Routine for Twins

[Rittie2000]

Hi there,

Our twin girls are now 16 weeks old. I have them co-bedding in the cot in our room. We have a rough routine with feeding every 4 hours but not at set times. We do have a set bed time of 7pm. They are not sleeping through the night yet. We are hoping to move the babies into the nursery this weekend. I don't know how it would work out and how bad it will be for me to get out of bed and having to go to the nursery to attend to them. Any advice?

I am wondering if anyone would like to share their experience with setting up routines for twins particularly any tips for helping them sleep through the night. Any opinion on not having set times for feeding etc? I like the flexibility of this but am wondering if there are additional benefits if we change to having set times?

Cheers
Rittie

[LauraLou]

There is a message board just for moms of twins. I have found really good information on routines, feedings, naps, etc on it. My boys aren't sleeping thru the night either, so I don't have any advice but let me know if you find something that works.

www.twinsmagazine.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=7

[kristiA]

Hi Rittie! I co-slept my twins until they were 6 months old. I probably wouldn't suggest doing it that long because once I split them up I found that they slept better. And so did I by having them out of my room. I waited long because the nursery was upstairs and I was feeling lazy about going up and down several times in the night. Now, I don't mind the stairs and my boys are sleeping through the night the majority of the time.

I have always had a very set schedule/routine for them. I fed them together and at the same time of the day everyday. Sure, some flexibility is allowed for special situations though. But now they eat, sleep, wake up, nap and even poop at the same time!!

I never found that they woke each other up or bothered each other by sharing a crib or sharing a room. I guess that's because I've had them sleeping so close to each other since the beginning.

My boys slept great from 4-6 months...then 6-8 months was bad. I was doing everything WRONG...rocking them to sleep, letting them take mini-naps whenever they wanted in the swing or bouncer, letting them sleep with me and feeding them too often in the night. So at 8 months I did the Ferber technique (or controlled crying) where I started putting them to bed awake and they learned to fall asleep on their own and soothe themselves in the night. This took only 3 nights and then they were sleeping through the night and taking two 2 hour naps per day.

I hope that was some of the info you were looking for!! Did you move them to the nursery this weekend? How did that go??

[Rittie2000]

Thanks for your replies girls.

KristiA, Thank you for sharing your experience. Its inspiring. I'll need to work harder on sticking to set time routines. My excuse so far has been - that having the flexibility of feeding roughly every 3-4 hours allow me to manipulate the timetable such that they are fed before I take them out to classes or get togethers etc. For example, I've been feeding the last few days at 2,6, 10 O'Clock. But today I've decided to make it 5:30, 9:30, 1 O'Clock so that we can feed before leaving for a class which starts at 2pm. Do you do this too even with the set time routine? Or would you go to the 2pm class and feed them there??? What timetable do you use?

We have failed to move them into the nursery this weekend. Our excuse was that theres a fault with the black out blind and the room will be too bright in the morning which means they're likely to wake early. The truth is I'm still nervous about it. But I take your input and will push DH to fix the blind this few days and move the babies. I will also take heed not to rock them to sleep because we have been doing more or less that and the 7pm bedtime has been quite successful. But lets see what happens if we let them to fall asleep by themselves.

On the up side. I've got them not feeding between midnight and 5-6am continuously for four nights now. When they wake say around 4, I've been giving them water and dummy and they have been going back to sleep. So although they are not technically sleeping through the night, we have dropped one feed.

Thank you again for writing. I'm finding it a bit lonely being a twin parent. I've joined the local twin club but the only gathering they have clashes with other commitments and we couldn't go. And I've had enough of reading guide books which confuses me everytime they say something different. so thanks again for sharing your experience and advice.

Cheers
Rittie

[kristiA]

Hi Rittie...yeah, I always did what you are doing...change the times slightly to accomodate a trip out somewhere. That's great that you were able to drop one night feeding and they are sleeping that longer stretch! Before you know it they will drop another feeding. When it was down to one night feeding I didn't mind it at all. Then you think back to when you were doing several night feedings and it seems like a blur.

Yeah, I joined a local twin club also. I find that it's helpful to talk to other twin mom's. It's such a unique experience and everyone "gets" what you are talking about. Hopefully you can attend more of their functions!

Oh...you don't have to rush to put them in the nursery if you aren't ready! Starting at 4 months I said I was going to do it "next week" and that lasted all the way until 6 months!

[LisaPa]

Hi ladies,

congrats on all your babies ....................I just found out i am having twins and i am searching for double strollers i have heard sooomany mixed reviews about them i was wondering if anyone could please advise me on a good double stroller...thank you sooo much

[Rittie2000]

Hi Lisa,

Big congratulations on the fantastic news of your twin pregnancy. I am so happy for you. Don't let those stuTwins are the best and you are going to love it.pid double trouble talk discourage you.

We have the Jane travel system and are very very happy with it. It is very easy to use and is good on all terrain. And having the car seats that sit on the pram has been a big advantage as it means an instant bouncy chair whereever we go. And as its a tandem design I have never had any trouble getting through doorways of houses, shops or banks which allows us to do our everyday chores easily.

Hope this helps.

[ahart]

Hi everyone, I have been awol for a long time..today is the twins birthday ...I also agree with KristiA, our boys have slept in their own bed at 5mths....and they sleep better that way. One started walking at 7mths and the other at 8 mths. I returned to work in June. They have no signs of peggies at this time.


Lisa congrats on your pregnancy, we purchased the dual stroller frame, which worked out well for us...however we had to upgrade since the babies are to big for the infant carriers that attach to the frame.


Rittie, we have a routine that works out well and the twins are put to bed at the same time every night. I think routine is a must with multiples and even then its busy until everyones in the bed asleep. But siomedays you will have to deviate from the norm.

[Rittie2000]

Hi there,

It has been such a long time since I posted the original thread. And man, how things have changed. The babies are 7 months old now and we have been on solids for over a month. They have moved into the nursery into separate cots. Bed time is now 99% stress free. Most days I manage to get them to nap at more or less the same time. Feeding is definitely done at the same time each day.

I had found it to be pretty stressful at the beginning of weaning because of the sudden increase of work load. Not so much making the food and feeding. But the fact that it was 5 times of milk plus 3 solid meals a day and then every nappy change was a poo change. All the routine we had established was blown out the window. I basically lay very low with them for a few weeks and put them in new routine bootcamp to re-synchronise their activities.

These babies are so much work. But the joy they bring way surpass the hassle. And thank God for all the good days that we have.

PS E now has 2 little teeth. Go E go!

Lots of love to all fellow twin parents
Rittie

[Macca8]

Rittie,

I moved my boy twins into their own cotbeds in their own nursery at 4 weeks old (they are 8 weeks old now). In UK they advise to keep with you for 6 months but to be honest the noise they make when they sleep was driving us mad and when they were sharing their cot they were not sleeping very well and disturbing each other.

Now that sleep minimum 5 hours between feeds. They have slept through loads of times aswell from 12 midnight until 7-8am. I only feed them in the nursing chair in the nursery (unless of course I am out of the house). The health visitor said it was successful because I was strict with their routine and I got them use to it so early before they formed bad habits. I got these tips from a book called The Contented House of Twins by Gina Ford & Alice Beer.

Lisa XXX