not sure about food amount for our twins.

[levibabies]

HI
I have twin girls who will be 9 months old tomorrow.
Until 7 months of age, we lived in a mediteranean country where they pushed to start solids at 4 months old and then from 6 months old they were supposed to be eating only solids during the day and bottle in the morning and before BT. needless to say this is a load of c*** and we didn`t do that and anyway it didn`t work.
So now we give them a bottle around half an hour after they wake up (we have early waking issues and night wakenings with one of them for about the last month or so) around 7 am on average. then they go without food until about 11 am or 12 noon, before that they will nap for about 30-45 min. Then solids  (fruit with cereal) and usually some formula (if they ate a decent amount of solids they will refuse formula because they are full).
then A until about 2 or 3 pm and nap for about 1.5 hrs. Around 4 pm solids (meat, carbs, veggies)
 Sometimes we give them a yogurth as desert after the solids but I am thinking maybe we should swap that for formula?
After that around 6:30-7 pm formula then bed.

compared to the easy routines I have seen here for that age they eat almost nothing but they won`t eat more and they are gaining weight. The bigger twin is actually at a higher percentile, the smaller one at the 25 th percentile and always has been on the small side. Because of the sleeping issues they have been having lately I am wondering of they aren`t eating enough? But according to the easy routines here babies eat something every 2 hours or even more and that won`t work with them they are not interested in that much food.
Also, I am a little confused about why baby should be fed so often? Shouldn`t the babies settle in at some type of food every 3-4 hours? did I get this all wrong.
I am seriously unsure right now about things would really welcome some advice.
Milestone wise I think they may be lagging a little. both are not crawling yet, not sitting up yet. Fine motor skills and everything else really nice. Have been a little late in turning over. Bigger twin is in my opinion really close to crawling, littler twin always  lagging behind bigger one around 2-3 weeks.
thanks

[Georges' mama]

Am I ever happy to have found this post !!! I too have twins, 7 months. I am also having many of the same issues. The EW are killing me

As for bottles and solids, my girls our taking 4 8oz bottles every 4 hours and are eating solids(not very much) 3x  a day. Usually 1.5h after bottle. I am guessing they don't eat as much due to the 8oz. I am considering cutting the quantity in hopes they will be more interested in food.

I try to keep them on the same schedule which at times throws the routine right off. I am a firm believer in the BW routine, it worked wonders with my 23 month old. However, I find it much more difficult to follow it this time around. My priority is the "same schedule"!!

Here is an idea of my easy today, it's only 10:30 am and it's already a mess....

Baby A

04:30 - EW , got back to sleep with pacifier
05:40- wake
06:15 - E (3oz)
05:40-07:45 A - cranky the whole time , wouldnt eat solids I offered at 07:30
07:45 -S ( 40 min)
09:45 -E(6oz)
10:00-S ( fingers crossed)

Baby B

05:10 Wake
06:15 E (8oz)
07:00 S (45 min)
08:00 offered solids, declined
09:50 E (3oz)
10:00 S

As you can see, this is terrible and all wrong. I am hoping after this nap we can get back on track. On a good day, they eat, play and sleep at the same times. And they usually always finish their bottles. They are both teething and have yet ANOTHER cold.

I don't know if this helps you but maybe it will give you some ideas about liquid / food intake.

How much exactly are your twins eating and drinking? How are you dealing with the EW?

I feel for you. Hope your day looks better then mine 

[Lolly]

levibabies - I think a milk/food routine tweak would probably help your two a bit!

We put my DD (and probably DS, it was a while ago for him ) onto 3 bottles a day from 8 months and it evened out her food and milk intake and meant we could get the night bottle weaned.

A really common 3 bottle routine looks like this

Wake up  - bottle
Solids breakfast (about 1 hour after bottle)
Nap
Solids - lunch
Bottle
Nap
Snack if needed
Solids  - dinner
Bedtime routine and bottle.

My DD was waking around 6.30am at this age then having nap 1 from 9.30 - 11. Lunch was around 11.30/12, pre-nap bottle around 1.30/2 and then pm nap from about 2-3.30. Dinner was at 5pm and then bedtime routine started around 6/6.30 to hopefully be asleep for 7pm.

Remember too that milk is more important than solids until they are 1 year old so if you space food and milk out a bit better it should help them to not over eat the solids at lunchtime and then they would probalby take a better bottle. I think you need to put in some solids after their first bottle - going from a bottle at 7am to lunchtime without anything is quite a long time for a 9 month old.

What do you think?

Laura