day to day chaos

Ladies -
looking for some help and suggestions. Our twins are 3 1/2 months, 2 1/2 months corrected. The days are so hectic and crazy because they can't tolerate a lot of up time, however they seem to get hungry around the time that they've been up for too long. How do I get out of this vicious cycle? Here's an example of my day:

4:00am - wake up, eat, back to bed
6:20 - wake up and play
7:30 - eat (but a little cranky because they've been up for an hour already -- so I feed them and put them to sleep)
8:30 - 8:45ish - they wake up again, and play (this is part of the issue because they only take an hour nap)
8:30 - 10:30 play and then eat….they are super fussy at this point of time because they've been up for two hours and they can't handle that up time
11:00 nap time -- sometimes this is a 2 hour nap, sometimes it's less because they were so overstimulated from being up for two hours…….

You get the picture….

Some days go well - some don't. Did you have this issue ever, or is it just me? Any suggestions? I called the pedi and they told me this sounds like a phase that I'm going through...well the phase has lasted since the second week of October and it's getting tiring!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was nuts --- we decided to go to Costco -- well one twin napped, the other didn't and that threw off the whole day. My little girl was overstimulated and tired after being up for 3 hours, and the only way she would nap was in my arms yesterday. I didn't mind, but it was a hard day because of it.

Will a routine get much better as they are able to tolerate more up time?????

 

Here's my schedule thing:

0500 ish - wake up and eat 6 oz
0800 ish - wake up for the day and play [not hungry]
0900 - eat 6 oz [more play ]
1000 - start to get tired and cranky so I feed them 4 oz then put them down for first nap
1200 - wake up and play [not hungry - usually]
1230 - eat 6 oz and play
1430 - eat 6 oz and go down for 2nd nap
1630 - wake up [not hungry] play [hang out with DH cause he's usually home then]
1700 - eat 6 oz - play
1900 - eat 6 oz - play/hang out
2015 - bathtime!!
2030 - bedtime!! eat 6 oz and go to sleep

We FINALLY got on a 2 hr schedule a few weeks ago I hope the same for you - at least before heading East for the holidays.

 

At that age we had no schedule (except for bottles), just a routine: Eat, sleep, play! "Play" meant sitting on mommy, laying on the activity mat, tummy time, or just sitting in a bouncy looking out the window. A lot of times there was no "play" because they just woke up to eat and then went back to sleep. Hang in there, it will get more predictable. :hug:

 

Hi,
our twins are 12 weeks/8 weeks adjusted. Our day is exactly as Leighann described in her post. I can't wait until there is more of a predictable routine. I try to schedule them, but it doesn't work right now. Hopefully soon! Beth

 

Mine are just a little older, and we really don't have a by the clock schedule yet either, but I think it'll happen as they get older. I took advice I read here and try to get them back to sleep within 2 hours of waking. So we do nurse-play-top off nurse-sleep in cycles throughout the day between 8am and 5pm, then we have a longer waking time (Daddy's home and they don' want to sleep), but they'll usually get a 3 hour nap (I know, should be bed time but we're not there yet) in before 11pm when we do the final nurse of the night (unless one wakes up hungry but that's rare anymore). They wake me between 6 and 8 am and we start again. I see patterns forming, but nothing I can plan on with any accuracy yet. I asked this in your other post, too, but I think it makes a difference - are you BF or formula feeding? If you BF modified on demand, I think you have to leave some flexibily in the routine.

 

QUOTE(Leighann @ Nov 17 2008, 01:12 PM) [snapback]1073897[/snapback]
At that age we had no schedule (except for bottles), just a routine: Eat, sleep, play! "Play" meant sitting on mommy, laying on the activity mat, tummy time, or just sitting in a bouncy looking out the window. A lot of times there was no "play" because they just woke up to eat and then went back to sleep. Hang in there, it will get more predictable. :hug:



Same as the above at that age...a month and a half later it's so much more fun and somewhat more predictable though I keep a loose day-to-day routine. Hang in there, it gets easier!

 

at that age we worked with a cycling routine as well, rather than a strict schedule - ours was wake/eat/play/sleep. the only time we differed from that was to give a "top-up" nursing session just before bed time. the one suggestion i would offer is to try nursing/feeding them as soon as they wake up - then you can "play" if they have the energy, or put them back to bed if they're sleepy. also, it will help avoid the situation later on of them needing to eat to fall asleep. GL!

 

I'm still feeding them whenever. . . when they wake up and briefly to help soothe them. I just try to stick with the same routine each day as best I can, and things are starting to shape up. It will pass, I figure. It is day to dy chaos, and my house is a wreck.