help with migrating to a 4-hour schedule - 5 month twins

[apstribling]

Hey there! We are trying to migrate to a 4 hour schedule, doing a combo of 3-3.5 hours. I am not sure if I am doing this right, and feel like I am in the middle of a schedule mess. Are they eating too much at too many times? My problem is their naps. They are not napping very well, and the most they will do is 1.5 hours. (and lots of 45 min) So does that mean we aren't ready for a 4 hour schedule? What I am doing right now just isn't making sense to me. They are also only taking cereal once right now and don't know if I need to increase this as well. Also, their waketime is only 1.5 hours. I am doing BabyWise and Baby Whisperer (bits and pieces of both) , and the waketimes are SO different. I try to do 1.5 hours, but I swear, they were both showing sleep cues this morning at 45 minutes, so I know thats way too early! What do you think of my schedule for now, and where should I adjust it? They were 5 months yesterday (21 weeks). Also, I exclusively pump and bottle feed

E 7:30
A 7:45-9
S 9-10:30
Y
E 10:30
A 10:45-12
S 12-1:30
Y
E 2:00
A 2:15-3:30
S 3:30 -4:15 (this one is always 45min)
Y
E 5:00ish (we are trying to push this to 5:30, but they have been awake for so long, they are starving)
A 5:15-6:30, bath at 6:30
E cereal then bottle at 7:00 (cluster)
S 7:30
Y
E 9:45 DF

[Chicane]

Hi apstribling,

Welcome to the boards.

First up, in my opinion I think it would make it easier for yourself if you chose one method/book and stuck to that. It will only become more confusing as time goes on if you are attempting to combine two different methods.

Second up, your routine is not that bad! Have a look at the sample routines here for your age group http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164029.0

Also here is some info about moving to a 4 hour eating routine - http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63161.0

You may find that they are not ready for 4 hours just yet - they could fall anywhere within the 3 -4 hour routine. You will need to experiment, watch for their signs.

The average awake time for 5 months is 2 - 2.5 hours, average total day sleep is between 3 - 4 hours and that can consist of two long naps and a cat nap (usually 45 mins in the afternoon - which is what your LOs are doing already) or just two naps.

The main problem I can see with your routine is that last A time is way too long - they are awake from 4.15pm until 7.30pm. I am surprised that you haven't had more OT issues with that kind of A time. I would start by slowly in small increment of say 5-10 mins, increasing their morning A time over a period of a few days. Normally we start with increasing A times with the morning so that if it goes wrong you have the rest of the day to catch up. And over a few days so we don't shock the LOs with sudden change.

Finally, why are you giving them cereal? Was this advised by your doctor? The current advise from World Health Organisation and various Peadiatric associations is to start 'solid' food after 6 months. Prior to that LOs should be getting all of their food from milk feeds (BF or formula) there is no need to start the on cereals just yet. If you want more info on this then visit the Solids board. Also, the FAQ section of all the boards have tons of very helpful info.

Let me know how you get on

xxx

[momtonb&ab]

hey there!

just wanted to pop over and say HI and tell you that it looks like you are doing a great job.  your routine isn't bad and you are not far off the mark at all in my opinion.  as Chicane had suggested, it could just be a tweak of morning A times to shorten that last A time of the day that will help you a lot.

we went to a 4 hour easy really early on - although we weren't ready for A time that long, we just did an adjusted easy that looked more like AEAS until they were able to catch up on the A time and fall into EAS. 

how do they do with feeds? do they seem hungry at E time?  do they take a big feed?  if you think you can stretch them to 4 hours to get better feds, with twins i totally recommend it as feeding takes an enormous amount of time!   

Finally, why are you giving them cereal? Was this advised by your doctor? The current advise from World Health Organisation and various Peadiatric associations is to start 'solid' food after 6 months. Prior to that LOs should be getting all of their food from milk feeds (BF or formula) there is no need to start the on cereals just yet. If you want more info on this then visit the Solids board. Also, the FAQ section of all the boards have tons of very helpful info.

for us, our LOs were hungry - not being sustained on milk alone for 4 hours at 4mos3wks and we had a very pratical paed who said go ahead with cereal/solids so we did.  i think everyone has a different perspective on this and if they are doing well on cereal and it is filling their little bellies and holding them longer, go for it.  we were stressing so much because LOs weren't content on the 8+ oz they were getting every 4 hours and as a result had begun waking out of hunger in the night after sleeping through for weeks - we added cereal and then veg and they did beautifully after that. 

let me know what i can do to help you - we are all here to support you!  i am not familiar with the other technique you are using - what is Babywise?  does it compliment BW?

hang in there, you are in the right place.