schedules after the twins are born?

I have been reading and hearing from people that it will be very important to get the babies on the same schedule after they are born. I was told that it is mainly for my sanity not having to be a feeding machine. I read that if one baby wakes up to feed that I need to wake the other one up too. When I tell family how important the schedule will be, they look at me like I'm crazy and say "you will be on whatever schedule the babies are on." Granted no one in my family have had twins and dispersing advice from having a singleton. Am I crazy to worry about schedules or will it just be up to the babies to be on whatever schedule they want to be on. I don't want to go crazy from no sleep and constantly feeding and changing one and then the other wakes up.

 

Don't make yourself crazy. I have seen babies on schedules and not on schedules and both end up fine.

I am a schedule person. As a newborn, my babies slept all the time and I had to wake them to feed every 3 hours. By the time they started waking on their own, they were set to the scheudule that I was already doing with them. For me, the hardest part was trying to wake them up for feeding time. If they were bigger, 38-40 weeks, I wouldn't have had to do the every 3 hours so religiously but they were 36 weeks and the doc didn't want them to go more than 3 hours between feedings.

You won't ge tmuch sleep with or without schedule, nothing you can do about that.

 

:hug: Try not to worry yourself with what will come. Like Alison, I'm a very scheduled person, so it seemed right up our alley to try and get them on one. I just fed them both at the same time and tried to get them to nap at the same times... then it sort of fell into place and they created their own schedule. :good: Deal with that when it gets here. :hug: Right now, just nod when you get advice and let it blow over.

 

I know just how you feel. When you are getting ready to become a mother the older mothers are compelled to show you that they know all there is to know about raising babies and that you are a complete ignoramus without a clue. I really hate it when my mom, MIL and sister do that to me. When I mentioned that babies should never sleep in the same bed with parents due to risk of SIDS they laughed in my face and said - face reality sweetheart, all babies fall asleep in parents bed, yours will too, and you will keep them there. When I mentioned that some women have trouble breastfeeding I was laughed at again - it comes naturally they say, everyone can do it, you can do it too. Same with blankets and toys in crib, and same with schedule - just like with you - "babies will dictate their schedule to you". I know it is really hard to take, especially when you have done all the research and instinctively know what is right for your children. These are YOUR children and you know what is best for them. Listen to advice but do not feel obligated to take it - you know best what is best for your babies, YOU are their mommy.

As for the schedule, I absolutely plan to put mine on one. If you think about it, it would be very very tough on you without a schedule. Newborns need to be fed every 2.5 hours. It would take at least a half hour per baby in the beginning, until you get the hang of positioning, latching on, what not. So if babies are on a different schedule and you have to feed one after another, that's an hour plus another 20 mins for diaper changes plus 10 minutes or so for burping - so even if you are lucky and they fall right back asleep after all this, you still end up with only an hour to sleep until the next feeding. This hour of rest for every hour and a half of feeding and taking care of babies will add up until you are completely exhausted. Just my humble opinion... I think it would be best to have babies on the same schedule if only so you can keep your sanity.

 

I am hoping to get the babies on a schedule after their born, my son was never on one he was just always hungry about every three/four hours but I never woke hime up or anything. But with two I think a schedule will help my sanity alot especially at night.

A close friend of mine had twins a few months ago and they were in the NICU for about 3 weeks. While they were there the nurses had them on a schedule so that they fed right after each other and they stuck with it when they got home, my friend said it was alot easier than she expected with them on a schedule...so I have my fingers crossed I can get mine on one too.

 

I personally can't imagine what it would have been like if my twins were not on the same schedule. I kept them on the same schedule they had in the NICU. And yes, if one woke up in the middle of the night, I woke the other one up as well to eat. Having the same schedule made things so much easier. Even now at 3, they still take a nap at the same time and go to bed at the same time. Their waking times are different, but they both go down at the same time.

 

My boys are on the same right now it has saved me so much

 

My boys are also on the same schedule, if one wants to eat, the other one is waked up...it really helps my sanity.

 

[SIZE=12pt]With my two older boys, i followed the baby whisperer methods, which are great, we will do the same principles with the twins, but we will "make" them stay on the same schedule for sanity sake. Don't listen to people too much, you are the mum and you will know what's best for your babies [/SIZE]

 

My boys were in the NICU for a month and stayed on that schedule for about a month before adding an extra hour in between feedings. It was hard to wake them up (for me not them), but I did it b/c I knew the only way I would be able to sleep was if they were sleeping together. DH deployed a month after the boys came home from the NICU and I knew I had to be able to do it alone. Do whatever works best for YOUR situation.

 

I am going to try like heck to get them both on a schedule, then get my 3 year old on there schedule for nap time too ha. I dont know how hard it will be but as long as the twins are somewhat on the same one i should be okay. Good luck and dont worry about that till they get here, im sure everything will be fine in the end

 

I am planing to keep them on the same schedule .
when my mom met with my ex coworker ( he has 2 twins boy) and told him that I am expecting twins first what he told her: " TELL to her to keep them on the same schedule. this is a big help for her and her husband"

so this is advice from the twins dad.

 

I've been doing everything "on demand" but normally when one is ready to eat I'll feed the other as well unless sleeping. When they were younger I'd wake the other to keep them on the same feeding schedule.

 

I am going to try my best to get them on the same schedule but we'll see when they get here. I can only hope and pray and keep positive thoughts

 

with my first baby, we fed on demand and that little buggar was hungry every 2 hours!! i am not kidding! I thought I was going to die of sleep deprivation the first month or two. And she would NOT sleep in her crib for longer than an hour at a time - she had to be asleep on my chest. I slept propped up with pillows on the couch or the bed with her on my chest for a while and then and only then would she SOMETIMES sleep for 3 hours. After a while she would sleep in her glider for a 2 hour stint, which was heaven for me - I actually got to lie down!! Over time it got better though and she began to sleep in her crib through the night at about 4 months.

I wouldn't trade those days for anything though. Now at almost 2 it's hard to get her to snuggle with me - she is on the move all the time!! Whatever schedule those babies are on you will treasure every waking moment with them, even if you are half asleep!

 

I think schedules are great if they work for you and your babies, but I wouldn't stress it if it doesn't work out that way for you. I have heard about needing to have a schedule since I was pregnant with my first so it's not unique to twins. I tried keeping a schedule with my older kids, but they were pretty unpredicatable and I learned to go with the flow. With these guys, I do want to try and have a feeding schedule because I plan to nurse and if I don't feed them at the same time, I have no idea how I'll ever sleep or take care of my other kids.

 

I'm just going to say that mine weren't REALLy on a schedule...but I did always feed them together.

So even though mine didn't necessarily eat every 3 hours, they did eat at the same time and sometimes slept at the same time.

Basically it was wake, change, eat, play (or just awake), sleep. Repeat.