11pm feeding trouble

mamatotwins0812

My boys just turned 4 weeks yesterday. I have them on an every 3 hour feeding schedule and they drink just over 2oz at each feeding. We have made their 8pm feeding their "bed time" feeding and put them in pj's, swaddle and put to bed before the next feeding at 11. Lately they are struggling to wake up for the 11:00 feeding and drink only an ounce or so before being completely out cold and refusing any more. I did cut out the 2am feeding (with my pedi's blessing) and they typically make it til 3:30/4:00. Last night I had to wake them at 5am. I'm just concerned that they're starving after not eating at 11, but if they were, wouldn't they wake up to feed? I don't want to starve the poor babies. Any ideas?

thishappyhouse

I would ask your pedi, or maybe suggest trying to let you do some demand feeding and going in for weight checks to ensure they are getting what they need to keep growing. 

 My daughter came home at 43 weeks so i don't have experience with  home care prior to term but it became very clear in the first 2 weeks at home that the hospital schedule was not for her.  With our pedi and home nurses help I started feeding her on demand and she quickly transitioned to sleeping 6 hours at night.  She maintained her 8 feeds a day by cluster feeding in the evenings.. so her weight gain continued on her curve.  Your pedi may not be comfortable with this yet, but maybe its worth discussing.  

mamatotwins0812

Very interesting. So with the nighttime demand feeding, would I just switch up their eating schedule each day? Meaning if they woke at 3am one night, then feed at 6am, 9, 12 etc. And then if the next day they woke at 5am, do 8am, 11, 2 etc? Right now I have them on such a consistent feeding schedule (with some flexibility- I am trying to follow the feed, wake, sleep schedule from babywise) that my only fear would be messing that up. But this sounds like a good option and I would be willing to try it. I think my biggest concern would be "bed time". If they demand feed at night, that would mean a different bed time each night?

adacopeach

I am in the same boat as you, feeding on demand at night, and you just adjust your schedule.  In the NICU, they were every 3 hours and I tried to stay with that religiously, but when they started being able to sleep longer at night, I had to back off and adjust.   I was concerned about establishing a nightime routine, but we're still so all over the board that trying to do those things at a certain time is not realistic.  I am not worrying about establishing that routine yet concretely until they start showing a consistant pattern.  You can still do the nighttime rituals, but do so based on how they have been eating.  We had issues with the 11pm feeding and we'd wake them up by putting them on their tummy or putting them together in the pack-n-play for just a few minutes and we'd have better results.  Best of luck!

mamatotwins0812

I tried this idea tonight for the first time. I fed at 8 pm and then key them sleep. One woke up at 12:40 and the other at 2:00. Then my 12:40 guy started stirring at 5 so I fed him (but he actually would have fallen back to sleep on his own I think). My 2:00 guy I had to wake. In your opinions, should I have woken them for 5 or just let them sleep?