Ok had our boys at 34wks 5days, they spent 13 days in the NICU with no serious complications, thank God! So now they are 37wks....
My questions are......
They are on a feeding schedule of every three hours, but as the days go by it gets more difficult to wake them up at some, not all, feeding times. It is also hard on DH and I bc we hate waking them up when they are so peacefully sleeping not to mention us. I guess my question is when do we stop waking them and letting them wake up on their own to feed??
Also do we just feed them as little or as much as they want? The NICU nurses were very strict on "they have to eat this many oz's during feeding" but when I asked the day of discharge one nurse replied that the boys would let us know. What the Hell does that mean?? I was too over joyed with them coming home I didn't clarify.
To some these may sound like stupid questions but I have no previous experience with children....First time mommy and needed some advice.
TIA
Re: Bringing babies home questions
It really depends if you need to keep waking them. Some pedis. like to have them eat every 3 hours until they reach 40 weeks, def. talk to your pedi and see what they say. For us, I fed on demand, I would let them sleep until they woke up to eat and then would walk the 2nd baby if they were still sleeping.
I noticed when I needed to increase amounts that 1) they would wake sooner wanting to eat and/or 2) they would fuss after finishing the milk. You can always try another oz or so and see if they take it.
These are not stupid questions! I had these same questions early on and what helped me out was asking questions, following my instincts and watching for cues from the babies.
Definitely ask your pedi about when to stop waking them. I know the general rule with full term babies is to stop waking them when they reach their birth weight, but that won't really work for you.
As far as how much to give, go with your gut. When our boys were NB they were eating about 2oz per feeding. One day William just kept fussing and rooting so we gave him more. He ended up eating 4oz and spit literally at least an ounce of it back up, I don't think he realized he was full. We JUST started giving them 6oz recently, they'd been on 4 oz for several months, 3oz before that.
The only reason i woke the LOs early on ws to get them to learn to eat at the same time. Once that schedule was astablished and i noticed theywould pretty much eat at the same time i didnt wake them bc i found they pretty much stayed on track and both would wake up around the same time to eat and still do.
Early on they are sleepy little balls and IMO need to be woken at least every 3-4 hours. i know some people feed every 2 hours to me if they will go 3 dont force them to go 2 thats just causing yourself more head aches. And like pp said if they are a good weight they can certainly go 3 hours if they want w/o waking them. trust me enjoy the sleep ball stage now!!!! hahahaha!!
GL and those were great questions! ask away thats why we are here!