feeding & sleeping question

raches

Owen and Olivia are 15 weeks old, 5 weeks adjusted.  They both weigh about 11 pounds now.  When we got home from the hospital about 5 weeks ago, we continued the 8 feeding/day schedule.  Since we were always having to wake them at night, our pedi told us we could let them sleep longer at night.  So we dropped one feeding and went to 7 feedings/day.  Well over the weekend we decided to let them sleep and see how long they would go.  Amazingly they went over 6 hours (9pm-3:30am) and then another 4 hours (4:30am-9:30am).  Therefore we only got 6 feedings in over the weekend.  They only ate about 15 oz each.  According to what I've read, they should be eating closer to 22-27 oz - based on their weight of 11 pounds.  It would definitely be a struggle to get that volume in each day. 

So my question is, should we be waking them to eat during the night?  Or is it ok to let them sleep, and therefore only feed them 6 times/day?  I want to be sure they are eating enough and growing...of course that is a big concern for preemies. 

bhilyer

When are you scheduled to go back to the pedi?  If you're not, I would call and schedule a weight check for mid to late week.

If you're pedi thinks it's okay to let them sleep longer stretches, I say go for it.  Just track how much they are eating and see if you can up their 3:30 and 9:30 feeds by an ounce of so and work upwards from there. 

adrielegorburu

offer more per bottle? When DD started sleeping longer stretches we simply increased the volume of each bottle so she was getting the same number of oz in fewer feedings.

raches

Thanks.  I will do a weight check at the pedi's office this week when we go for a synagis shot.

 I am trying to increase the volume but they often don't want more than 2.5oz per feed.  They get sleepy and act uninterested after that point. 

haziedaze

Maybe feed them every 2 hours during the day? Do they give you cues that they are hungry at all? Usually longer stretched at night mean more frequent feeds during the day.