Sleep and EASY support for twins and multiples

[babybarr]

Do you only go to yours if they actually cry in the night? Think I go too early? Will post properly tomorrow.

Welcome Izzy.

[izabellabhz]

Morning all it's 06:00 and girls woke up.... it's impossible to make them sleep till 07:00, both were crying so I feed them. Is it right? Should I feed them again at 07:00?

[babybarr]

Izzy have you got a specific thread for help for you?  Just thinking we can try and be more specific for you on there?

What time did they go to bed and did they sleep through till 6am?!

[nippo]

Welcome Izzy and Kayla, it's lovely to have more twin mummies on here.

Izzy, as babybarr said, it would be best to start a new thread outlying your problem and a rough idea of a typical day. When they are 3 months it is probably a bit early to have a proper routine.

Waking up at 6am sounds like a great time - not every baby has a wake time of 7am. Mine wake at 6am and although in the beginning I thought they should get up at 7, I quickly realised that they would always get up at 6 even if I put them down later.

They have their own little pattern that they follow...

The early months are hard, but it does get easier even though it doesn't feel that way right now.

[Uglybethy]

Yes welcome izzy I'm waiting for your new thread too.. I think if you post in the EASY forum you will get a lot more response from singleton mummies as well as us multiples mummies.

In the meant time can you tell us whether they were born to full term? What weight were they born at and what they are weighing now?

It looks like you are doing mixed breast and formula feeding... Can you clarify this for us please?

And I agree with previous posters you might have to do a 6-6 day with cluster feeds as well as a dream feed to begin to eliminate the 2-3am feed. Although according to your EASY it looks as if that may have already gone?

I think you are doing an amazing job to even have them on any kind of routine.. Well done you!

I was surrounded by mothers of singletons telling me not to wake them to feed them, feed them on demand etc, but unfortunately as mine were under 6lbs I had to wake them 3hourly (just like you are doing) because at that weight they would just sleep all the time (ironic isn't it!). And because they were so little and sleepy they wouldn't feed very efficiently either.

Sending you strength to get through for now...

[babybarr]

Ooh we could talk weights!
H was 5lbs 10oz and j 4lbs 15oz. Now they're whoppers!  My friends singleton weighed more than both mine together weighing in at 11lbs 7oz!!

[Uglybethy]

Holy smokes 11.7lbs!!! Ouch!

Mine were 5.4lbs and 5.10lbs respectively. So P was first out and was the smallest and B was second and because she was bigger than P I had a really hard time getting her down into the birth canal. Apparently it's usually the other way around, the first baby usually weighs more which makes for an easier transition for the second baby. Anyway mine were about an hour apart..one around 10pm and one at 11... If they'd have come an hour later they might have been born on different days!

Just to update on the 2-1 transition well P ended up having a really difficult night after the day with one nap. Lots of night wakings and the following day she definitely needed two naps again. So I also napped b twice for the sake of synchronisation. And they've both asked for two naps ever since. So I'm not pushing the transition. I'm just taking one day at a time with it and hoping they stay with two naps until they're really ready to handle one.

[babybarr]

Well if they need 2 naps they do!

Mine were born by elective csection. H should've been born second as was twin 2 the whole way through but they pulled him out first and he became twin 1. He's definitely more dominant though!

[kayra]

wow an hour apart, that's something! mine are 1minute apart Laura thats funny that the more dominant one ended up being twin1.
11lbs?!?! gosh! mine were 5.3 and 5.1lbs

i have a question for you guys, are your twins in synch, if so when did you start that and how? is it too early at under 2 weeks? I dont mind doing the demand thing during the day but nights are a killer. did anyone else do bf and formula supplement, i'm not sure if thats adding to the confusion, all i know is that we're tired....

[Uglybethy]

Kayra I feel your pain!
I synchronised mine from the start. And I did bf and formula supplementation. Doing both is so so utterly exhausting but I was determined for them to have some breast milk.
 In hindsight I would have done breast feeding in the day time and formula during the night but at the time I did a breast feed and a formula feed both day and night so I never got a break. I did all the feeds. Sounds like you are doing similar....
As mine were feeding three hourly (well I had to wake them three hourly on drs advice) I would wake them both and chAngr them then tandem feed them then top them up with formula then put them in the bouncy chair or sling for ten mins then swaddle them, dim the room and let them sleep for 1.5 hours then repeat!
I did day time sleep in swing and night time sleep in co sleeper (we transitioned to crib at twelve weeks).

