Premature Baby

[mstrath]

My son is 4 1/2 months old, but he was born early so his adjusted age is 2 1/2 months. I'm having a hard time figuring out which age to go by with some of the BW techniques. I try to go by what the pediatrician uses, but it seems like for some things they consider his real birthdate, for example they want to try him on solids in a couple of weeks, and for other things they consider his adjusted age, such as for when he will crawl and walk. So would I use a 3 or 4 hour EASY? I have tried him on a 3 and a 4 hour feeding schedule and he is kind of a finiky eater (he also is on reflux medication) so it doesn't seem to make a difference. He only takes 3-4 oz no matter how hungry he is and how long it has been since the last feeding. So far I am working on a 9am-9pm schedule because 9:30pm bedtime seems to work for him so far and he will not eat in the morning before 9am no matter how long it has been between feedings. I would like to eventually work back to a 7am-7pm but I would be happy for just some consistancy right now.

[Missy Lou]

my DD was only 3 weeks early (compared to about 8 weeks for your DS), but i found she worked best on a routine for someone about a month younger than her.  so i went by her adjusted age and not real age. 

as she's gotted older, i noticed she was usually a month or two behind on things - crawling, walking, getting rid of the swaddle and bottle.  talking also.  she didn't start mimicking a lot until almost 2.5 years old.

[mstrath]

Thank you for replying. It is hard sometimes to remember he is more like a 2 1/2 month old since he has been around so much longer. I think sometimes the pediatrician even forgets how young he really is because he has said from the beginning he does not look like a premie. My gut tells me I should still follow the 3 hour EASY since we really struggle with getting him to take larger bottles.

[woopster]

Treat him as his adjusted age for everything. Here in the UK they are treated as their adjusted age until they are 2.
Preemies tend to sleep a lot too so you'll need to take that into account.

[Missy Lou]

that's right about the sleeping.  my DD has always needed more sleep than the average LO at her age.  her A was at about 45 minutes to an hour for a long time because i kept her at the A time for a one month old until she was actually two months.

my LO ate small bits at a time for a long time also.

[woopster]

My 2 were 12 weeks early and were on a 3hr EASY for a year. If it works for you and your baby then stick with it.

[mstrath]

Thank you so much for all the input. I've been really worried about the fact that he doesn't seem to eat as much as even a 2 1/2 year old. The pediatrician said to try feeding him every 4 hours instead to see if it would make him hungrier but it hasn't made a difference. I've been trying to implement the 4 hour EASY for about a week but the last couple days I've been writing down his patterns and it just doesn't seem to work. Today I'm starting to go back to feeding him every 3 hours and it seems to be a better flow for him. Did your LO's still wake up for night feedings for awhile? We are really struggling with NW a lot (I know that is another topic) but I thought if I could get him on the EASY first, I could work on that next.

[Missy Lou]

my LO ate every 1.5 hours for the first 4 or so weeks.  then every 2 hours until she was about 12 weeks.  sometimes she would go 2.5 or 3 hours during the night.  but she didn't start going for longer stretches during the night until about 12 weeks adjusted age.