Yaaay both babies home! Now some questions...

Did/do you keep to the 3 hour nicu feeding schedule? Did they grow out of it by themselves eventually? My one does not wake up to eat and will go 4-5 hours at night without eating. Don't know what the other one does yet, tonight is her first night home If you didn't do a schedule for the first six weeks did they eventually get into one or did you put them on one? How did you manage if they weren't on a schedule? Also any activity ideas for my toddler are greatly appreciated

 

Congrats on having both babies home. That must feel absolutely fantastic! I obviously can't share insights like the others can but just wanted to say hi and let you know that we are on a 4-hour capped schedule. In other words, if they are ready earlier than 4 hrs, we feed (and sometimes they are). If not, we wake at 4 hrs. The pediatrician wanted this for now, at least until birth weights are regained and likely beyond. For us, this also helped taper the marathon feeds (up to 70 mins) we would get by going to 5 hrs. She said that when going beyond about 45 mins, they are burning more energy than they gain. Admittedly, I sometimes go beyond the 4 hr limit but try not to by much. As a result, their feeds have naturally gone to about 45 mins and everyone seems happy, including mommy. Good luck!

 

8-10 feeds a day is normal so no, I would not do 3 hour feeding schedule. I tried to do 2 hours start to start during the day and 3 hours start to start at night. If they woke up sooner I fed them. With tiny babies eating is a lot of work and sleeping is easier so I didn't let them go past 3 hours intentionally while my supply was being established.

BM is also digested quicker than formula so there's another reason they didn't go as long as other kids who were FF.

 

Did your ped give any guidelines based on weight? If not, and they've both regained their birth weights, I would go with an on demand approach as that's the best for establishing your supply. That being said, we did a modified on demand - when one was hungry, they both ate. That worked for us. I never had to worry about waking the girls as they wanted to eat every 2 hours around the clock but I do wake Emmett if it's been 3 hrs since the start of his last feed during the day. At night, I let him sleep as long as he wants.

 

I told the ped they were eating every threeish hours and she said that was fine. The thing is they will sleep straight through three hours and go four or even more if I let them. They also tend to switch off, eating a lot at one feeding but barely eating at the next. They are peeing and pooping fine, so im not concerned about how mich they are getting really, more about keeping them on a similar schedule.
I have an LC coming on Monday and will ask her all these questions but want some real twin mamas advice also

 

Liara was sleeping 8 hours sometimes, but the pedi told me it was quite normal for newborns to sleep long and as her weight was fine, I was told to let her sleep and not wake for feeds,so I didn't.

When they both came home, Sierra was on 3 hourly and Liara on 4 hourly... I just went with the flow as pp, if they were hungry earlier, I fed them and eventually they both settled into a 2.5 - 3 hourly feed (after a week or so) - I really tried not to feed any earlier than that as I like schedules (and fed them together as much as I could and still do) and didn't want them not finish their feeds or be overfed (more so FF Liara), but that's a personal opinion/choice. I should say though that with Sierra who I breastfed, I did demand feed initially as I wasn't sure how much she was getting.

I don't think it's too early to get into a schedule that works for you, of course it will change weekly

Congrats on having them home, I'm very happy for you - now the fun begins!

 

I think I need to have a schedule because of my 17 month old. Even if it changes every week, it would be good to be able to plan around feeding times as time for her. I am hoping they will settle into some sort of schedule soon and that hopefully I will be able to synchronize it!

 

they're little still... but it's a whole new ball game when you have an older one at home I'm sure! my twins nursed about every 2 hrs, but we just did on demand b/c there wasn't any need for a schedule. I liked the feeds closer together during the day b/c when I was started swaddling again at night close to 5 wks, they started sleeping through night time feeds! woohoo slept through the 2a feed the first night. for probably a 4+ hr sleep. they just kept lengthening their night time soon after that.

good luck with getting your daytime feeds more stabilized.

also, great job on adjusting your diet with success for your LO being able to bf!

 

You can always work with the premise that if 1 is hungry, the other wakes to eat as well. We did that with tandem feeding from a week old on, exclusively.

 

Yes, I did that as well, especially for the night feeds so that we can at least get a stretch of sleep.