Righto all you experienced twin mamas!

I feel like all I am ever doing is the following:

Diaper
Place babies each in high chair.
Feed solids.
Wipe, wipe, wipe.
Feed some more.
Clean babies face.
Peel off bib
Wipe chunks off bib
Soak bib
Remove babies from high chair
clean high chair, table and surrounding floor cloth
place in bouncer
put soaked bibs in washer
play on floor
give babies bottle.
diaper
nap
hang bibs up to dry
clean house.

Repeat from beginning.

I just feel so inefficient with the whole feeding thing. Now that they're on three meals a day, there are days that the thought of putting them in that high chair makes me want to cry! Ack! What am I doing wrong?

 

:welcome: to the wonderful world of twins :laughing: I felt like all I did was feed babies for almost the entire first year. By the time they start dropping bottles, they require 3 meals a day plus snacks in the highchair. :gah: It does get better :hug:

 

My mom laughs at me, but I don't wipe them down until the very end of a "meal". It drives her nuts seeing food dripping down their face, but it saves me a step! Our high chairs didn't get too messy until finger foods. I have to admit to only cleaning the floor after the boys go to bed for the night (other than picking up the big pieces) and their high chair trays still drive me crazy!

 

I always gave the bottle right after the meal, so there was an actual time span between feedings.

 

Hey Becky! You are not inefficient, you are just in a terribly inefficient time period when it comes to having twins! :lol: I remember around the 7-12 month mark I was feeding or cleaning up from feeding ALL.THE.TIME!

 

I don't know about any of you but I wouldn't bother with all of that cleaning of the bibs. We bought the white terry cloth ones at BRU that come in packs of like 12 or something like that for under $10 and half of them are dingy or stained with red sauce LOL. Bleach would probably brighten them up.

 

how about getting a dog?? just kidding, but i don't know what i would do without my dog! well, i know what i would do, i would be cleaning the floor 5 times a day!!

and like megan, i only wipe faces once during a meal, at the end. i have actually gotten pretty good at feeding them without making a huge mess of them (most of the time..), and they hate having their faces wiped so it is better for everyone. and i have a TON of bibs, so i am not constantly washing them, and it may be gross, but i usually don't even rinse them off before washing, just let them dry to a crust.

 

We used disposable bibs at that age (before they could figure out how to take them off), so that helped keep them a little cleaner. Becky, you are doing nothing wrong at all. I think during the later half of the FY that was all I did, or it felt like it. Hang in there!

 

i'd eliminate all of the face wiping and the bib cleaning. we have a heaping pile of bibs and i just toss the used ones in the hamper and get a new one for each meal. it means more bibs per load of laundry but it saves my sanity.

and i use the spoon to help with the face messes. one good swipe with the spoon across the chin and pop it right back into the mouth. unless it's totally gone chaotic we usually don't need a good face wipe until right at the end. then i just use the bib itself. unvelcro it from the back and swipe it across those cheeks as i'm removing it. i keep a small hamper in the kitchen for just these kinds of messes and i toss the bib in right then and there.

 

Thanks all! At least I know it's not just me.

The "wipe wipe wipe" is ME I'm wiping off by the way-they've learned to blow rasberries! LOL! I leave them gross til we're done other than the odd spoon scrape. )

As far as bibs it's a pain, I can keep them fairly clean, but I think Steffen must roll them in their food. Really. If I don't at least wipe off the chunks my washer gets all mucked up. I spent 45 minutes cleaning tiny grains of carrot out of the filter last week and have vowed to wipe the chunks off ever since! I only soak because we get bees terribly in our conservatory and they go right for that hamper of sticky sweet fruit puree covered bibs every time. I can't dry them in the dryer as they're the sleeved ones with the plastic backing, which I love but they'd melt in the dryer. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so anal about it, trust me!

(I would SO have a dog if Steffen wasn't allergic. I had a dog when Owen was little and it was great! )

 

Feeding is a complete disaster here too. One thing I have that I think helps me are waterproof bibs that I just wash off in my sink after feeding them and then I hang them to dry off the chairs. I find them easier to deal with than washing 10-12 bibs a day.

 

Ugh, I remember that age, feeling like all I ever did was feed kids & clean up the kitchen. Oh wait, I still feel that way! :lol: Seriously, you are doing nothing wrong, it's just a ton of work feeding two babies! It will get easier as they get older!

 

LOL yeah, by the end of mealtime i sometimes look like i washed my hands with babyfood!

