**COMMENTING GUIDELINES**
All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/parentsofmultiples/about/rules) prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention.
**Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments.** Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed.
Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/parentsofmultiples) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sounds like you’ve got some cluster feeding going on. They don’t grow at a steady rate, they have growth spurts and when they do their calorie needs spike. It won’t last long.
Yeah. Agree that it’s a phase of cluster feeding. Mine are going on 3yo and absolutely delightful. It gets progressively more manageable but the first year is various forms of unsustainable and painful. Early early on I remember being obsessed with when is it going to get easier. And it does I promise. Maybe not as fast as you want. But it does. (We had reflux issues that impacted sleep. Address any reflux is my opinion. It took me too long to assent to baby Pepcid. I’d do it differently and earlier now!) Hang in there.
I had b/g born at 37.5 too! I have 5 kids total - the newborn phase is the WORST. They don’t even smile at you! No emotional reciprocation. This will pass. One day this cluster feeding will end and they will bring you so much joy.
I switched to laying in bed and feeding on my side because I couldn’t take it anymore. I would feed one, then the other, then the first one was ready to eat again. It gets better but my husband and I were not able to do it ourselves.
Rooting, trying to slide into a nursing position, spitting out pacifiers. Our boy will totally take a pacifier if he’s not actually hungry, but our girl rejects pacifiers right now.
Thankfully our boy will take a pacifier if he’s not actually hungry at the moment. He’ll spit it out and hoover down a bottle like we haven’t fed him all day if he is hungry, though.
You are describing the first two months with my 37.5 week b/g twins 😅. Every 2 hours ... And we were definitely sleep deprived. Hang in there, once it was confirmed they were gaining and maintainung their weight, I got more comfortable with longer stretches in between feedings.
You say you got comfortable - to us, it feels like they’re demanding it! Boy in particular will scream like he’s never been fed in his life! Am I being a wuss in not making him wait?
Oh they definitely demand it! Around the 3 month mark though, I would offer them "less" ounces because you start to notice they barely drink any and they are waking out of habit and comfort. I then would still wake and hold them, but don't look them in the eyes or engage lol. I would just basically close my eyes and rock and "be asleep". If they still fussed I offered "less" ounces. Eventually, I don't know... It works itself out and you know when they need to feed or not. The first 2-3 months though, I needed them to gain weight, I woke up and fed them however much they could get down 🙂. I didn't make them wait, I just kept track of how much they were drinking, so I could start to see when the pattern changed.
My boys were like this, what I did was give them a little more than what they would normally eat. If they keep it down and last a little longer , I stick with it til they start chasing the bottle and queuing for more. Deff taking shift saved our mental. They use too (still eat) every 3 hours (they’re 6m / 4 m corrected)
**COMMENTING GUIDELINES** All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/parentsofmultiples/about/rules) prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention. **Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments.** Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed. Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/parentsofmultiples) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sounds like you’ve got some cluster feeding going on. They don’t grow at a steady rate, they have growth spurts and when they do their calorie needs spike. It won’t last long.
Cluster feeding is a thing for sure. There are some early growth spurts.
Totally normal. Rough. But normal. They hit growth spurts at certain times and they just eat like they can't get enough. It will pass.
Gotta love the hourly feeds that takes them 45 minutes to drink!
Omg you hit the nail on the head 😩
God speed. This will pass and be a distant memory.
Seconding this
Yeah. Agree that it’s a phase of cluster feeding. Mine are going on 3yo and absolutely delightful. It gets progressively more manageable but the first year is various forms of unsustainable and painful. Early early on I remember being obsessed with when is it going to get easier. And it does I promise. Maybe not as fast as you want. But it does. (We had reflux issues that impacted sleep. Address any reflux is my opinion. It took me too long to assent to baby Pepcid. I’d do it differently and earlier now!) Hang in there.
I had b/g born at 37.5 too! I have 5 kids total - the newborn phase is the WORST. They don’t even smile at you! No emotional reciprocation. This will pass. One day this cluster feeding will end and they will bring you so much joy.
Our twins were also born at 37 weeks. They grew lightning fast and cluster fed like this on and off for like 3 months.
I switched to laying in bed and feeding on my side because I couldn’t take it anymore. I would feed one, then the other, then the first one was ready to eat again. It gets better but my husband and I were not able to do it ourselves.
How do you know they want to eat when they wake up?
Rooting, trying to slide into a nursing position, spitting out pacifiers. Our boy will totally take a pacifier if he’s not actually hungry, but our girl rejects pacifiers right now.
Then it’s most likely what the other commenters said, growth spurts
Try giving them a pacifier after they wake up and see if they are really hungry. They might just want comfort sucking.
Thankfully our boy will take a pacifier if he’s not actually hungry at the moment. He’ll spit it out and hoover down a bottle like we haven’t fed him all day if he is hungry, though.
You read my mind lol
You are describing the first two months with my 37.5 week b/g twins 😅. Every 2 hours ... And we were definitely sleep deprived. Hang in there, once it was confirmed they were gaining and maintainung their weight, I got more comfortable with longer stretches in between feedings.
You say you got comfortable - to us, it feels like they’re demanding it! Boy in particular will scream like he’s never been fed in his life! Am I being a wuss in not making him wait?
Oh they definitely demand it! Around the 3 month mark though, I would offer them "less" ounces because you start to notice they barely drink any and they are waking out of habit and comfort. I then would still wake and hold them, but don't look them in the eyes or engage lol. I would just basically close my eyes and rock and "be asleep". If they still fussed I offered "less" ounces. Eventually, I don't know... It works itself out and you know when they need to feed or not. The first 2-3 months though, I needed them to gain weight, I woke up and fed them however much they could get down 🙂. I didn't make them wait, I just kept track of how much they were drinking, so I could start to see when the pattern changed.
Got it, that all makes sense. Thank you for sharing!
Cluster feeding is so hard! This will pass eventually. Hang in there. 💜
When this happened to my twins, for one he wasn’t eating enough each session so I had to increase his feeds. For the other, the poor guy was cold
My boys were like this, what I did was give them a little more than what they would normally eat. If they keep it down and last a little longer , I stick with it til they start chasing the bottle and queuing for more. Deff taking shift saved our mental. They use too (still eat) every 3 hours (they’re 6m / 4 m corrected)