Contented Little Baby or Gina Ford for twins

[SwellyBelly]

Hi all

Our ID twins are due in a few weeks and just wondered what experiences / preferences you have regarding contented little baby or Gina Ford.

With our first, i was dead set against Gina Ford, but many have proclaimed her a life saver. On the other hand, we tried the CLB approach, which seemed better for us, which turned out to be an abject failure as we fell into a trap with no routines, feeding on demand, sleeping on the boob etc. - none of which I think I could possibly handle again with one, let alone twins!

Thoughts?

I completely agree with HappyAs.

I also bought GF and got quite annoyed by it - finding it completely rigid and unrealistic. (GF never had children of her own so I find it hard to understand how she can advise mums who BF - especially multiples!)
I also read CLB but didn't find it much help either.

I BF my twins for 13 months - initially on demand but by 4/5 months we had worked out a rough routine of our own. The beauty of it being that we didn't feel tied to anything and could go where we wanted when we wanted. A lot of the time my two slept in the buggy going between one outing and the next.

(I know that GF can work for some people but we hardly saw one of our NCT group who did do GF.)

I think the best advice is to just take it as it comes and enjoy!

I have a friend with twins. They were born at 36 weeks and spent some time in nicu where they were kept to a very rigid routine and she has just continued this with slight modifications at home.

Didn't use anything. I breastfed my babies together every feed pretty much, but other than that I just followed them. We got into mini routines which lasted a week or two, but then another growth spurt or somethng would come along and it all changed. Once my two started weaning onto 3 solid meals a day we got into more of a routine.

We used to do a bedtime routine that was quite set from about 3 months (once they stopped being HORRENDOUS in the evenings!)

Personally I think it's much better to follow the babies than it is to try to force things onto them. They're not robots after all. Imagine if someone had to tell you when to sleep/eat/kick around on the mat (!) when you didn't feel like it!

My best piece of advice which got me through was: EVERYTHING, good or bad, is just a phase and will not last!

If you're keen on following a book, I used "The Baby Book" by Rachel Waddilove - it was like having your granny in the room and was fab. Offered routine advice without being too prescriptive and very sensible. Even though hers was based for one baby, I used it with my twins and it worked fine. I deviated one day and thought I'd try GF method. I ended up with the book in the bin and the most awful day with the twins. PLus, if I'd followed GF my two would've still been having night feeds much later on that she says. As it was they slept through from 12 weeks. I found her routines ridiculous to be honest. However, routine is essential with twins -you just have to find your own.

My biggest tips: Get them to eat/sleep/play together, otherwis life would be a nightmare. I b/f my two until 9months (they had 20mins each, back to back i.e. I'd wake up one boy 20mins later).

Have integrity in your parenting - if you're not a routine sort of person normally, you're not going to find it easy when parenting. Go with your personality. I liked being able to plan my day around when naps were etc but some people don't.

Good luck - twins are fab fun!

I liked the book personally, as my id girls were in special care for 5 wks so were already in an established routine. It was very rigid, so we did modify it slightly, but i have to say in my haze of the early days it was comforting to have something to cling to!! Each to his own of course, some people prefer to go with the flow but in my fuddled early twin mother mode it was a guide rather than a rule book. My girls are now 3, and obviously we dont stick to a rigid routine any longer, but im still strict about meal times being on time as well as bedtimes, and it works for us as a family. Good luck, you will be fine:)