should i stretch night feeds?

[1stimer]

I feed ds on demand during the day and he is feeding just about every 2 hrs. Sometimes if he sleeps long it will go 2.5 hrs. At night he's still every 2 hrs on the dot and lately after his 430 feed he's been waking every hr. Today i re swaddled and gave him his paci at 530 and he went back down until 630 (pacis and swaddling are new for me since dd HATED both). I'm exhausted and I'm not one of those people who likes to show tiredness and i know it's part of the deal but I'm wondering if it's time to stretch his night feeds or if I should wait...He's 11 weeks,5 adjusted and developmentally he seems to be right on track with 11 week milestones but he is obviously a little small. I estimate he's about 11.5 pounds...He was just shy of 11 pounds on 8/8.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmm that is a tough one if he is feeding at an appropriat tme for his adjusted age! Is he taking full feeds in the day every two hours? Do you think stretching those to a consistent 2.5 might help him take fuller feeds and perhaps lessen the nightfeeds a bit? What does his day look like in EAS format? Sorry just a ton of questions!

[1stimer]

Im assuming hes a very efficient feeder bc his feeds will only last around 7 minutes. I sometimes have forceful let down but even when I don't I know hes getting plenty....im not sure how to tell if its a full feed but I would say it is. Im not sure if stretching them during the day will help but its worth a try. Before we tried using a paci he was cluster feeding for up to 6 hrs some nights and even with all of that extra milk he was still up every 2 hrs to feed. Im sad to say that he doesn't have much of an EAS as far as consistent times are concered...Once we get back from bringing DD to school around 9 he has pretty much a 2 hr EAS however his S times are very inconsistent and sometimes only last 30-45 minutes. It does seem that he will usually take a short nap when we take DD to school in the morning in the car and when we get home he wakes up and will play until its time to eat again..usually 1030. He will generally then take a decent afternoon nap (maybe 1-2 hrs) around lunch time followed by a few more shorter naps...30-45 min and then a longer later afternoon nap (1hr) around 5 and then he will usually be up until his bedtime at 730. He may doze off in between but we have a pretty good bedtime routine for 730 or 800. I think that part of the problem with his EAS is obviously his sleep isn't consistent. How many naps/ how long should he be doing right now? I don't want to rush anything I just didn't know if he is ready to push out feeds or not being a premie.

[*Ali*]

I'd offer the paci (and swaddle if he has escaped) at each NW and if he doesn't go back to sleep easily then I'd assume he is genuinely hungry and feed him.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I think at this age three naps and a catnap is "normal" (lol not my favourite word but ykwim). Awake time is 1 hr or so going by adjusted age or up to an hour and twenty min by actual age. But two longer naps and a few catnaps just might be his thing and with fitting in older kids if it works run with it.

[1stimer]

Last was another rough one. I was up with him 4 times feeding so I think tonight ill see what happens JIC hes going through a growth spurt and then depending on that ill reswaddle and do the paci to see if he will take that or if hes really hungry.