[Jane91]

Looking for some advice here to make my life a bit easier...<br><br>
I have 6 week old twins, and would like to start falling into some sort of loose schedule with them. The only thing that is currently reliable about our days is that they will usually sleep steadily between midnight and 4 am, and they are usually very fussy between 7 and 9 pm.<br><br>
Any thoughts about setting specific wake-up times and bed-times? It has seemed fruitless to me, since they nap intermittently throughout the day and there seems to be no good way to keep them up and encourage them to consolidate their sleep. Is there something I'm missing here?<br><br>
Also -- I am constantly feeding them (basically if they are not asleep, they are eating). They are formula fed and I would like to encourage them to eat more at once and go longer between feedings (rather than their current constant 1 oz. feedings nearly every hour over the course of the day). Any suggestions with how to encourage the babies to consolidate their feedings a bit?<br><br>
Thanks --

 

[akind1]

As far as a schedule or routine goes, DS pretty much set his own. I think around 6 weeks he was going 3-4 hours between feeds (and still does, except at night). but every baby is different.<br><br>
do you co-sleep or room share? Our night goes like this - nurse and if he doesn't fall asleep with that, we just chill in the glider until he is drowsy, lay in the co-sleeper (next to our bed). This first sleep has always been his longest, about 4 hours at the age your twins are - I think because he has the room to himself and there isn't any distractions, just white noise. He goes down between 8 and 10. Wakes to eat, and then back to sleep for another 3-4 hours.<br><br>
in the morning (usually around 7) he wakes and will eat about an hour later, and nap about an hour after that (9 ish) for an hour, tops) then he wakes to eat again, and stays awake until his afternoon nap, and this is a long one 2-3 hours. then he is up until bedtime.<br><br>
for the most part, DS set his own routine, and we accomodate it, and make it work for us. I think it may be easier to consolidate sleep than feedings; if they sleep longer they would naturally eat more on waking, and go longer between feeds. for DS, napping longer is dependent upon having no startling noises - especially that first hour. we can talk, have the tv on, or the radio, etc, but nothing startling, like the vacuum (we shut the door to wherever he is sleeping). For some babies, they get their best naps when being worn. This is true for DS when we are out and about, but not at home, where we are sitting most of the time.<br><br>
I think also both napping longer and going longer between feedings will occur naturally as they get older.<br><br>
HTH!

 

[BetsyS]

I'm pretty schedule oriented (comparatively, on MDC), and at 6 weeks, I'm still doing good to get a shower and eat a meal most days. I can't imagine twins. Kudos to you!! I get a decent schedule down around 5-6 months or so. At that point, I can usually say, "oh, most days, they have a morning nap around 8, a midday nap, and a late afternoon nap", and if I plan things, I can *usually* time it for when they are awake or asleep. Before that, it's all a routine, with differing times every day.<br><br>
The other thing about schedules with little babies is that they change. Frequently. So, you're constantly figuring out the new schedule.<br><br>
That said, my little babies can't stay up much longer than 45 minutes at a time. It's like a magic little window of time for them to be awake. Any longer, nad they are cranky, overstimulated, and hard to go to sleep. but, 45 minutes works well for them. I've only had breast-feeders, though, so I don't know if formula is different.<br><br>
Also, my dh is up between 5 and 5:30. If a baby wakes up at that point, our household is already up and active, nad there is not really any going back to sleep, you know? So, we start our days early. In other houses, babies wake at 5, and you can get them back to sleep until 7 or 8. That's something that is going to vary by each house. Add to that, a baby that wakes up at 5am needs to go to bed by around 7. So, that sort of sets a bedtime, so to speak.<br><br>
Now, I'm not really a "it's 7:00, you'll go to bed right now!" sort of mama. More, I keep it in my head, so that we're usually home by then, I am not in the middle of some project, babies are changed and in jammies/night time diapers, and when they start getting sleepy, be it 6:15 or 7:30, I'm ready for them.<br><br>
all that said, our usual first routine looks like this:<br>
5:30 wake for the day--nurse, coffee for mama, a little bit of playtime<br>
6:15-7:30 first nap. This is when I try to get dressed<br>
7:30 wake. Nurse, a little playtime, etc<br><br>
Then, it repeats itself all day long. At 6 weeks, they are still taking lots of naps. Some in the sling, some in the stroller, some on the bed, some next to me on the couch. Some are 30-45 minutes long, some are a little longer (usually a longer one once in the AM, once in the PM, but it varies wildly). After 7, then when they wake, I feed them and put them back to bed (and my babies have been fine with this; they weren't get up in the night and play types).<br><br>
This works for me---the sound I hate most of ALL is the sound of a tired baby crying, when I can't seem to do anything to help. So, by preventing that, I make for a happier mama, which makes for a happier baby. All in all, a good thing.

 

[twinmama2010]

Hi!<br><br>
I have 17 week old twins. We are also formula feeding and have been since they were about 3 weeks old (with pumped breast milk added to bottles). It's so hard to get them on the same schedule from 1-2 months. We so desperately wanted to just go with the flow- but I needed sleep. So- we started feeding every 3 hours. I would make up full bottles, heat before a feeding and let them eat as much as they want. Then, we would play/cuddle/walk for about 1.5 hours after the feeding, and down for a nap until the next feeding (if they make it that long!). We've consistently kept them on the every 3 hours schedule and I *think* it has helped them sleep more at night. They've naturally started eating more and more at the feedings. Sometimes we can go 4 hours between. But- they go to bed at the same time every night (8-8:30) and we started a ritual with them of bath, walk, bottles, bedtime with stars projected on the ceiling (whatever it may be in your house) to get them in bed by that time. They go right to sleep now and sleep until 3-5am.<br><br>
So- to answer your question! I would say just do your best to consistently feed at the same times during they day...they'll naturally work out eating more and more until they figure out nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for eating etc. Then, just keep putting them down for naps around the same time (once they are awake more) and eventually they expect it. If one twin is hungry, we feed the other and if one is sleeping, the other goes down for a nap too. I didn't think I'd be a scheduler- but it's the only way to maintain my sanity at this point and get any housework done or rest. Just hang in there! It will get much easier in a few weeks. I hope you're able to get some sleep...it has made a world of difference around here. You're also almost to the really fun smiley/playful time. I look forward to seeing them every morning! All my best <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">