Waking at night...feed or pacify?

My twins are 13 weeks old (5 weeks adjusted). Twice this week they have gone 6 hours in between feedings at night. Normally they only go 4 hours, but the two nights they went 6 hours were nights they got a bath...coincidence? I am going to do a bath again tonight to see if that is helping them relax and sleep longer. But, my question is, How do I know when they really need to eat versus when I should just give them their pacifier back? Thanks for your advice.

 

My twins are 13 weeks old (5 weeks adjusted). Twice this week they have gone 6 hours in between feedings at night. Normally they only go 4 hours, but the two nights they went 6 hours were nights they got a bath...coincidence? I am going to do a bath again tonight to see if that is helping them relax and sleep longer. But, my question is, How do I know when they really need to eat versus when I should just give them their pacifier back? Thanks for your advice.

 

I started dropping bottles when they were consistantly not drinking the whole thing when they woke up during the night. That was not until 4 months for one and 5 months for the other.

 

IF they wake and drink a small amount, then they weren't hungry just needed soothing. If they wake and suck down the whole bottle, they are clearly hungry and keep feeding them.

 

ditto to Safari's response. You may also find that even once they start sleeping through the night regularly, they may have a growth spurt and need some extra night time feedings. I found this out after spending a good hour and half (at 1am)of trying to pacify and rock my daughter back to sleep when she was 7 1/2 months old. I finally decided to try a bottle and to my surprise she sucked the bottle down like there was no tomorrow. The next night she drank 2 bottles in a row!! So I figured she was going through a growth spurt. It only lasted about a week and a half and then she was back to drinking only a couple of ounces so I stopped the night time bottles again and went back to pacifing. Just when you think things are in a solid routine, there is always something new around the corner that throws it off. Gotta just go with the punches, kwim? GL

 

We do a bath as part of our bedtime routine and I honestly believe it helps them sleep. I would try the paci and if they don't seem satisfied then I would give them the bottle. We had to do at least one night feeding until 5 1/2 months. Some nights they would sleep through; however, others they would need the bottle. Good luck figuring it all it . . . it is truly like a puzzle!

 

Well for mine if they were really hungry, they would not take the paci's, if they were just waking for habit etc. The paci could typically get them back to sleep.