 

I feel the same way as you!!! It seems like all I'm doing is feeding them! When they were newborns, they ate 8x's day round the clock, now they are eating 8x's (5 bottles, 3 solid meals) in 12 hours!! I was out with a twin mom the other day, and she had these really cool waterproof bibs. I just googled and found them on amazon. I'm going to order a 3 pack for each, and keep a pair in my diaper bag, and the others for home use. Hopefully will cut down on all the spray and wash throughout the day!! LOL!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bumkins+waterproof+superbib&tag=googhydr-20&index=baby&hvadid=1102519361&ref=pd_sl_8tgqkg4so2_e

 

On the bib thing, I went to the disposable bibsters around that age with my older kids, because they make SUCH a mess I liked being to just toss the thing! :lol: I think I would invest in the vinyl/plasticy bibs that way you can just rinse them off after the meal instead of scraping/soaking and then carrying to the laundry! I'm considering getting some myself, since 2 kids in bibsters will cost a fortune! I do keep the bibsters for in the diaper bag so I don't have to worry about forgetting a nasty bib in a ziploc bag in there and then finding it in a month! :bad:

 

Heh, I call Jack "Mr. Spitty" and Nate "The Extruder" so I feel your pain.

I LOVE these bibs! They're thin so they're not bulky, the neck holes are adjustable enough that they don't get food on their shirts, and they're so easy to clean. I only have 2, but I just give them a quick once over in some soapy water after meals and let them dry in the drying rack. They can go in the washing machine, but it's honestly easier and quicker to wash them by hand. They're so light that they're completely dry by the next feeding. I highly recommend them!

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, though. It's a messy, time-consuming, and never-ending job feeding twins! I think feeding is the hardest thing about the first year!

I do have to say that having a dog really helps though. The only problem is that they've figured out if they deliberately drop food off their trays the dog comes and eats it, so now we're having a hard time getting the food in THEM and not DOGGIE! :lol:

 

We also used plastic bibs that could just be washed/rinsed in the sink and hung to dry after they ate. We had a few sets, since they didn't have time to dry completely between meals.

But other than that, yeah, that's pretty much it. That's partly why I waited till they were 9 months old to add a 3rd solids meal. By that time, we could start cutting out a bottle. It does get a lot better when they're entirely on solids (or at least just a bedtime bottle).

 

I thought things would get easier when the girls dropped a bottle or two, but they got super hectic with the three solids feedings! We dropped bottles at 12.5 months and now give sippies of milk at our three meals and two snacks, which has been a relief. I hate the mess of giving snacks in their play room even worse than the high chair mess, which means we're doing the whole high chair routine five times a day. My girls will also eat more while they're in the chairs and not distracted by playing.

I baby proofed my dining room where I have my high chairs so I can pop the girls on the floor and they can play in a "new" area with toys while I get their meal/snack ready and they play after their meal while I rinse off bibs and trays and wipe up the floor and chairs. That has been a big help to me over waiting on them to go down for a nap to clean up everything. I also use the plastic bibs that I rinse in the sink with the trays and put back on the chairs to dry. I have two really nice plastic bibs that I wash maybe once a month when the neck trim gets crusty. These have a tie at the neck so they can't be ripped off and the arm holes keep them in place. They're long enough to cover their pants, so their clothes stay very clean. I only own four, so even though they're expensive, I don't need many at all. Click here for bibs.

I'm also feeding "clean" finger foods, like tiny cheese cubes, scrambled eggs, roasted chicken, toast with applesauce, sweet potato cubes, cheerios, cut up fruit, broccoli tops, beans, etc., and trying to avoid really messy foods like red pasta sauce and almond butter. I know I have to feed the messy stuff at some point, but for now, the cleaner foods are really helping my clean up routine move faster.

 

Oh man... I was just wondering when to start my LO's on solids. When they went for their 4 month check-up, the doc. said it was up to me. Ummm... after reading this thread, I think I might wait a little while. :lol:

 

Hi, I don't have any great advice, but I can relate. I feel like I'm feeding all of the time now they are 11 months. It drives me nuts. I usually feed them a snack at bedtime on the floor in the kitchen just so I don't have to put them in the high chair ONE MORE TIME. aaaahhhhh. If I'm really tired or cranky, I just feed them dry food only (shredded cheese, cereal, etc). They love yogurt, but it's a huge mess (especially my DD).
I have the plastic bibs with the little space at the bottom that catches some food. I just rinse them off in the sink. Then I run it in the top of our dishwasher. It doesn't clean it perfectly, but I think it's close enough.