4 week old twins

[mariecorcoran99]

Hi all and Happy Christmas.
Just wondering about bottlefeeding my 4 week old twin girls(one week coorected as born at 37 weeks).They are currently feeding anything from 3 to 5oz 3 hourly during the day and going 3.5 hours at night with a little bit of a push(they never cry just snuffle in their sleep when they are hungry).The problem is according to the HV they are putting on too much weight!! 1 lb weekly over the last 3 weeks.She has hinted that by feeding the babies 3 hourly during the day we are over feeding them and we should stretch them to 4 hourly and to change them to hungry baby formula??
My other question is they are wakening currently at 11pm,2.30am and 6/6.30 am for feeds .Do we start the day at 6/6.30 or do we treat this as a night feed?it is taking them 1 hour to feed currently so if they wake at 6 it is 7am by the time they are finished.Do we just get them up at this time??We have been putting them straight down and they will usually sleep til 10am?
Is it normal to take this long to feed
sorry for all the questions!!

[Lolly]

Hi there and congrats on the twins! Isn't it interesting how HV vary - mine told me to stay away from hungry baby formula! Hungry baby formula can be really harsh on little tummies as it is made to be harder to digest so they feel fuller for longer. It sounds to me like they are doing well, my DD was all over the place with feeds at 4 weeks old and nights sound about right for their age too. I would probably start the day at the 6am feed to get the EASY pattern going in daylight hours and get the calories in during the day. Are you cluster feeding towards the end of the day and doing a dreamfeed or waiting for them to wake? What weight were they born at - I know my DD has had weeks of more weight gain than other weeks and it all seems to even out in the end.

What is their total formula intake over 24 hours? They are supposed to take 2-2.5 oz per lb of body weight although that is a rough guide, some take more, some less. Does it take an hour to feed them at every feed? Is that both babies each taking an hour or an hour one after the other? If its each baby that is quite a long time, especially as 1 hour is all the awake time they can probably handle - it may be worth trying the next size teat or a variflow teat (depending on what bottles you are using) to see if that helps.

Has your HV suggested you correct their ages? Just curious as I've never known them correct when babies are born from full term at 37 weeks!

HTH!

Laura

[~*Nicole*~]

I have never heard of anyone whose doc. said their baby was gaining weight too quickly! I think as long as you aren't forcing them to eat they are probably doing a great job of regulating their own intake.

Best of luck!

[mariecorcoran99]

Thanks for the replies.The babies were born 5lb 8oz and 5lb 13oz and are now well over the 8 lb mark!
yes it is taking almost an hour between burps etc to feed EACH baby so you can imagine we are exhausted.we are using level 1 Dr Browns bottles but Level 2 is only suggested for 3 months + ?
We are nor cluster feeding in the evening as we also have a 17 month old and there just isn't the time! and we are waiting for them to wake instead of DF as they just wake up everytime we tried to DF anyways whatever time it was.
They are windy babies and gulping the bottles is a MAJOR problem.it can take them 30 mins to stop grunting after each night feed.Not such a problem during the day??Also loose stools?I am not sure if its related to the formula and therefore i am very reluctant to use hungry baby formula
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[~*Nicole*~]

It doesn't sound like the nipple is too slow for them...actually with taking in a lot of air and gulping at night and being windy...I wonder if using a slower teat at night might help. You can try level 2 during the day but I wouldn't try it at night if they're having trouble with trapped gas. Might speed up the daytime feeds and you can burp them and keep them elevated afterwards if need be much more easily than at night. You can try allowing them to sit elevated after their night feeds...maybe by elevating the head of the crib/bassinet or placing them in a bouncy seat or something while feeding the other and then doing some extra burping before placing them back flat to sleep to see if that helps get more of the gas out.

They were born at a fantastic weight for twins! I wonder if they are just "catching up" and their weight gain will slow down a bit now. I would follow their lead. Just don't force feed or add any cereals to bottles.....

When you say "loose" stools, could you describe it? I BF until DD was 4 months and her stools were fairly loose but normal. I heard formula fed los had firmer stools but I didn't switch to formula until DD was older so not sure about very young formula fed los. If they don't firm up I might consider asking about an intolerance to milk protein since they are windy and having loose stools....they may do better on a different formula but not a hungry baby formula, maybe a rice or soy based formula. In any event, it depends on what "loose" is and if it is in the realm of normal or not.

[Lolly]

I agree with PP on the "loose" stool bit - I would get some advice to see if that is within normal realms. Both mine have been bottle fed pretty much since birth and formula stools are a lot firmer than breast milk stools - sort of thick toothpaste consistency. They could be having milk protien or lactose issues.

If you did want to change formula (and I agree about being wary of the hungry baby) the other option is an easy digest formula. Cow & Gate and Aptamil do one and they are good for digestive issues like wind and they are much lower in lactose than ordinary formulas. I've used both and preferred the Aptamil one. They are also thicker so may help the gulping problems. The gulping could also be because the teat is a bit slow for them and they are sucking too hard to get the flow they want - a friend had that problem with her LO and found a variflow teat helped but she was using tommee tippee bottles and Dr browns don't do them. The age on the teat packs is just a guide - my DD was on a TT no 3 fast flow from 10 weeks.

Definitly a great weight for twins - I can't imagine carrying that combined weight!

Laura

[Nauvoo]

My good friend's doctor told her that her LO was gaining weight too fast and come to find out she was mixing the formula by adding first the formula to the bottle and then the water.  When it should be that you add the water and then the formula.  Once she corrected herself her baby slowed down drastically and of course wasn't dehydrated anymore.  Just thought I'd throw that out there and congrats on the twins.  I'm a twin myself and loved loved loved it!!!