Just curious about routines for others

MY boys sleep almost the whole day and they STTN too.. I always make 6oz bottles just in case, but they eat 3-6 oz every 3hours except at night the eat between 8 and 9 and sleep till around 7:30 the next morning. I was trying to have playtime between 3 and 6, but if they are up longer than an hour they get super cranky.. We are in the process of buying a house so I decided to wait a couple of weeks for the play time thing when things are not half packed and more settled. At their 2 month check up they were about 10.5lbs and the doc said it was on the bottom normal side so I worry they are not eating enough or is it because they were early? Also is one of your twins more outgoing than the other? I worry about DSK he smiles way less than DSH...I hate to compare them but it is hard not to..

 

YAY for STTN! My twins are a little over 2 months old. Routine, we don't have one. LOL! If they are awake I try to give them some play time for a while, and then feed them. It's hard to feed then play as I have reflux babies...so much of it ends up all over the place and ends up being a big ole mess or cry fest. Sigh.

Once 4 pm hits, mine tend to stay up and until they get into their nightime routine (lotion, bath every other night, meds, bottle) and bed by 9 pm. Mine wake up around 5am, though. That 5 am feeding is typically just that a feeding. After that they head back to sleep for a while.

 

QUOTE(firsttimetwinzymommy @ Nov 25 2008, 01:08 PM) [snapback]1086297[/snapback]
At their 2 month check up they were about 10.5lbs and the doc said it was on the bottom normal side so I worry they are not eating enough or is it because they were early? Also is one of your twins more outgoing than the other? I worry about DSK he smiles way less than DSH...I hate to compare them but it is hard not to..


Congrats on STTN :clapping:. I'm sure being early does play into it. However, they are on the normal side, so they is great! My DD smiled much more than DS for the whole first year! I think it's totally normal .

 

What??!!! Two pp and both with 2 month olds sleeping STTN?? What is the secret? Mine are three months and go to bed at 9pm wake between 1 and 3am for a feeding and then again at 5 or 6am. What am I doing wrong? I would love to have them STTN!! Mine nap the best after their morning bottle...about 9am -12noon then short cat naps untill bedtime.

 

My boys didnt' sttn until 8 months and I had to do CIO- so those are some very lucky moms!! As far as a routine, my boys didn't have a routine until about 5 months. We were in survival mode until then- we did whatever we could to get through the day. Good luck!

 

Like pp, at that age, we didn't have a routine...just follow their leads--if awake, try some playtime, feed, or sleep. They didn't STTN at that age...you're lucky! We, too, did anything to get to bedtime those days...our early evenings included walks since ours were very colicky and cried constantly from 4pm until bedtime. Seems like you're doing fine!

 

Mine are a little over 2 months as well. At their well check dd was 10lbs and ds 10lbs 4oz. Pedi said they are on the lower end of the scale but for their adjusted age their are in like the 70-80th percentile...I wouldnt worry about it.
Our routine-
first bottle at 7am every day. Then a bottle every 3hrs throughout the rest of the day (7,10,1,4,7)...we do eat, play, sleep; sometimes they can only be up for like 15 minutes but these days its pretty normal for them to be up for about 30-45 min then I put them back down for a nap. 7pm is their last bottle, then we do our night time routine-bath, lotion, swaddle, sleep.
Ds sometimes sleeps until 7am, but sometimes he gets up around 1 for a bottle. We wake dd every 3-4hrs as she is a refluxer and refuses to eat often so we try to feed her consistantly throughout the day and night.

 

I have one twin that is more outgoing than the other - one just takes a little bit longer to warm up to new places and people. I think it's totally normal and that's awesome that your babies are already STTN, how nice for you!

 

I feel very fortunate to also have babies that STTN most nights. I attribute a lot of it to the "Happiest Baby on the Block" techniques, but I think most of it is just my babies are of that temprament. One of them is a bit colicky, though, but once he falls asleep we get a good night out of him. The trick is to get them to STTN at the same time.

