When to start schedule with EBF?

My twins are 3 mo this week. They are EBF. I always tandem feed them in the day. I try to keep on an eat play sleep routine. I try to get them to nap at same time. However their naps are usually 45 min (ugh) so it seems i am feeding them before they seem really hungry as it seems their next nap after 1-1.5 hour wake starts to fall when they would be eating and i dont want to do a sleep play sleep eat. I really dont feel like i feed on demand as i do on routine.

Do other EBF have a similar routine at 3 mo of eat play sleep or sleep play eat play sleep for short naps ? Or do you have a schedule? I think my twins could go three hours between feed but these dang short naps dont really allow me.

If no schedule at 3 mos when did you get into one?

Thanks.

 

We never had a schedule (the twins were kids #6 and #7, we currently have 9 children).....I never scheduled any of my children. I breastfed on demand, put them down when they were tired, played with them when time permitted, and so on.

I cannot imagine doing it any other way. Our way worked for us, and everyone around us. I did try to feed them at the same time overnight (not for every feeding during the day though)...if one woke to eat at night, I would wake the other one up. As far as naps go, they each slept when they were tired. One of mine required more sleep than the other, so he slept longer, or more often than his brother.

As a mother, I think that you would drive yourself crazy and not allow the babies to learn to trust their own bodies. If they are hungry they will show cues, if they are tired they will show cues, if they need to be changed, they will show cues, etc. My guess is that they are not ready to sleep, when you think it should be nap time, so they are waking up after such a short time. If you waited for them to be tired, they would sleep longer.

Just my 2¢

 

We did not have a schedule yet at three months. I nursed on demand and took their lead regarding naps/sleep cues; the only thing I tried to do right from the beginning is a proper bedtime with a bedtime routine and keeping things quiet and dark at night. I did a lot of tandem-nursing during the day (one of mine had issues gaining weight and did much better when her brother triggered the let-down for her) and always tandem-nursed at night until one of them started going longer stretches at night.

I did keep a chart with the nursing times, nap times and diaper changes as well as special things like medications, fevers etc. Originally the chart was for my peace of mind and to answer any questions our pedi might have. But around 4 months I saw natural rhythms evolving and then started gently working to get them on similar schedules and a flexible (i.e. +/- 30 minutes was ok) routine which was established by 6 months. They always had different sleep needs and one of them needed at least one extra nap per day and usually slept longer for all naps.

Oh, and I never did the EASY routine. For mine wake up and diaper change, activity, nurse, sleep worked better.

 

I nursed one and bottle fed the other. Because my babies came back from NICU with a 3 hour routine, I ended up just following that although I found that with Sierra who I ended up nursing 2.5hours sometimes she took longer so I was usually able to end the feeding together (with a lot of organisation beforehand!).

Even with the 2.5-3hour schedule, at 3 months, I really went by their tired signs and like Happy June, I didn't follow the EASY routine as I found my babies preferred their feed before sleep. I liked this too because it meant that when they woke, they were happy and playful and it made the awake time more manageable.

We also, as I mentioned in your other post, did a chart and I started this at 3.5 months and the routine started to develop around 4months.