scheduling charts

Does anyone have a chart that they used with their twins that worked for them and that they would like to share?

Also, I am torn on what to do about "waking a sleeping baby". Did you find it easier to wake the second baby up when one was already up eating so you could keep them on the same schedule? Or did it work out best to feed on demand? I will probably be doing most of the night time feedings myself. They will be sharing a room but we plan on keeping them in seperate cribs.

 

A chart, no. I didn't use one really.

But as for waking a sleeping baby, yes, yes, yes. Having them on the same schedule makes things so much easier on you and makes it quicker for you to get out of the "survival" stage.

 

My husband worked overnight shifts when our twins were born. One of the things we did was discuss our expectations of each other as parents. I did overnights and then he would do the morning feeding, so I could sleep in a bit. We did not use a chart. I did the diapering overnight and while he was sleeping. When we both were awake, we both did the diapering.
Because my twins were under 6 lbs at birth (born at 38 weeks)...we were instructed to feed them every 3 hours (including overnight), so I did wake one. As they got a little older and the pediatrician was happy with how they are gaining weight, I would feed them on demand. But at that point, one would wake the other, so I did not have to worry about waking a sleepy baby. I also used to prop the bottles using a receiving blanket & be able to feed them both at the same time. I held the end of the bottle for them. Good luck!

 

I just used a spiral bound notebook to keep track of feedings and diaperings. I made two columns (one for each baby) and noted down anything important.

As for waking a sleeping baby, YES! It helps SO SO SO much to have them on the same schedule.

 

I started with what the hospital provided and quickly moved into a notebook attached to a clipboard. I brought it to their 2 week wc and asked if we needed to continue. We didn't- they were EBFd and little porkers.

About waking up a baby- 1,000x's yes! With nursing both I couldn't afford to feed one for an hour then feed his brother. That would have been like a 20 hour round the clock job! S was woken up every feed for O as long as they nursed overnight. I did every 2 hours during the day and tried for every 3 at night from start to start until about 4 months when I slowly stretched the nighttime feeds out from 3 hours.

 

From the books I've read and all the twins advice that has been given to me so far, I will be waking a sleeping baby because apparently you will go insane if you don't!!! Feeding on demand can mean by the time you are done feeding one and put him/her down, the other one wakes up and wants to eat, so you never get any sleep.
I would attach a chart that was given to me by a mom of twins but I can't figure out how to attach in this post.

 

We kept up a schedule for the first couple of weeks until we got our heads on straight about who was who and knew that they were both feeding and filling diapers regularly. It was basically just a sheet of paper where we wrote the time, feeding (how long bf'ing or how many ounces of milk), wet or dirty diaper and a column for any comments.

I wholeheartedly agree with waking the sleeping baby. We did this right from the start and the boys would wake up together like clockwork. It made the first few weeks a lot more peaceful than they might have been otherwise and I had time to do things in between; shower, sleep, even read a book! Some people feed strictly on demand and to be honest, I just can't imagine what that would have been like, particularly after my husband went back to work and I was on my own at night.

 

Thanks Ladies!!!! Looks like I will be waking the sleepy baby!

 

I agree...wake the baby! If you don't, especially at night ( and it never fails) you will no more than lay down and dooze off and the other baby WILL wake. It happened every time I tried to let one sleep. I learned quickly just to wake the other one up or I would never get any sleep. Plus, my girls were one month early and the pedi was adamant that they had no more than 3 hours between feedings, so we were always waking them up.

 

I didn't always wake the sleeping twin. I found it stressful at times to try to keep a rigid schedule for everyone.
I had read everyone saying you need to get a schedule and you need to always feed them together so early on I felt like I HAD to make it happen. Then when I had trouble getting them on a schedule together because one was hungry ALL the time and the other wasn't, I felt like I was messing up and it stressed me out. In general, I think you need some sort of a schedule so you don't go crazy, but I wouldn't say it has to be strict. My twins usually ate together, but sometimes I would just go with their flow. I frequently played it by ear, letting the one sleep and sometimes it backfired and I would be up more, but other times the laid back twin slept 4-5 hours straight which was heaven. He ended up sleeping through the night weeks earlier than the other and I was grateful one was sleeping. I exclusively nursed before I went back to work at 9 weeks and I didn't go crazy. I think some of it may depend on your personality. If you are a person that thrives on order and keeping a strict schedule, then wake your babies together always and try to get your schedule set. If you are a person that is stressed out by schedules, then let your babies guide you a little more.

 

So those of you who did wake up the other baby to keep them on the same schedule, do you mean you fed them at the same time? Or you fed one, then fed the other? I guess I'm wondering about that when it comes to just breastfeeding. I can see propping the bottles if I'm bottle-feeding. I'm going on 29 weeks, I'm getting anxious about every little detail!

 

Yes, I tandem nursed almost exclusively. 1 baby per breast per feed. With a good nursing pillow (or many, many bed pillows) it took approximately 2 weeks to perfect but after that it was very simple for me.

 

The book Mothering Multiples is a great resource for breastfeeding more than one baby.

 

Oh I just saw this thread... I did a sleeping schedule in Excel which I kept on my touchpad and I updated frequently throughout the day. I can send you a copy if you PM me your email address?

Basically had the time on the left column in 15 minute increments, day of the week at the top and the twins down the bottom for each day. Then coloured in the hours they were sleeping (with each twin having their own colour) - my husband thought I was obsessed with it lol! but oh my goodness, it helped so much in getting their routines together. My twins being in two different hospitals came home, one on a 3 hour feed and the other 4 hours.

I exclusively b/f Liara until Sierra came home 3 weeks later (they were given EBM exclusively in NICU) and then Liara moved on to formula as she was a very weak nurser. I'm still b/f Sierra (this week we started top ups with formula as my supply is easing and she would not take a bottle).

The schedule gave me sanity and a feeling of having some sort of control in those crazy crazy days when my brain was fogged from the lack of sleep. I didn't initially wake one up when the other did because at night my DH has always fed one and I fed the other but I found that this really didn't work for me, because I would still wake or have to wake to wake him up and after a couple of weeks, I started waking one up when the other woke, after I had changed and fed the one that woke first. Most often the one I 'woke' didn't really wake up, it was more like a dream feed. Eventually, I stopped waking Liara who is the better sleeper, as the schedule helped me to see who was getting the sleep they needed, and they're now both sleeping 10-12 hours per night. So yes, definitely keep the chart, if you're that way orientated.

On my chart I also kept track of when they were fussy, ate and why they woke and how long it took to settle them. I used mostly the HSHHC method and it has really worked for us! Ours share a room too but in separate cribs although for the first 6 weeks they were in our room then Liara went into the other room first as Sierra has a very weak cry and we would never have heard her otherwise.

As others have said, it's good for your sanity to have a routine (and I love it) but most of all, it's best to be flexible because each day is different and what happens one day, the next day is completely different - well that's what I'm finding it's like, so far! Go on your instinct for eg. especially in the beginning, while I was trying to get a routine happening, more often than not I was demand feeding, because they were hungry !LOL!