We only really have a morning and night routine. I'll start with the night. We feed them about 4 ounces at 8pm and then another 4 ounces 1-2 hours after that, as soon as they wake up. We warm that last bottle nicely and give them EBM. Prior to feeding we clean out their sinuses (my babies are congested a lot) with saline and the aspirator. After the bottle, or after they stop showing interest in it, we clean up their bottoms and freshen their diapers and add a healthy amount of diaper ointment to prevent rashes since we hope/expect them to sleep awhile. We then swaddle them in miracle blankets or in Swaddleme blankets. If it's a bit cold at night then we run the warm blow dryer over them to get them nice and toasty. We cuddle them up and put them in their cribs. We add the white noise (a recording of a vacuum cleaner) and jostle them to sleep (the jello-head mentioned in HBOTB book). If they awaken in that first hour, which they usually do, we appear at the crib really fast to show them they are not abandoned, then jello-head them back to sleep, offer them some of their leftover milk if there is any or if they are interested, then they go back to sleep. That's it until early morning. The first one that cries (between 5 and 7am) I take to bed and breastfeed on our sides. The other one shortly follows and I do the same with him. They fall back asleep after breastfeeding for another couple of hours. That's when we get up for the day. I breastfeed them again then prepare another warm bottle for each of them. They bottle-feed another 2-4 ounces then we play with toys a little, play some music, tummy time, and play with smiles until it's sleepytime again. The rest of the day is based on their appetites and moods and we switch from tummy time, cuddle time, and toy time.

HTH.

 

QUOTE(firsttimetwinzymommy @ Nov 25 2008, 02:08 PM) [snapback]1086297[/snapback]
MY boys sleep almost the whole day and they STTN too.. I always make 6oz bottles just in case, but they eat 3-6 oz every 3hours except at night the eat between 8 and 9 and sleep till around 7:30 the next morning. I was trying to have playtime between 3 and 6, but if they are up longer than an hour they get super cranky.. We are in the process of buying a house so I decided to wait a couple of weeks for the play time thing when things are not half packed and more settled. At their 2 month check up they were about 10.5lbs and the doc said it was on the bottom normal side so I worry they are not eating enough or is it because they were early? Also is one of your twins more outgoing than the other? I worry about DSK he smiles way less than DSH...I hate to compare them but it is hard not to..


Mine were both 10 pounds at 2 months and my pediatrician said they were doing wonderful, they were about six weeks early. They are now 11 and 1/2 pounds each and they are about to be three months old so I think yours are right on target - IMO! Mine don't eat anywhere near the amount yours do, they get 4 ounces for 3 feedings and 5 ounces for 3 feedings. My dd is much more smiley and happy than my ds. My dh calls my ds Mr. Grumpy because he is the one that always fusses first, just stares at you if he is not in the mood to smile and rarely coos - whereas my little girl is just happy to coo, and smile all day - just differences in personalities I guess.

Oh, and I too am jealous of your sleeping through the night! Ours wake up once at about 3:00/4:00 AM and we are happy with that but wish we could get them just to go a couple more hours!

 

I think the weights sound ok too and its great they´re sttn . I look at it like this: if your babies are happy and going through the night without food, it´s because they dont need it. Mine sttn at 3 months but we didnt stop the dream feed (at 11.30pm) till they were 4.5 months. We could have stopped earlier but I was afraid to! When DS stopped wanting to eat, thats when we decided to give it a shot. They go 11-12 hours and it´s bliss! They do stir and sometimes wake in that time but their dummies send them back to dreamland.

As for the smiling, my DS laughs and smiles much more than DD but she is about 2-4 weeks behind him in doing things. DS is more outgoing than DD, who is wary of everyone and everything (The Baby Whisperer would call her a touchy baby!). Dont worry, yours will catch up no probs and dont worry about comparing, I do it too!

Mine couldnt be up for much more than 45 mins-1 hour at that age. Just keep an eye out for the tired signs (rubbing eyes, pulling ears, scratching face, crying). Now, mine can go 2 hours awake and sometimes longer.

I also had mine on a routine from the first day I took them home as that suited our lifestyle. I FF. I use The Baby Whisperer book as my guide. (We were recommended by one pedi to feed on demand and it was a disaster and resulted us offering food whenever they cried as we couldnt interpret the signs). They ate every 3 hours, day & night, then moved to every 4 hours at 3 weeks old - they chose that. They still are on that routine but we´re much more flexible as they´re at an age when they determine their naps and feeds, but they´re pretty much on track.

Sounds to me like you´re doing just fine!