Sleep and EASY support for twins and multiples

[kayra]

oh that's adorable!!! they have beautiful heads! what was their birthweight?

[babybarr]

Similar to your two, H was 5lbs 10 and J 4lbs 15.

[babybarr]

Just a rant about being stopped every 5mins for people to ask the same questions 'oh are they identical' 'do you have twins in your family' and to say the same things 'double trouble' 'you've got your hands full'

It takes me so long to get round the supermarket now.

Feel free to add some more well known twin comments!

[kayra]

I hear you laura and i havent even been out with them yet but when i was pregnant i hated the 'do yiu have twins in the family' question! I wasnt about to tell strangers that we'd done IUI, luckily DH's grandfather was a twin so id just say that, noone questioned the faulty biology not looking forward to more of it for the rest of our lives

[babybarr]

I've had strangers ask me if they're natural or IVF. Can you believe it?  It's the staring as well which is tiring after a while.

[Nat4584]

Hi. I've just joined the group so hello! I gave birth to twins 6 weeks ago and they were 35 weeks gestation. After a stint in NICU (2.5 weeks and 3.5 weeks) both babies are now home. Both are still quite low weights, 2.9kgs and 2.5kgs.

I've bought the BW books and really like the approach so really want to start introducing the method. As above my twins are now 6 weeks old (1.5weekd adjusted age) - is it too soon? They're roughly on a 3 hour schedule but the timings vary massively! I'm feeling very disorganized.

Does anyone else have experience implementing BW with twins, if so, any tips please or guidelines on how to proceed.

Also, one of my twins feeds quickly (8-15 mins) whilst the other can take 45mins plus and I'll still need to top up with a bottle. I'm breast feeding and expressing.

The twin who feeds for a long time also gets very overtired (I think...I see much more than 3 yawns before I can start getting him down), do much so that he can go with no sleep for an afternoon which cleRly stresses him out - I'm not sure what I'm meant to do as he needs the feed to increase his weight?!

Thanks in advance for any guidance!! X

[kayra]

Hi Nat and congratulations!! We're just 3 weeks behind you but it seems normally we' be lees than a week apart
Mine are 3w old born at 37w.
Sorry you had to be in the NIcu but glad to hear its all behind you now.
Mine are on a 3 or 3.5 hr cycle, sometimes we'll even have a 4hr stretch! But i dont watch for yawns really? B/c they stay awake for such a short time by the time they're changed and fed we just swaddle them
And start to settle them. Having said that your faster might be able
Do some a time, but if you can i'd try starting to
Settle him about 45min after hes woken up.
Looking forward to getting to know you guys more!

[Nat4584]

Hi Kayra. Thanks for replying so quickly. Big congrats to you too! Sure your household has been turned upside down much like mine 😳☺️

I'm looking forward to getting more tips and tricks from you all. X

[babybarr]

Hi Nat and welcome.

What sort of twins have you got?  Have you got any other children?

Like Kayra said at that age once they're fed and changed it's back for more sleep.  I think you can only do what you can do and remember at this age accidental parenting doesn't happen.  They don't start having "props" until 12weeks plus.  My boys slept in their swings cos it was easier and quicker to begin with.

[kayra]

sorry for all the typos, was on my phone.
yes we're in upheaval My parents have moved in for these first 6 weeks too-thankfully-but it makes a full house

Maybe you could put the quick feeder into a swing once he's done, he'll have his A time there and then fall asleep hopefully. The slower one I'd say just change feed and swaddle for sleep. I realise now that with my first son I wasn't doing the swaddle properly but with these guys we've now got the hang of it and it makes it SO much easier to settle them.

[Uglybethy]

Hi nat and welcome to the group!
Congratulations on your precious precious bundles of joy
Looking forward to supporting you as much as you need....
Are you tandem feeding them or is there a stagger?
I agree with getting the hang of swaddling them for now. So up, feed, ten-thirty mins in swing then swaddle and down for 1.5hra nap (3hourly is roughly 1.5up 1.5down). You are right though, to top up the hungrier baby, as it will keep your supply up and help them to sleep longer, so they will feed better when they wake up etc....

[kayra]

so i've been browsing the Easy board re.routines, naps, cluster feeds, df etc. i'm thinking that around 4-6 weeks i might try the cluster and df-which would include me waking them probably since cluster feeding is every 2 hrs, so anyway one question I have is has any of you tried that with your twins? My other question is that such a routine seems to need a pretty stable 3hr'ly routine, we vary on a 3, 3.5, 4 even 4.5 hr routine...so their naps aren't always 1.5hr, sometimes 1 sometimes 2.5hrs, so should I be waking them if they nap long?? I hate to and often they do that longer nap b/c they didn't nap properly the previous cycle or sthg. I don't expect to be on a proper routine for a couple more weeks but on the other hand don't want to be messing things up now making it harder to sort things out later..what do you think?

We've had a good day today i got a 5.5-6hr chunk of sleep last night-thanks to my parents doing one of the night feeds with just bottles-and I've felt so good all day, it truly makes such a difference!

How's everyone else doing?
xx

[Uglybethy]

In my experience with my babies, the answer to your queries about cluster feeding, dream feeding and waking to feed are yes, yes and yes.
Yes I cluster fed and dream fed to eliminate the 2/3am feed. It may seem like it's not worth it as they seem to take so little when fed so often but it adds up to more day time intake than with regular 3-4 hourly feeds over 24 hours. And yes this is when I resigned myself to having to wake them up from naps. It is soooooo painful to do that but you'll find that they sleep more consistently well once you start to do that.
I agree that if you can be on top of it now it will prevent any AP needing to be corrected later on!
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.... You are doing an awesome job even thinking about this now. I am sending you strength in your conviction with the choices you make as well as I had a really hard time trying to convince even my husband that it was the right thing to do. I read so many chapters from books out loud to people around me to get them on board with sleep training.,., truly infuriating that the lazy b#st%rds wouldn't read even one chapter of any twin or sleep related books.
Fantastic news about the chunk of sleep last night. It really makes a difference doesn't it?! Should help with your supply too )

[kayra]

thanks for that Beth! so when did you start doing all that with them? when did they drop the 2/3 feed? And whats the max amount i should let them nap in that case? or should i think of it in terms of keeping a 3hr cycle so if they settle quickly it could be a 2hr nap or if they fuss it could end up just being 45min one?

i just realised that according to tracys cluster feeding routine they'd have 5 feeds between 1-11pm-albeit not full feeds whereas today these guys have had 3 feeds in that time frame...

What is it about men, eh? My DH will spend ages reading news, technology updates, any inconsequential info but will he read anything on parenting...? of course not

[babybarr]

Kayra you sound like you're doing amazingly well. I guess you need to stick to 3hr routine.

Things here aren't great