You are in the absolute hardest time right now. You are still getting to know your babies and their personalities, sleep deprivation is at its prime which makes everything seem 10 times worse.

My trio have never been great eaters. They usually do not drink a full bottle (6.5oz.) They never have. I always offer them 6.5oz at each feeding and most of the time I end up using the same bottle for the next because it ends up being enough to feed 2 of them.

Have they been checked for reflux? It is a very common thing with preemies. I carried to 36 weeks and all 3 of mine have reflux even. When they were about that old, they were not sleeping well, constantly fussy, spitting up, vomiting, sometimes they would even refuse to eat and I still contribute that to untreated reflux. It can cause a lot of irritability and sleeping problems. One thing that makes me think of reflux is that they like sleeping in their bouncy seats instead of in their cribs. Sleeping at an incline (like in a bouncy seat) helps reflux, but when you lay down flat it allows all the stomach contents to push back up into your esophagus, which can cause a lot of pain. Have you tried propping the head of their cribs up? I use a big city phone book that is 3 or 4 inches wide under the mattress, it provides the perfect incline. Also whining after they have been fed is another cue.

If you think they may have reflux you should go see their pediatrician about it to see if he will put them on medication to help control it. Get it treated as soon as possible.

As far as the schedule, in my opinion it is absolutely necessary for ME to have them on a schedule. In the beginning it was torturous, but I got over it and its easy now. We did a 3 hour schedule all through the day from 7am to 10pm then let them wake up naturally at night. After they would eat we would keep them awake and about an hour and a half to 2 hours before their next feeding, they took a nap (lots of napping!) When they were 10.5 weeks (6.5 weeks adjusted) they started sleeping 8-9 hours a night. Hang in there, it wont be like this forever!!!

Shely~ Mom to 1+bbg