So, we've been messing with "the schedule" to try to find what works best for the girls - and for us. There's a fine line between their needs and our sanity. In the end - we all have to survive.
Basically, the girls needs are to consume enough ml of milk each day to gain weight and grow. Abby is supposed to get at least 600ml and Natalie about 480ml.
Our needs include sleep and maintaining our emotional stability. The concern for the later comes from the frustration we experience over their feeding issues. It's just so hard to struggle with them to eat. We worry about them eating enough or not eating at all. We also worry about them spending too many calories while they are eating since it takes so long for them to eat by mouth. It's a balancing act between calorie intake and calorie expenditure. One of our biggest worries is over Abby, her tube and its pros and cons. Obviously, it's good because we can make sure she gets the amount of food she needs. But, it is also really easy for us to be lazy. It much easy to hook her up than struggle with her to eat for half and hour. Plus, I'm not so sure it doesn't make her lazy. Maybe she can figure out that she gets full whether she eats or not. Our biggest concern is whether the tube contributes to her not eating orally. In other words, does the irritation of it make it more uncomfortable to eat therefore reinforcing the oral aversion. The more we have to feed them, the more frustrated we feel.
So...we are trying to work a schedule that allows fewer feedings during the night (sleep) and maybe fewer feeds (7 per day). We are trying to push the night feeding to 4 hours. So, we would feed at 2am so I'm asleep by 3, and then Ben would feed at 6am and could then go to work at a decent hour (instead of 10:30am). I would feed them again somewhere between 9 and 10am.
After all this scheduling, I can understand why people pay my sister the big bucks to do this for them. Maybe I can get a discount:-)
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