more babywise ?s -"parental assessment"

MADforever2009 · December 2010

The boys usually eat at 3am, this am they woke up at 4 to eat. So we figured it would be closer to 7-7:30 til theyd eat again... Cooper decided to get up at 6:15. I havent learned their cries or what means what yet. (mostly cause they dont get up between feedings and dont fuss) so before i decided to feed him i checked and changed his diaper...still fussy, offered him his paci (cooper is the one with the cleft and its harder for him to keep his paci in his mouth.) He took it but would give it up after a few minutes and squirm and fuss a little more. After 10 minutes of on and off fussing i decided to go ahead with his feeding (afterall 6-6:30 would have been his 'normal' eating time)

Well of course he only took half of his bottle in 30 minutes. Being preemie and have cleft lip he's at a double whammy disadvantage with feeding time, he gets SOO tired.

My question, did I wait too long to feed him and make him tired with attempting the paci?

How can you know youre properly assessing your child?

Is it okay to go 2 1/2 hours one feeding and 4 the next?

Im still going thru the book, but the assessment part seems like the key factor between the time and hunger cues and im not sure im getting that part yet.

TIA

OrangeSmoke · December 2010

Your babies are so young, at that age, every time they woke up, I fed them.

Even now, the 3 hour thing is not strict with my boys. Sometimes it's 2.5, sometimes it's 4.

caden · December 2010

It's so tough at that age to know wht they're crying. I just made myself a cutoff--if it was more than 2.5hrs I fed them. If it was less I'd do other stuff first like holding, pacis, etc. If other soothing methods didn't work I'd feed them and usually by that point it had been 2.5+hrs. It's ok to misread their cues sometimes. We're in the learning stages.

Oh and my boys won't go 4hrs during the day but if you did 2.5 then 4, that's fine. They'd be getting the same # of feedings per day, which is really what matters.

Temp159135562506975 · December 2010

we did not start stretching out the time between feedings until they were 5 weeks old... and they were full term, too. If your babies are preemies and 2 weeks old- they need to eat every time they wake at night - don't try to extend time between bottles- just feed. It will probably be 8w+ before you should start to extend the time between bottles at night, since they are preemies.

caden · December 2010

Goldie_Locks_5:
we did not start stretching out the time between feedings until they were 5 weeks old... and they were full term, too. If your babies are preemies and 2 weeks old- they need to eat every time they wake at night - don't try to extend time between bottles- just feed. It will probably be 8w+ before you should start to extend the time between bottles at night, since they are preemies.

I'm sorry I missed your ticker. Goldie's right about preemies. Didd your pedi say how long your LOs could go at night? I was told no longer than 3hrs (for a few wks). My boys were 35weekers and didn't gain weight until the end of week 2.

blondek8 · December 2010

OrangeSmoke:
Your babies are so young, at that age, every time they woke up, I fed them.

Even now, the 3 hour thing is not strict with my boys. Sometimes it's 2.5, sometimes it's 4.

All of this! I don't follow Babywise or other strategies though. The babies have set their own very loose routine and DH and I follow what they want. Our basic day is eat, play, nap -- wash rinse and repeat until bedtime unless we take them on outings which is usually a couple times a week. We don't have set times they eat, play or nap though. We wing it. It works for us.

babydontforget · December 2010

I agree with the others: It's a different ballgame with preemies. I think if I were you I'd ask the pediatrician for guidelines re: number of feedings and/or max length of time between.

But FWIW, when my guys (not preemies) were that age, I fed them whenever they woke up, and I never let it go longer than 3 hours. (In fact, I still rarely let it go longer than 3 1/2.) If they woke sooner than 2 hours after the start of the last feeding, I'd try paci, dipe change, etc. first--but that was rare.

Are you nursing or bottle feeding? If the former, perhaps you're experiencing a growth spurt. When my guys spurted, I fed on demand--important to do that in order to build your supply.

marker56 · December 2010

We were sent home from the NICU on a 3 hour schedule until they hit their due date. I often did what Caden mentioned too as they got older. If they were crying before 2.5 hours, we worked on soothing techniques first... if that didn't work, we fed them. It rarely was hunger before 2.5 hours for our girls. (minus growth spurts)

MADforever2009 · December 2010

thanks ladies. Because they are preemies the docs said NOT to let them go past 4 hours. They are both back to their birth weights plus a few ounces. (Cannon is actually almost gaining 2 ounces a day) I am pumping for them and the docs also wanted us to supplement one feeding a day with 22 cal enfamil.

So when (if you were me) would you start following more strict? When they would have been 38 weeks?

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