New Here!

Hello All! I'm very happy to join all of you as a new mother of twins. My twin boys were born on 11/20 and are adorable (of course) and doing well here at home. We can't even remember what life was like before them and how functioned on all that sleep!

I was curious, though. I know that it's much too early to put the twins on a schedule, but I was wondering if there was a better way than what we're doing now - which is feeding every 3 hours. But...it's less than 3 hours if they wake up hungry or more than 3 hours if they can go longer at night (it's only happened once and that was 3 1/2 hours). We have no idea how to even begin to regulate things or the age at which it would be appropriate.

I'd love advice from folks who have 'been there and done that'.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone. Please feel free to ask me any questions that you'd like!

Shelby

 

Congrats on the babies!

Sounds like you're doing great. Feeding on demand is far and away the best thing for babies - there is no better way out there than just to feed them when they're hungry. It is normal and healthy for them to be eating more often than every 3 hours, because their stomachs are about the size of a marble right now. Even if they really fill up, it just doesn't last them that long! Frequent feeding, whenever they're hungry, is very healthy.

I've been feeding on demand from the beginning, and my big sanity savers in the newborn phase were:

-When one baby is hungry, feed both, or feed one right after the other, even if it means waking a sleeping baby.
-Put them down to sleep at the same time.

That's pretty much it! Keep up the great work, mama!

 

Congrats and :sign0016: to TS!!

I ditto the above. We always woke the sleeping baby if one woke hungry and also put them down to sleep at the same time. They didn't always sleep at the same time, but it happened more often than not.

That's about it for now. Just rest whenever you can, even if it's only 1/2 hour here and there.

 

Hi and welcome,

I agree with the previous posters... new babies need to eat at least every three hours. We always fed our two at the same time and woke up a sleeping baby if necessary to have them eat at the same time. Within a few weeks they seemed to be hungry at the same time so I think the "plan" worked. It took us a few months before we had anything resembling a real routine and we still don't have a strict schedule.

The only advice I have is from looking back and wishing I had done a few things differently. I wish I had gotten out of the house more when my girls were little - both taking them places and getting babysitters so my husband and I could go to dinner. So my advice to you is get out of the house! Go for walks! Go to the store (whenever your pediatrician says your babies are big enough to be around crowds)! Get a babysitter and go out for dinner!

Good luck... and enjoy your little ones!

 

our boys have been on a schedule from the beginning. at 10 days old, we were feeding every 2 hours (pediatrician's orders, so they would get enough to eat during the 16 'daytime' hours) during the day, then putting them to bed at 10 pm, and only feeding them in the night if they woke up. but we formula fed, and i think doing that throws off the mother's milk production.

you'll find a lot of moms here have had schedules from the beginning based on the NICU schedule.

good luck and welcome to being a twin mom. i've only been one for 8 weeks, but so far, it's the coolest experience of my life.

 

Hi Shelby! Welcome to TS! Congrats on your babies!

I fed every 3 hours on the dot during the day, and let them go at night. It sounds like you are doing great!

 

I don't have them on a schedule but instead put MYSELF on a schedule and that seems to help me keep my sanity and they seem to be picking up on it. At 10am I put them in the crib for their nap so I can clean and shower and all that and then at 7:30 pm I give them a bath and feed them. If there feedings aren't in sync with the bath I give them a little later but that rarely ever happens. Now I just need to get a time to put them for an afternoon nap and I will be all set. All the other times, I don't care where they sleep (bouncy chair, swing) and after the afternoon nap is established, we will work on bedtime.

 

people said this to me and I got mad and thought ... WHAT? Do they think I can't handle it ... that I won't be a good Mom? It is NOT that ... it is just that twins are hard ... LINE UP A LIST OF PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING AND ABLE TO HELP YOU! Our girls were GREAT and EASY until they were about 3-4 weeks old then the you-know-what hit the fan ... full out, heart-wrenching, colic crying for hours and hours. This lasted for months. I hope that yours will not be this way at all .. but if they are (and most babies are at least very fussy at 6-8 weeks) you will want someone to come help you.

Things that saved my life ...
bouncing them on the exercise ball
the side-to-side cradle swing

Mine started dropping night feeds on their own ... they ate (and still do) every 2-3 hours during the day ... they ate every 2 around the clock (breastfeeding) on the dot for the first 2 mos. but they were tiny. Now they eat usually only once in the middle of the night ... EVERY NOW AND THEN they may sleep through. One more often than the other.

Most of all, enjoy your beautiful babies! Soon enough they will be grown! Try to take in everything they do. Let me tell you, when they start smiling and cooing at you ... and GIGGLING ... and noticing each other ... it will make up for the hours of screaming ... =) =)

Good luck & Welcome!

 

Thanks so much for the advice! I plan on talking about it as well with their pediatrician when I take them in for their 1 month appointment in a few weeks. I'm going to have to go back to work in a couple of months and am looking forward to establishing a 'bed time', etc. when they're ready. Right now we're flying by the seat of our pants!! We wonder at times how people with one baby do it! It's so much fun to have my husband next to me, each of us with one of our sons.

Thanks again- Looking forward to getting to know you!