Hey guys,
Just a thought - only because this is what I had to do with E - she needed a longer first A and a full nap was good after that. We never got a good nap after a reduced A time (even following a capped first nap) so we went for a long morning nap and a short afternoon CN instead. I don't wish to suggest you move things around suddenly without trying Laura's suggestions first, but I just wonder if this pattern might suit your LOs better.
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I'm just getting so sad about it, we are all so tired and miserable, my boobs hurt and I feel like a rotten mummy. I don't want to go back to work at all, I don't want to stop BFing, I don't want to give them formula. But I have to do all of these things and it's breaking my heart, esp as I'm so tired all the time. Pathetic!
Not at all pathetic honey, and you are not a rotten mummy - you are managing incredibly well!!
I do think that although you want to reduce day milk feeds due to heading back to work, and this reverse cycling can work from a feeding point of view, this wil only work if you are happy to accept lots of night feeds instead. It may not be the best thing overall for you and your LOs. I don't wish to tell you what to do as this is such a personal decision, but if I were you, I'd probably want to work more towards getting more milk into them in the daytime (even if this means using formula as well as BM) and try and help us all get some more sleep.
This is easy for me to say as E and I couldn't work out the feeding thing so only managed 7 weeks - 8.5months of BFing twins sounds like incredible work to me
I do remember how awful it felt giving formula and bottles though so would never push you to try it if it makes you unhappy.
I have wondered that about the feeds. The health visitor suggested solids before milk but tbh she is a little weird
This is a little odd. The usual "food is for fun until one" advice means that milk is suggested before solids. This is so that they take more milk rather than filling up on less nutritious solids, but also so that with BLW they are not "too hungry" when you offer finger foods. If you are following BLW it is likely that your LOs will take what they need from solids but they could still eat more than they need at this stage and take less milk in the day, leaving them more hungry at night and more prone to waking.
Are you heading back to work soon honey? Remember that there is a lot of change in the next couple of months. BLW babies often need more milk feeds a little later as they are taking in less from the solids. In the next couple of months they may drop one or two day feeds naturally anyway. E was on four day feeds plus a DF at 8.5 months, but had dropped the DF at 10 months and went to 3 day feeds a little after that. If you're not back at work too soon, you may be able to keep going and let things change naturally while you work on getting those night feeds down a bit and getting you all some more sleep.
If you are heading back quite soon, and you want to try and get rid of the night feeds too (you may choose to keep them) then we can come up with a plan.
((Hugs))
