Can someone please tell me what to expect??

[Cooper11111]

Hello, my daughter was born at 33+4, she is now 8 weeks and therefore 2 weeks corrected. I don't feel like I've had much info about the whole corrected age thing.

Is she 8 weeks or two weeks?? Should she sleep like a two month old or a two week old?? In her awake time she seems miserable but doesn't want to interact?

Also-Eating? She is nearly 10lb- how long should she go between feeds?

I just don't know what I should expect of her?unfortunately I'm not really the type to go with the flow and just see what happens.

Any advice or experiences of similar age babies would be greatly appreciated!!

Not a similar age baby-more premature at 29 weeks and 2lb 8oz but, as far as I recall, you do need to go with the flow a bit. And, regardless of prematurity, they're all different anyway, so no hard and fast rules. I remember being told by my HV that babies tend to be able to sleep through at 13 lb, though.

In my experience, prems catch up very quickly once they are born. My daughter seemed to walk late, but other than that there was no discernible difference between her and her peers.

Just enjoy her!

Hi - I'm in a rush but didn't want to read and run.

she'll sleep like her - some 2 week olds sleep better than 2 month olds and vice versa. HV corrected DS until he was 2 on charts and stuff but they were always happy that he was doing stuff at his own pace.

Someone else will be along in a bit with better advice - it's hard but you sound just like any new Mum - we all fret about feeding / napping / them being happy etc, it's part of the job I think

Thanks for replies. I understand all babies are different, but I know that their development must be measured against something as I've been told to go back to GP if she isn't smiling in a couple of weeks. I think I would understand her more and be able to meet her needs more if I knew what the benchmarks were. I know a lot of the development they need to catch up on is related to sleep etc and it would be good to know how much sleep she should have in order to develop. Ppl say she will sleep when she needs to etc but my DS was completely incapable of sleep and wasn't developing properly and was on the brink of being put into a clinic, so he definitely was able to "sleep when he needed to".
Just anxious that's all.

I don't really understand the corrected age thing either. My dd is currently still in neonatal, she was born at 30+2 weeks and weighed 2lb11oz. According to her chart in the hospital they have her corrected age as 32+1 today, but I would have been 32 weeks exactly if I was still pregnant so I really don't get it! She is 12 days old.

I really don't understand so much, so I am glad you have asked here. She is doing so well, has been moved out of intensive care and into hdu, but still I feel like a fish out of water. All I want is to be able to bring her home.

Developmental milestones should be measured against your DDs corrected age, not against her actual age. Cognitive development is continual and starts while babies are in the womb, and just because they make an early appearance into the big wide world they don't suddenly "advance" by a number of weeks. A baby born early at 34 weeks will be approx two months younger in gestational terms than a baby born late at 42 weeks, and consequently there will be a difference in development.

HVs should measure development and weights / height, etc, against actual and corrected age (we've just had DS's 8 month check with the HVs and they assessed him against his corrected age, not his actual).

Personally, I think whoever told you to go to the GP if your DD isn't smiling in two weeks time is plain wrong (surely no-one would say that a 4 week old baby should be doing social smiles?) but obviously I'm not a "health care professional", just a random person on the internet

It's difficult with a newborn (especially one that's early) to not get hung up on whether you're doing things right, but do your best to go with the flow. Speaking from person experience, we got so caught up in feeding schedules and routines (imposed by the hospital and advocated by the HVs after we got home), that we ended up stressed and worried. Once we relaxed and let DS do his own thing, it was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders.

Congratulations on your new baby, btw

Thank you all!! I am incredibly envious of those of you who can go with the flow, each day I get up and try to do that but inevitably end up writing down feeds, unsettled periods, sleep times etc!!!

It was the gp who said that about smiling! It was at her 6 week check.

So- what I have picked up is that I should treat her like her corrected age which is two weeks?? X

Yes, use her corrected age (as she'll be much more like a 2 week-old than an 8 week-old from a developmental point of view). Don't hesitate to explain this to health professionals if they forget or get confused! I've had to do so many times.

