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Preemies
Your experience with preemie eating/growing
My twins were born at 34.6 wks and they have never been big eaters. Hudson is still only taking about 17-18 oz of formula in a 24 hour period and Landry generally only takes about 20 oz.
Landry was born at 4.2 lbs and Hudson, 5.9. Two weeks ago Landry was at 10.13 lbs and Hudson 11.7 lbs at a little over three months old. That's progress, I guess.
I'm frustrated with how little they still are and how they aren't eating. The dr told me to go ahead and start feeding them cereal with a spoon which is going over well...they aren't even sitting up on their own. This makes it a little difficult.
Do preemies stay small and not eat much in general? What have your experiences been?
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Re: Your experience with preemie eating/growing
Andrew was never a big eater. He's definitely healthy and growing, but eating (bottles, finger food, any type really) has been a challenge. He's pretty long and lean.
Andrew is going to eat what he's going to eat. We can't really make hm eat more. We do encourage him by singing, he eats way better if we sing or he is distracted in some way. (Like feeding while reading him a book.) When he was little though, it was what it was. Thankfully, he gained.
We started Andrew on cereal around 6 months actual, 3 adjusted. He didn't seem ready. He couldn't sit up until much later. We fed him in a reclined rocking chair. I kind of wish we'd started later b/c it seemed pointless. The drs thought he needed to start early to get more practice in.
GL!
Has their weight gain been steady? IMO they aren't that small, they're on the charts. Some kids just don't eat a ton. I wouldn't have them on solids yet, but that is up to you. DD didn't get into solids until about 7m actual, and even then it was spotty.
Need help with high fat food ideas? Chunky Monkey
emerson NEVER ate any kind of cereal or baby food. I know how frustrating that is.
Which formula are they on? My preemie boy has been on Neosure since he left the hospital on June 30th (he was almost 6 lbs when he left the hospital). We added a little more powder (formula) for more calories in the beginning when he first came home. But he did so well on his weight gain, that our pediatrician told us that we did not need to add the extra calories.
He was over 14 lbs at his 4 month appt. I will say that the past couple of months I have been going back and forth between giving him 4 oz bottles versus more fomula at 6 oz--it is a guessing game to know how hungry they are. And he is over 17 lbs at this point so we are about to transition from Similac Neosure to Similac Advanced formula. In my mind, my preemie is a chunky monkey--but that is just him at this point, and I would rather him have more meat on his bones than not enough.
I would ask your pediatrician about it. We always ask at our pediatrician appts just to make sure he is at a good weight and ask if there is anything else to do. It may be just the way your twins are as well. We have a friend who had a baby at the end of December and recentlly when we saw them her baby was in size 2 diapers--the same size as Aidan who was born 2 months early at the end of May--her baby is just longer and thinner. But I am also hoping that my baby will thin out more when he starts to walk.
My only suggestion is to back off the solids. We were told no solids (by the NICU) until at least 4 months adjusted, and to wait until 6 months for anything but cereal. They are still really young and need the nutrition milk provides whereas rice cereal has basically no nutrition, but can fill them up.
It doesn't sound like they are too small either, though not super big. As long as they seem content, are growing and developing, I wouldn't worry at this point.
My LO was born at 26 weeks and weighed 2 lbs. at birth, so weight was always something that I was paranoid about. That being said, I started to realize that the less I worried about it, the better it seemed to get. I think that DS was resistant of me feeding him because I pressured him so much to eat everything I had to offer. He hasn't changed being that way and he is almost 2 1/2 now.
I just always remembered that the NICU told us that .5-1.0 ounce a day was a good gain, so if he was anything close to that when he was a baby, we were happy. Weight gain slowed down when he started to crawl and walk which is typical of any baby. The sizes of clothes that DS wore wear always for his adjusted age and not actual. Hope that helps!
I had a 32 weeker who was born at 4.6 lbs. He never ate much more than 20-25 ounces of breastmilk/formula a day, but was up to 18 lbs at 6 months actual.
I guess my point is that some kids eat a lot or eat a little, and regardless of intake some will gain weight quickly while others take a lot longer to gain. As long as you are not feeding on a schedule that is depriving them, then I think you are doing everything you can
You can ask your pediatrician about using preemie formula. It has higher calories per ounce and more vitamins to help pack on the weight. We used Enfacare.
My guys were born at 35w 3d. Tom was 4.5 lbs, Frank was 5.4 lbs. They're 9 months now, and crawling/very active. Tom's percentile always was low, and has slipped now down to below the 5th- he's currently 17lbs, and Frank is 19. They had to go off of Neosure around a month old because it gave them (I think) horrible stomach pain- they would scream in agony when they ate and Zantac was completely useless. Pedi Gi determined that they weren't digesting the Neosure properly. I don't have advice other than try not to stress out too much- (easier said than done as I am stressing too). I really think that they eat better for me when I am relaxed about it.