Getting 9 week old twins to go longer between night feeds?

[victoriagirl]

My twins are 9weeks old (but were 4 weeks early)and do sleep well, but I am wondering if I should start steering them into more of a routine. They are bottle fed and currently feed every 3 hours day and night, and do sleep well in between. I keep looking at the Gina Ford twin routine, but it baffles me a bit, particularly as it focuses on breast feeding rather than bottle feeding. So I wondered how other people got theirs to sleep longer, or will it happen naturally when they are ready? At the moment, we wake the second one in the night after the first has fed, but am now wondering how they will sleep through the night, as one is always going to wake up wanting feeding. I would value hearing what other people did.

[VictorianSqualor]

Tbh, I know nothing about twins but I do know that babies only sleep as long as they physically can.
A baby's stomach is tiny and therefore needs regular topping up so they will continue to wake up for quite a while yet.

[hattyyellow]

I found Gina Ford useful, we didn't leave them to cry but just followed her timings, adding in feeds and sleeps as and when necessary. I breast and bottle fed, and found both fitted in.

We started about 9 weeks and it worked brilliantly, although you have to keep putting them down at the same times each day until it clicks into place.

She also does a dream feed where you wake the babies at about 10.30/11pm for an extra feed and that helped ours have a longer spell of sleep in the night - which by 9 weeks we really needed!

I don't think anyone can understand how exhausting tiny twins/nights are until you've had them!

With any question about routine, you will always get people coming down strongly on both sides. I think you have to do what works best for you. I was absolutely exhausted by the time my girls were 9 weeks and had no help at all, so I needed some kind of structure to the day and to get them to sleep a little more at night.

I'd have a go at Gina and just add in extra feeds/move things around a bit if you need to.

[ChopsTheDuck]

I really wouldn't go down that route. They are still so small, they are waking up because they NEED to feed. Can you find other ways of dealing with it? If you do a feed each, and go to sleep after the late evening feed, you should get 6 hours straight each.

Carry on with feeding them both at the same time if you can, but it jsut doesnt always work out that way. I know it can be absolutely exhausting beign up all night and then having to care for two babies. Do you have anyone who can help during the day so you can catch up?

Focus on getting through it, it will pass - the more you feed them the bigger they will get and evenutally they won't need to feed so frequently.

[ChopsTheDuck]

I did the night feed. It helped while they were very small, but it was very difficult to drop once they got in the habit.

[Lulumama]

they are really only 5 weeks old, which is tiny and too soon to expect 4 hour or more gaps at night

they have teeny tiny stomachs that need filling really quite often

i would throw out the books and let your babies guide you.

if one feeds at a time, then oyu do one feed, and go back to sleep, and then DH feed the second twin ? that way you both get some more sleep

and sleep in the day

[hattyyellow]

Didn't realise they were 5 weeks adjusted age, that is still the age of chaos. If you feel a routine would help you in the next few months then go for it.

I didn't have any problems dropping the night feed. Just stopped it one night, waited with baited breath and they slept fine.

I found the books useful. Like most people I didn't follow them to the letter, but just found it useful to have some guidance - a bit like mumsnet really! I had never had babies before, knew no one with babies (was the first one of my friends to have children), had not grown up around babies or ever handled one.

I had not got an inkling how often they should be fed/why they were crying - the whole "follow your instinct" thing just didn't happen for me, even though I loved them hugely and was delighted that they had arrived. Trying to "naturally" respond to two babies needs at once was beyond me.

I posted a similar post on a website when my girls were about 8 weeks and some people advised me to ignore the books and ignore routines.

But for me a book was like having a friendly aunt, that could just give me bits of advice and I could choose which bits I took. And having both babies sleep at the same time every day and wake up refreshed and happy was a godsend.

I never had to leave them to cry to settle into the routine, instead I just gently persevered with putting them down at the same time each day for their naps. And they are now two lovely, happy, lively little girls

[glamourbadger]

I loosely followed Gina Ford's routines. Would suggest just looking at her summary of timings for feeds and sleeps. The detailed routines are completely bamboozling, the first time I read them I cried as it is not humanly possible to follow with twins.

I also found this book helpful. It's written by a nanny and a mums of twins - is like a more relaxed version of Gina Ford that doesn't berate you for not having your piece of toast at 7.45am . She also suggests ways to increase the time between night needs.

Five weeks is still very tiny, I seem to remember my wee prem twins needed 3 hourly feeds for at least 3 months. It's a hard fact to accept but you just have to knuckle down and get through it. It will slowly get easier and as their tummies get bigger they can go for 4 hours in the night, then longer. Enlist all the help you can, and if you can afford it pay for some.

[victoriagirl]

Thanks or your comments. They are very helpful. I find it hard to know how much to allow for them being slightly early- as people say full-term for twins is 38 weeks, so they were only 2 weeks before this, and they are having their injections and checks etc at the same time as other babies. But you are right- they are still small, which is why we haven't felt it was the right time to start getting them into a routine. We just wanted to make sure we weren't setting ourselves up for difficult times ahead. We do still wake them for their midnight feed. When I look at the routine books, they seem to imply that they can go through the night this young- and some of the babies in my baby group are already going through the night (but we do know we have a long way to go before ours go through the night, but can't help fantasising about them going for 4-5 hours in a stretch!)We think we should start having more of a bed-time routine though, rather than keeping them with us downstairs until their late feed.
Your comments on Gina Ford are helpful- to follow bits of it if/when the time is right. And I am so reassured that I am not the only one that finds the routines she lists bewildering. I will definitely have a look at that web-site you mention glamourbadger as that looks a bit more relevant.
And yes- looking after tiny twins is exhausting isn't it?!! Makes me smile when I stagger into the baby groups with a carry seat on each arm, and all the other mums say 'oh I don't know how you manage with two'. You manage because you don't have much choice!!!

[Nannypep]

Victoriagirl

Go on the TAMBA website. (Twins and Multiple Births) My daughter has 12 wk old twin boys, and finds loads of helpful advice and support on it. You have to pay a fee but she assures me it's well worth it. She follows Gina Ford (not to the letter) and her boys are doing well. I think you need some kind of routine to follow with twins. She finds it helps her to know what they want. I must say, they are very contented lads.

Good luck...you must be doing very well to have got this far.

Lisa constantly questions herself, but the babes are thriving. I'm sure yours are too. The book is very helpful. Lisa has read it. Do you have a Twins Group to go to? That will give you some contact with other mums of twins locally, which must be a support.