Some exceptions to the "use the corrected age" rule: vaccinations follow actual age rather than corrected, and weaning onto solids takes actual age into account (going by Bliss guidelines).

Good luck with everything!

I can totally relate to the noting everything down... For us it started when we were in hospital when we were told to record feed times, durations of each breastfeed, ml of formula top-ups, times of wet and dirty nappies, etc... I think it became a coping mechanism to get us through the day, and to prove to ourselves that DS was getting enough milk and was therefore going to be ok. We carried it on at home, and looking back it added to the pressure. I remember we had to go to the shops and I was half hysterical because we were half an hour late back for a feed... DS wasn't bothered in the slightest and probably wasnt even hungry! Once I twigged that the note taking was hindering rather than helping I told DH I wasn't going to do it any more. After each feed I just set my phone alarm for the next feed.

It's so easy to get caught up in the timings, feed and sleep schedules and routines, just don't forget to enjoy your baby while she's tiny.

Dd2 was born at 33+1 and we were always told to use her corrected age when looking at development. She was usually 6 or 7 weeks behind milestones such as smiling, sitting up and was v small.

We were advised that she'd remain behind her chronological age until 2 which is exactly what she did. She's now almost 4, bright as a button and v tall.

Yes, you'll have to point out the prematurity at weigh in clinics and whatnot as they just look at the date of birth!

Thanks so much!! I really appreciate hearing your experiences. My dd has cried every minute she has been awake today, I'm wondering if she hasn't had enough sleep? Argh this is so hard!!

DS was born at 35+0 weighing 3lb 14 oz and we were told to use corrected age for most developmental milestones but actual age for weaning (not there yet).

He was smiling round about the time of a hospital check up so about 10 weeks actual (5 corrected).

In terms of sleep he's been sleeping through 830-730/8 since 16 weeks with a quick dream feed at 4/5 just to keep him settled. He still sleeps quite a bit during day too but has really active times in between naps. Before Xmas (10/11 weeks actual) he probably slept most of the day.

For feeding he was on a 3 hourly routine in hospital and then moved himself to 4 hourly so we've never really experienced demand feeding. He just stays in a routine as that suits him and he now takes 8oz bottles 5 times a day.

He's 4 months and 13.5lb now so I don't know about anything further on, sorry.

Thanks Murphy. That is really helpful! Was the sleeping pattern you mentioned 16 weeks actual age or corrected?

Also, do you remember when you increased feeds. My little one is 8 weeks actual and still only had 4oz bottles? Maybe this is the cause of her distress? Anatomically I suppose her stomach is the size of an 8 week old baby right? Yet really I suppose I am feeding her like a two weeks old!

I found that the GPS and hvs really had little experience of premature babies so I would not worry about the social smiling business too much. You might have a paediatric appointment follow up with your baby's consultant later. They are the person to listen to.

The sleeping was from actual age and it just happened overnight almost that something changed and just having his dummy back would settle him.

The increase in bottles is quite a recent development too. In the past 3/4 weeks he was finishing 6oz bottles so we tried 7oz but finished those so he skipped to 8oz. For her current age I think DS would have been on roughly same size bottles. His dream feed actually is generally a much smaller bottle so on any given day he's drinking approx 900-1000ml. He's a nightmare to feed at the moment though as he's found his hands so hits the bottle away or is really nosy!

Murphy, do you find you are up all the time putting dummy in. I have been reluctant to give her on for that reason but it did settle her last night. X

Thankfully not. He'll sleep soundly until 2/3 and then I maybe pop the dummy in once or twice and that's him through til I feed him. I think he'd go without the feed if I gave the dummy but I'm lazy and think the 15 mins for the bottle and a sound sleep til 8 is better than a disrupted sleep through until 630/7!

Try not to worry, my twins were born at 33+3. When started school youngest in class( just turned 4) and both able to read and knew all phonics, so in some respects way ahead of some others. They were also talking way at 20 months. Both very bright.

Thanks for reassurance. She has screamed since Sunday- got double ear infection. Have you ever cuddled your little ones to sleep? I feel so paranoid about doing it because of all this self settling stuff! But it just seems all she wants x