Routine for twins - please can you help?!

[Clodpole]

Hi. I'm new to these boards and am hoping that someone who has been there might be able to offer some advice. I am Mum to 8 weeks old twins. We are currently on a 4 hour feeding schedule and the boys are taking 5oz each feed (and 7oz around bath time - split feed). We tried Dreamfeed at 11pm one night and it unsettled them for the rest of the night. Maybe I was doing something wrong??

The boys are doing well and are generally contented babies but the feeding is causing me some problems. I'm clueless so require some advice, please!!

Currently I am loosely following BW EASY but finding that it doesn't quite fit to a 4 hour schedule (I think the boys might be too young for the 'A' part. )

I've got hold of a sample 3.5 hour schedul but am thinking whether its a good idea to put them back to 3.5 hour feeds when they are quite happy on 4 hourlys.

The main issue I have is that the boys are waking early for their 4am and 8am feeds. I think this is because during the night we feed, settle and put them down to sleep...and they're not used to/ capable of!(!!) sleeping more than 2 hours at a stretch.

Thank you to anyone who has read this far. Can anyone please advise. Also, how do I cluster bottle feed bearing in mind the boys are taking? Sorry to sound like a complete dummy but I'm completely in the dark here! Any guidance would be most gratefully received. If someone has some EASY notes for 3.5 hours with amounts in oz that they have and could copy and paste I would be really gratefulThank you xxx

[Lolly]

Hi and welcome to the boards! I'll try and answer your questions but have no experience with twins so may ask for a bit of twin help!

Sounds like you are doing really well with them!

They are technically too young for a 4 hour EASY but formula babies do often go to a 4 hour feeding routine before breastfed babies. If they are content on 4 hour feeds you can leave it, but you will have to do a different EASY until their A time catches up in a couple of months. Mine went to 4 hour feeds around 12 weeks so we did EASAESAE or some variation until they caught up. It works, you just need to watch that you don't feed to sleep when E comes right before S.

The dreamfeed can take a while to get used to but some babies don't dreamfeed well (I have two like that!) so you can either try for week and see if it gets better or leave it and maybe try again when they are a bit older.

Cluster feeding you are already doing! Splitting the feed around bathtime is clustering as they are taking more with the two feeds close together than they would at just one bedtime feed. Are they draining their bottles? If they are you need to add another oz into the bottle so they can stop because they are full and not just because the bottle is empty.

If you have a look at this link http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164253.0 you will find some examples of EASY routines, maybe look at the 4-6 month link to fine some 3.5 hour EASYs

Does that help?

Laura

[rugbykaf]

Hi there,

If u get chance at all do u want to post your typical 24hr EASY and I'll see if I can dig out my notes from when my two were that age?

Also, were they premature at all? Mine were only 3 weeks early but I think it makes a lot of difference in the early days.

Kath xxx