How do you feed them at night?

Discussion in 'The First Year' started by marleigh, Nov 19, 2009.

  1. marleigh

    marleigh Well-Known Member

    When both of them are hungry at the same time?? I'm trying to make too much commotion at night (not moving them around much, keeping them swaddled, keeping the room dark) to wake them too much so they will fall back asleep, but wondering how I do this on my own? For those of you who bottle feed, as we do, do you put them in bouncer seats or boppy's and feed them like that or do you try to anticpate when they need to be fed and wake one 30 minutes sooner, lay that one back down and then go get the other one?

    I'm having a hard time with the logistics of this at night.

    During the day, I feed at the same time sitting between them in their bouncer seats.

    How do ya'll do it?? Thanks!
     
  2. bethst

    bethst Active Member

    This is what worked for me... I do have a little table lamp with a soft white lightbulb so I can see. When they both wake at the same time, I sit up, with my back against the wall(our bed does not have a headboard) bending my knees up some. I put a pillow over my thighs and lay them both side by side on the pillow that way i can see them both and feed them both without having to look away from one to look at the other. this works for me because they do not lie flat, it keeps them sitting in a upright position( good for the ones with reflux) I also use this durning the day. I sit on the couch and put my feet on the edge of the coffee table so my knees bend and throw the pillow over thighs. I do like this better then one in a boppie on either side of me. I change them so as soon as they are full they go back to bed' give it a try and good luck. beth
     
  3. AimeeThomp

    AimeeThomp Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    It was tough. Mostly what I did was feed one and put the other in her car seat on the couch next to me with the Podee bottle. Then as soon as I was finished feeding the first baby I changed the nipple on the bottle and fed the 2nd baby. The Podee bottle at least kept the baby occupied while I fed her sister.
     
  4. bethst

    bethst Active Member

    oh, and I bought myself a bottle warmer so I dont have to move around too much' Took a few tries to get it right, and now i wish i got one with my other kids. If you are making 2 bottles, load 1 bottle( for example to make 2 4oz bottles, poor 8 oz into one bottle then pour half into the other bottle instead of having to heat 2 separate bottles and having to listen to one cry
     
  5. becky5

    becky5 Guest

    When I heard them start to stir, I would get up and mix their bottles. I put them both on my bed, changed them, situated myself between them, and put them head to head >~O O~< on a regular bed pillow and fed them both at the same time. You will find your routine and get more efficient at it! GL!
     
  6. tinalb

    tinalb Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I did this too! I always fed them in my bed with it as dark as I could manage.
     
  7. Kateryna

    Kateryna Well-Known Member

    This is how we did it

    I always use blankets to prop them and the just sit beside them and watch to make sure bottles are positioned properly and then pick one up separately to burp. They love this position. Same at night when swaddled and with a small nightlight.
     
  8. DATJMom

    DATJMom Well-Known Member

    I would put them in a boppy on my bed and just double feed them.
     
  9. vtlakey

    vtlakey Well-Known Member

    I always slept with a nightlight or two on and never turned on a regular light. And as soon as I heard one stir (both slept in our room then) I would pick up that baby and start warming both bottles in our master bathroom, where we kept a second bottle warmer. Then I would lean back against our headboard, stack 2 pillows in front of me and put baby #1 centered in front me, so that I had a free hand to use with baby #2, if he woke up before I finished w/ #1. Often times I could pacify #2 for 15-20 minutes by just keeping him beside of me and giving him a paci. But there were plenty of times that both would be screaming to be fed at the same time. In that case I used a contoured memory foam pillow to put baby #2 on and stuck a receiving blanket under the head to elevate it somewhat, then fed them both simultaneously. We LOVE those contoured pillows because the dip in them helps keep baby in place. To this day I rarely ever use our boppy pillows (the boys just don't seem to like them anyway).

    Good luck! I handled our twins solo through the night for about 8 weeks, until I went back to work at which time my husband started sharing nighttime baby duty. It is awfully hard and draining to care for 2 babies at night...just keep reminding yourself that it won't be that hard forever! And hopefully you can sometimes have some help come over during the day so you can take a nap.
     
  10. sarahfineran

    sarahfineran Member

    Katernya: That is a great way!! I'm gonna try it tonight.
     
  11. Gigantor

    Gigantor Well-Known Member

    During the day I feed them at the same time using a pillow. At night I run in at first peep whoever wakes up first and feed him, then put him down and wake the other one. This way the nighttime schedule is not the same, but pretty close.
     
  12. brieh

    brieh Well-Known Member

    OMG you are sooo smart!!!! I usually heat one, finish that ones feed. And now the other girl is losing her mind with hunger while I try to heat the other bottle. We have to feed both girls separately because Quinn has eating issues (forgets to breathe when she sucks, its getting better though). Her sister Lexia never stops noving when she eats, my wiggle worm. Any hopes of propping them up and feeding them at the same time went completely out the window for us :( We also have a nightlight to keep the room dark. We are having our own issues at the moment. Appartently 11pm-3am is play time at our house........its horrible !!
     
  13. vtlakey

    vtlakey Well-Known Member

    My problem with typical steam bottle warmers (besides the fact they only heat 1 bottle at a time) is that I had to measure out a very specific amount of water. Put too little water and the bottles are still ice cold, too much water and the milk is nearly curdled. And at 3am I'm not real good at measuring stuff! :) So after trying several bottle warming methods, I ended up buying a Rival electric hot pot which can heat 2 bottles at once, and is very consistent temp-wise, as long as you keep a fairly consistent level of water in it. We didn't want to sit our Playtex Ventaire bottles directly on the heating element, so I bought a shallow stainless steel soap dish thingy with holes that we set the bottles on. We keep a timer beside the hot pot preset to 4 minutes, which seems to heat the bottles up to around room temperature. I have found those electric hot pots on sale before at Target for only $7. Now that the boys are taking more formula, there is less formula immersed in the water, but I usually swirl around the formula a couple of times while its warming up to help keep the temperature somewhat even so the top portion of formula isn't freezing while the bottom portion is warm. It is funny the wacky ideas you come up with when dealing with twins! :)

    P.S. I LOVE Kateryna's method of double feeding her twins by feeding them on their side with a blanket...wish I would have known to try that when I was feeding both babies at night!!
     
  14. lianyla

    lianyla Well-Known Member

    LOVE the towel propping deal. DUDE! Would have loved to see that before. Love it! I never warmed our bottles so didn't have to worry about that. I just used warm tap water.
     
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