any babywise users?

My b/g twins are about 2 and a half wks away from 4months. New to babywise implementing and looking for help on starting. So I'm asking how to do it this late in the game? And also samples of schedules because I cannot figure out nap times.

 

I don't know how you start late but my babies are 4 1/2 months (3 months adjusted). Here is our schedule:

7am-5 oz
8:30am/9am nap
10:30/11am 5 oz
12/12:30 nap
2pm 5 oz
3:30 nap
5:30 6 oz
6:00/6:30pm bedtime
11:00 dreamfeed 6 oz

We just started to try to drop the 3am feed so now our lil girl gets up at 4:30 and is very upset, but before that they were great. My son is waking at 5:30 and happy babbling until we go get him at 6:45. The only reason we are even dropping the 3am feed and dreamfeeding instead is because after 4 month immunizations their sleep got all kinds or screwed up. So I figured while Iw was exhausted anyway, maybe I should try to shake the middle of the night habit. Good luck!

 

The basics are to feed on a consistent schedule with a consistent wake up time and to have awake time after the feeding before naps. You want to feed them every 3hrs with the last 90min to 2 hrs as sleep time. Pick a wake up time, for us it was 7 am. I'd get them up a little before 7, change diapers then feed them. At first, sleep just sort of happened whenever in between feedings. It wasn't until 4 mos that I started working on the last 90 min of cycle in the cribs. So, we started at 7, then 10, 1, 4 and 7 with a dreamfeed around 10pm. If they were fussy before 3 hrs, I tried everything possible to settle them without feeding. Usually they were overtired. My oldest ds had to eat every 2.5 hrs for a few weeks before 2mos old because 3 hrs was just too far apart for him. The point is consistancy. If they can't seem to make it 3 hrs, go to 2.5 hr cycles for a little while and work towards 3 hrs. Some people thing Babywise means starve your baby if isn't time to eat. NO! It's about a pattern that helps regulate digestion and sleep cycles.

I've rambled a ton but if you have questions, just ask and I'll come back to this thread later on. I used the Babywise principles with all 5 of my kiddos with great success. And no I wasn't a monster that didn't feed them when they were hungry or let them scream for hours on end.

 

Great thank you so much! I'm just curious how twin moms do this. Did you still give your twins just the 30mins of eating time? If so did you tack on any extra minutes to a feed if there was a poopy diaper on one or both? My wake time has to be 5am(DH can help before work) so I am trying to figure out nap times between. Also since two have reflux I can't put them right back down after some feedings and my getting ready time can take longer since I have meds to dispense before some feedings. Oh and also wig your twins were you feeding them alone? And about how much sleep are yours averaging day/night? I've read that three-six month olds should have 15hrs a day of sleep?

 

Until about 3 mos I'd give them up to 45 min for a bottle if they were actively eating and/or we had some inturruptions. I also had a refluxer. I used a bouncy seat for after the feeding because it let them sit upright without being scrunched like in the car seat. If your wake up time is 5am, your bedtime will be 5pm with feedings at 5am, 8am, 11am, 2pm and 5pm. Honestly, I'd work on feeding them alone so you can have a more realistic bedtime! But hey, if it works for you then stick with it. I fed mine alone from just a few weeks old after dh went back to work. He would feed one when he was home with me, but most of the time he only helped with the bedtime feeding. Other times he was home he was doing things with/for the other 3. Mine started sleeping 11ish hours at exactly 3 mos. I was prepared to stop waking the other when one woke over a long weekend and that night they both slept through! During the day at that point they were napping in the swings or bouncies and would maybe get an hour to hour and half between feedings so that was what....5 to 7 hours maybe? Not counting the nighttime sleep of course. Dh helped with all the nighttime feedings. I gave him the easy one so he could get back to sleep faster for work but I refused to do it alone when I had to "work" too! By 5 mos, after working on naps, they were napping about 5-6 hours during the day and 11 - 12 at night.

 

Thanks again for answering all my questions! I think 5am is only a temporary wake time we treat it more like a nighttime feeding(no play time afterwards just long enough for them to sit up because of reflux and then back to bed). My goal I guess is 9pm bedtime and like 8am wake time(although I've read that maybe 9pm is to late, do you think with babywise it is to late?) Until I can get there and because of the schedule they are on now they won't go past that 5am feeding. I think ill give them until memorial day and try that weekend to drop that feeding(long weekend of DH). With the reflux issues did you have a lot of spit up? And did you have meds to give while getting them ready? Wish me luck tomorrow I start this on my own!

 

Oh I did have one more question, in your schedule where do you fit baths? And do you bathe one at a time? Still trying to figure this out.. esp since to much movement after a bottle and DD spits up so baths have to be before bottles for us.

 

9pm is a bit late unless your whole day is shifted later than most people. None of my kiddos were able to handle a bedtime later than 7/7:30 until they were consistently sleeping 12 hours and I was able to shift the whole schedule a little at a time to an 8pm bedtime. That said, some people start their day at 9 am with feedings at 9, noon, 3, 6 and 9pm bedtime and do fine.

