seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r for them to get to 4 and 5 ounces, and even now at 14 months they rarely drink more than 6 oz at a time. But even though they were preemies and taking little tiny 3 oz bottles then and STTN they gained weight just fine. Currently they are over 21 and 22 lbs and look super healthy, and I'm sure yours will keep packing on the weight too

 

I think you're doing the right things, and probably don't have much cause for concern. I would try and shorten times between feedings during the day to give them an extra feed before I woke them up during the night; if they want to sleep, let them sleep! It's a great pattern for them to get into, and they know how often they're hungry.

 

First of all, I'm jealous! I would love for mine to sleep that long at night! We've talked with our pedi about it and she says they can definitely go 8 hours without eating and that the babies will self-regulate. It sounds like you're doing the right thing-if they are hungry, you feed them and they will take what they want.
Ours are about the same age and my twins take about 4-4.5 ounces at every feeding and eat about 6-7 times per day (so about 25-30 ounces per day). They're gaining 1-2 pounds per month and I've been told that is all normal development for this age. They also have some good growth spurts at this age so if they are acting like they want to eat more, you are right to give them more.
I can understand your concern but as long as you're not ignoring their hunger cries, I think you're ok. Now, if you can just explain to me how you got them to sleep through the night....

 

It sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing!! I wouldn't wake them. If they are gaining weight - and they are not crying for more food, then it seems just right. You could always up the amount by an ounce and see what happens. If they take it and don't throw it up, then they are okay. I'd rather give more food during the day for a reflux baby so they have a chance to be upright. If you give it at night, then they just sleep on it.

Congrats on getting good sleep at this stage - I'm def jealous

 

I really didnt do anything. My kids just sleep through night on their own. They have been on 3 hour schedule since day 1 in hospital. I just mix schedule and feed on demand a bit. I keep track how much they eat, poop, med, vitamin,sleep, playtime,... every day. Then I see the pattern. They dont eat much before noon. If they dont get enough then after 5pm, they eat like crazy. My girl can take like 8 oz in 3 hours which I dont want her to, because she will puke up and ask for third bottle. So i try to make them eat as much as possible early in the day and spread out the kcal even. If they cant finish their bottle, then I will give them the rest after 1-2 hours. I make sure they take in 4 oz/3 hours. I also weigh them like 3 times/week. I make sure they gain weight constantly. If they dont, I would go back to my note and see what happens that week and adjust it. Like last night, after bath at 8, bottle at 9:30 they fell asleep in their cribs. then I gave them their mid night bottles at 12:30. The girl took 3 oz (total of yesterday like almost 27oz). The boy took 4 oz (total like 25.5). This amount of food was enough for them to sleep through night.And they slept untill 7:30. They didnt wake up. But I woke them up to give them first bottles in the morning. I know 4oz bottle is good for them right now. If they start waking up at night or still hungry after bottles, then its time to move up to 5oz. I give them formula at mid night, but in the day they take breastmilk. So I am able to give them extra 1/2 bottle. I remeber one of the pedi told me that for babies, you get their weights divide 2 is how much their stomach can hold food. Ex: my boy is 14.5 oz then he can hold like 7oz. But still, I dont want to overfeed him. If he doesnt need it, I dont want him to have tummy ache.

I only help them with feeding shedule. About sleep, play times they pretty much do it themself.

 

I say follow their cues and feed them when they are hungry regardless of if it is 2 hours or 4 between feedings. The pp is right that after a few days of STTN they will probably increase their intake during the day to compensate. Think about it this way, if you were breastfeeding you wouldn't even be counting ounces. If they have good wet diapers, normal poopy diapers, and they act satisfied after a feeding, then they are getting enough. I would stop the weighing because that's bound to drive you crazy. You could weigh right before a poop one day and right after a poop 2 days later and think they didn't gain.
I am a pediatrician and I will tell you that it is much worse to overfeed. I wouldn't worry about how much they are getting. Overfeeding leads to losing hunger cues and obesity later in life. I personally think that the only purpose of a baby scale is to measure milk transfer in a breastfeeding newborn. If I were the pediatrician I would tell you to put the scale away, follow their cues, stop overanalyzing everything and enjoy your babies!