so is this something to be alarmed about

Heather1979

LO has fallen into a pattern since she's been home - about 11 days now where she eats every 3-4 hours and bfs for about 20-40 minutes. Last night LO ate at 9pm for 40 minutes, had her bath and was wide awake for 4 hours last night while we played, had tunny time, etc.

At midnight she was asleep. Stayed up until 1, still asleep, couldn't rouse her. I heard her stirring a little at 2am, she ate for five minutes and fell asleep. At 4:30am she made a few noises, and the same thing happened, ate for 5 minutes and fell asleep.

at 8am she woke up, was kicking around, ate for five minutes and again fell asleep.

Nothing wakes her up. The apnea monitor isn't going off, but I've tried changing her diaper, undressing and redressing her, feeding her just in a diaper, feeding her dressed, nothing...

So what should I do if she doesn't eat soon?

Sweets2005

Could it be possible that she is just an efficient nurser and got full on the 5 minutes? I know it seems weird since she nursed for much longer before but maybe she was just pacifing herself then. I don't know, just throwing ideas out there. I would continue to try to wake her and feed her just like you have been. She will eat if she gets hungry I am sure. When is her next pedi appointment? Because you could continue to let her make the rules for feedings and then see if she is gaining enough weight. If she is, then everything is fine. If not, then revisit the feedings and maybe try to set up a daily routine which I have done and helps so much!

Sometimes my LOs seem wide awake but I read they really shouldn't be awake for more than 2-3 hours at a time so I just swaddle them up and put them to bed, even if they seem wide-eyed and bushy tailed. They always fall asleep right away so I think they have just gotten overtired as opposed to not being tired at all.

 

Qs2004

Keep good tabs in her temperature.  That happened to me, altho our apnea monitor also alerted us, her temp was 92 degrees and we had to rush her back to the hospital.  

Sometimes preemies can't hold their temperatures.  She immediately went under the warmer and I called them on the way so they were ready for us.

lili_ana

Hi Heather, I remember you from 3rd tri, I too was a November Ninja but my baby came early in mid-October Have you tried: wiping your LO's face with a damp wash cloth? tickling her feet? burping her often? holding her head not against you but away from you, with your hand holding her neck? use breast instead of bottle, formula instead of milk or viceversa? My baby used to be a bad eater, thank goodness this is not the case anymore. Hope your LO starts eating good again!