I wouldn't try to drop a night time feeding until they are consistently eating every 3 hours during the day. That alone will allow them to take more calories during the day and not need so many at night. If they don't naturally elongate the night time sleep after a month or so, then you can work on eliminating the night time feedings.

We did baths every few days (or more for my refluxer if she smelled like spit up...ew! lol). I did them usually during the awake time after the second morning feeding. That way Kayci could have some time in the bouncy seat to settle her stomach while I did Erick then I traded them out. I didn't start doing them together until close to a year when they could sit well.

 

Well it seems with the six feedings a day they are dropping their over all intake. Went from 22-23/23-24oz a day down to 20oz. So I'm not sure on if I should move back to 5 feeds a day or not... This seems to be a little hard for me to figure all out(how long naps should be, how long wake time should be, where to put baths in the evening when wake time seems to be only 30mins).. sorry I'm not stupid I promise lol

 

Give them time. Stick to the 3 hr schedule like glue for at least a week and then reevaluate how they are doing as far as intake and sleep. It works, promise!

 

So glad to see this thread! I would LOVE some advice! My g/g twins are a few days shy of 4 months, 9 weeks adjusted age. I think they are acting more like 3 months than 2 months/9 weeks, and would like to start introducing a schedule. I am also trying to stop swaddling, starting today, as they are getting angry with the swaddle and waking lots in the night.

I understand the basis of the babywise schedule, but i have a few questions i hope you can help with:

1. When we first get up (usually 7 or 7:30) the girls sometimes don't want to eat. I think this might be because they are still waking through the nights for feeds, and so dont wake up hungry, but his throws my schedule off. I dont want to force them to eat -- that just makes us all unhappy! Any thoughts or experiences with this?

2. I like to walk with them each morning, around 10:30, for at least an hour, sometimes 90 minutes. They doze in the stroller. Should this count as a formal nap? I am having a hard time trying to schedule in a walk with feeding and the early morning nap. Similarly, if i run errands in the afternoon, they doze in their car seats. Should i consider this their nap?

3. My girls only eat 2-4 oz per feeding.... Never more than 4. They are gaining fine and the dr is happy with their growth, so should i be concerned?

4. If they wake from their naps before 90 mins is up, should i let them cry it out?

5. Do you feed your twins separately or together? If together, how do you do it?

Thanks for the help!

 

My "enter" key is broken on my laptop and there will be too much to my answer to type it out on my ipad, so please be patient with my poor spacing!

1.) If they are not eating, how do you know they want to get up? I mean, what are they doing? If they are just happily being quiet in their cribs then I wouldn't go get them! I would try to wait and start the day with breakfast.

2.) If they doze for the whole 90 minutes then sure, count it as a nap. If you're following babywise then you'd want to feed them and then have awake time when you return from the walk and/or errands. Is this possible or are they still tired?

3.) No. My girls were never big drinkers either. But that meant that I had to do 90 minutes awake/90 minutes asleep, 24 hours a day. At 12 months old when we transitioned to milk they were still only taking 6 ounces per feeding. The way I did it, is when they would finish their bottles consistently for a few feeds I'd add more to them. I always offered them a little more than they were willing to eat.

4 & 5) This is sort of up to you. I did 90 minutes awake and the way I tried to do it was feed one for 30 minutes, put her down for 30 minutes awake time. Feed second baby for 30 minutes, then put baby # 1 down for nap while baby # 2 was having her 30 minutes awake time. I tried to stagger them by 30 minutes. Of course this did NOT always work.

I did not like feeding them both at the same time. But I did it when I had to. And I was flexible with their schedule by up to 30 minutes. So if someone napped for 60 minutes I did not let her cry. But if someone only napped for 45 minutes then yes, she cried for a little while.

The way I'd bottle feed both at the same time was I'd put the infant seat on the couch and put one baby in the infant seat. Then I'd get the boppy pillow and sit at the side of couch. I'd place one baby in the boppy like you would with one baby, and then the other baby would also be on the boppy, in between the boppy and the arm of the couch. I remember feeding both babies while being on the phone and feeling like super mom!

 

Amy, thanks so much for answering my questions. A few comments: I swaddle th girls, so at around 7 they are fussing and i unwrap the swaddle, let them play a bit in their cribs with mobiles, etc. When they tire of that, i take them out and bring them downstairs to eat but they someetimes wont eat. Now, at night, we feed them at 11 pm, then when they wake up again, which could be anytime between 2 and 3:30. They are still just over 10 pounds, so i dont want to try and force them to not eat when they wake up/ try to make them wait for 4 hours. So, they could potentially wake again between 5 and 6. They will take a bottle, but usually not eat more than a couple of ounces. So when i try to feed them at 8 (to get back on schedule) they sometimes wont take any. Not sure what i am doing wrong, or if i should be encuraging them to wait longer to eat during the day so they get used to it and will hopefully sleep longer at night. Right now, theyre hungry during the day every 3 to 3.5 hours.

Thanks again!