[Uglybethy]

Oh and I also pumped when they were in their swings.
Do you ultimately want to exclusively breast feed or you want to continue mixed feeding??

[kayra]

wow Beth that does sound exhausting! I have my parents helping me, obviously they can't bf but they're helping with the bottle and changing etc but it does mean we're all exhausted. DH helps on the weekends but we're thinking of putting him on duty during the week as of 6 am too
If I could I'd want to exclusively bf but I'm doubtful I'm ever going to have enough milk for that..it just doesn't seem enough. At first I thought it was just them not getting it but when I pump I'm only getting about 50cc's which is pretty much the feed for 1 baby. I know the pump doesn't reveal all but I don't think there's that much more in the breast. In a sense what you say about just bottle at night appeals but surely that would decrease the milk supply wouldn't it? How long did you bf and supplement, was there a point at which you just went to formula? I'm also pumping to keep the stimulation happening and also to get all the milk out, b/c they aren't really draining a breast when they suck.
Lena is actually on a pretty good routine, mostly 3-3.5 hourly, Mika tends to be harder to settle so he can easily end up missing a nap in the cycle or just snack eating and snack napping so to speak. So ideally I'd want to synch him onto her schedule. I have twin feeding pillow but it is much pleasanter to feed them individually, I'd be happy with a half hour difference or so but a 1-2hr difference is just awful!

[Uglybethy]

If you want to exclusively breast feed you are right I would not do formula only at night... They need to be at breast as much as possible.
I was able to bf about three quarters if their needs and we made it to six months like that. I think I could have increased my supply if I'd had breast fed them more rather than pumping so much. If I could do it all again I would do e(bf)ae(bf)s... Not bf to sleep but definitely eaes rather than eas... If that makes sense.
And then at night just eseses......
Might be worth posting on the breast feeding forum about low milk supply to get some more detailed advice though.
It's so frustrating trying to pump milk whilst watching your babies when all you want to do is feed them!
Re the schedules... They are similar weights so should be fine on similar schedules.... Bw actually recommends a thirty minute difference between both babies which would suit your needs to feed individually I think so it's just a matter of doing to one what you've just done to the other only thirty minutes later...
It's going to hurt though.... The thought if wAking and feeding the second baby at night when your body is screaming for sleep is utter torture but it's not for long... The 2/3am feed will soon be gone you've just got to hang in there...
I'm in my phone right now so sorry for any typos
Sending you so many hugs for these first few weeks and months!

[kayra]

thanks Beth!
I just pumped after they fed-they both bob off after 30minutes and I assumed they just got tired-turns out they are emptying the breast as I pumped practically nothing! I was quite surprised as they don't suck that vigourously! So they bf but then take practically a whole feed in formula or pumped milk...the little guzzlers.

I do have a thread going on in BF, I'm not sure there's much else I can do to increase my supply... I don't think they're getting even half their need from me at the moment
Right now there's no real A in our Easy, the E takes so long it's basically ESES unless they're taking a long time to settle..
I think I can't bring myself to wake L if M wakes first, she's such a good sleeper I don't want to upset that..
Anyway, don't want to turn this into a BF thread I just need to hang in there!

[4isstillnighttime]

Hi, sorry to be late here, was on holiday....but kayra I exclusively BF my twins and I never pumped. I just don't get any milk out when I do. One time I'd been pumping for 20 mins and got about 20ml, then Z wanted a feed so I put her on the same breast and she took a full feed. I'll go and find your BF thread but I am a massive believer that if you want to increase your milk supply it's better to use a baby than the pump. This meant I was BFing almost constantly in the early days but after about 6 weeks it got much better.

Having said which, I don't think exclusively BFing is as important as they say - any breast milk is good but if mixed feeding works better for you as a family then that's the best for you!