Preemie born 30 weeks now home and 3 months( 4 weeks corrected) should I let him sleep as long as he wants ( like a 3 month old) or wake for feeds( like a 4 week old?

[FinnPhoenix]

Hi, our son was born 30 weeks+ 5 and left the neonatal unit when he was 36 weeks. He is now 4 weeks corrected age and 3 months old. Our health visitor keeps telling us to treat him like a 3 month old? Is this correct? His weight gain has been really slowing down since being home and coming off fortifiers, he has reflux and weighs 8lb. Since his 12 week injections last week he has been a bit off and now for past couple days been more sleepy sleeping up to 7 hours this evening ( where I had to wake him to feed). Health visitor came today and told us to let him sleep as long as he wants without waking but surely I should be treating him as his corrected age and wake him for feeds every 4/5 hours? Can anyone advise or share their experience ?

[midnightstar66]

I wouldn't wake a 4 week old either so go with your HV advice.

[Terriblecreature]

I was always told that if they are gaining weight u no longer need to wake them for feeds. Not sure how accurate this is though. I continued to wake my LB for feeds and I think I created a terrible sleep habit. He ended up not sleeping through the night til he was over 9 months old!
They also say a sleep is as good as a feed so let him sleep x

[eenymeenymineymo]

I was told with my 32 weekers to treat them as newborns & def wake them for feeds as they could become dehydrated if left too long. Their body clocks/systems weren't mature enough to regulate their sleep/wake/feeding cycles.

I'm sure in a few more weeks your baby will be fine, but sleeping through is probably not recommended until bubs is a wee bit older.

As an aside my health nurse had never seen such a tiny bub (at home) before mine & asking her for advice when DS was super unsettled she recommended I give him some baby rice. His adjusted age was 1 week old & my Drs nurse was horrified.

[user1471530109]

I was told to wake mine. But she was super super tiny (3.5lbs when she came home!) and wasn't putting on weight. It was a really tough year so wanted to give you . The 'newborn' phase lasted a good 6 months. Neonatologist eventually asked me to stop breastfeeding and try v high cal formula and then even wean early because of the reflux. Good luck

[peakotter]

I treated my preemie as corrected age, not actual, for everything except vaccinations. She had loads of paediatrician appointments and they did the same.

Although his stomach is ‘older’, so more capacity than a newborn, his brain is still that of a 4wo.

My preemie struggled to put on weight after coming home, even with fortifier, until I started feeding her every 2 hours like I did with my full term kids (they asked for it). I think she has got conditioned to feed less often in the hospital routine. She stopped sleeping then though. Not an easy call but I chose weight gain over sleep.

[FinnPhoenix]

Ok thanks everyone for commenting that’s reassured me to trust my instincts. We went to speak to the GP on Friday who also happened to have had a preemie herself, she told me to not let him sleep more than 4 hours and to let him feed from each breast and then offer him a top up of expressed milk to help with weight gain. This has been working and already his cheeks are really fattening out after 2 days as this way he’s taking significantly more milk and not burning his calories feeding for hours. He’s also sleeping really soundly. Thanks all for taking the time to reply !