Feeding four a marathon routine
Quads, Lily, Lucas, Molly and Amelia Slattery are now all at home in Limerick following their birth at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital on May 26.
James Slattery and his wife Grace brought the four babies home in stages from University Maternity Hospital Limerick where they got neo-natal care.
The daily feed programme begins each morning at 2am and continues until 10pm.
James said: “It takes two hours to feed them and they have to be fed every four hours. Grace starts the first feed at 2am. I get up at 5am and do the 6am feed and finish in time to get ready for work. Grace does the 10am feed and the 2pm feed and I do the 6pm feed after getting home from work. We do the last feed of the day at 10pm together. We line them up as we get them ready for their feed.”
James, a 33-year-old installation company manager in Limerick, was given a garda escort to rush to Dublin after Grace went into labour a day early.
He said: “I was there in time for the births.”
The couple had gone through the pain of four miscarriages and the quads were conceived naturally without any fertility treatment. James said: “After losing four babies, the house was a dark place, but now it’s bright and shining with all the sounds of the quads.”
They use up to 200 nappies a week and Pampers have come to the rescue with a year’s supply. Cow and Gate have also given them a supply of baby food. The babies weighed in as follows: Amelia 4lb 3oz; Lucas 3lb 10oz; Lily 3lb 3 oz and Molly 2lb 15oz.
The couple are getting help from James’s son from a previous relationship, Joshua, 13, their relations, neighbours and friends.
