Dropping the night feed with twins - when and how did you do it??

[twinnies26]

My ID girls are 12 weeks old (6weeks corrected) and really are contented and calm little babies - We never have problems trying to settle them, they feed and then sleep with no problems - the only problem for us at the moment is that i can't seem to get them to drop the 3am feed, I even find it hard to stretch them during the night to 4am.I have only slept for more than 3hours in a row 4 times (as my sister and DH did the feeds) since they were born and the lack of sleep is starting to take it's toll!

The babies are combined fed - bf and bottle fed, breast milk all day and breast at night with formula top up. I've read many books re feeding strategies (including Gina Ford twins) but at the moment nothing seems to make a difference!

What did you do? or did yours just naturally drop it one day?

Mine did have a low birth weight - 3lbs 6 each and DT1 dropped to 2lbs 9 so i realise they are probably still playing catch up with weight. That being said i'm sure they are well over 9lbs by now,not been weighed in two weeks but at last check up they were 8lbs 3 and 7lbs 9. On average they have both put on 9oz every week since they have been born so they are now healthy tubby babies.

Maybe i'm just being a little impatient with my little girls and time will sort it all out - but any advise and words of wisdom are welcome!

Twelve weeks is far too early to start going all through the night in my opinion. They have very small tummies and just can't fill them enough to last that long. I would start thinking about sleep training at 6-8 mths when they are eating three good meals a day and they are more capable of joining up the different sections of sleep without needing for a feed. But even six months is very early to be sleeping through

My singleton was 9lbs when he was born and didn't sleep through until he was 10 months, despite packing away more food than his brothers! It is a 'Western' phenomenom that babies should sleep throguh, but it is not what they are designed to do

This is a great article from a fab website:
www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html

www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html

Link above works!

I went with them dropping it naturally. We had a big difference between birth weights (3 and a half pounds) so didn't try and keep them on the same feeding schedule, the smaller one had an extra bottle a day until 5-6 months. Which was grim, took up so much time.

DT1 started skipping his feed in the middle of the night around 5 weeks, so was going 10pm to 5-6 am fairly reliably from then on. He was over 9 lb at birth though (11 lb at 5 weeks). His sister followed around 8 weeks (around 10 lb). They were born at 38 weeks, which must impact on it. I think a lot of factors come in, weight being one of them. I was expressing and mixed FF at this stage.

I know the lack of sleep must be wearing you down. It's tough and you have my sympathy. We fed both about 10 pm and put them down. I fed the first one to wake, DH the other, which were usually different times as DS could go for much longer between feeds. I then fed DD if she woke again. I know a lot of people prefer to wake the other twin when one wakes but we didn't because of the size difference. It did allow us to be guided by them and although that wasn't the reasoning behind it, got us more sleep more quickly. We'd not have known DS was ready to drop the night feed if we'd been waking him to feed with his sister. I'm not suggesting this as a way to go as obviously lots more feeds!

I'm not sure I've a lot of advice as such but thought some experiences might be helpful. Hang on in there.

No real advice here other rhan I wouldnt force at this age,but do not rely on weight either, Babies are just so different from each other, sond need mord food than others, fof somd if may be more of a comfort thing.
In my case dd1 dropped all night feeds at three months, sleeping 12 hours straight every night and continued to do so until she was a todfler when a new phase of not going to sleep started ... Dd2 had one night feed til about 18 months when she started waking up just for the fun if it!!!

Just to say, di not get hung up too much about age or weight (so to avoid disapointment) I still wouldnt push it at this stage, though. It is horrible having so many broken nights but they probably still need those feeds.

Hello - mine dropped their night feeds at 3 months and then picked them back up with a vengeance at 5 months - I was feeding nearly hourly at one point. My body adjusted to the broken sleep and I functioned ok although I was tired. I felt better when I adjusted my expectations and accepted I would be getting up in the night. I found BFing at night helped as the combination of food and comfort got them back to sleep quickly. We're at 8.5 months now and still feeding through the night. Hope you feel better soon - the sleep deprivation can make you feel awful.

I let mine drop it naturally, it just makes it so much easier to go at their pace.

Just my opinion, but I also think you have to be baby led at that age - trying to make them sleep or go longer without a feed is a bit premature at 12 weeks! I had b/g twins although they were early (so very little born - smaller than your babies) so I was happy to feed them whenever they wanted so they'd catch up. Twin 2 (boy) dropped his feed about 7 months from memory - we still tried to wake him when Twin 1 (girl) woke for a feed (I was b/f) but he just wasn't interested and fell asleep immediately. We didn't try waking him after that. Twin 1 dropped the feed at 11 months when I stopped breast feeding - I offered her water in a bottle which she took the first night but refused it the 2nd night and then slept through after that.

I think the sleep deprivation is a killer - but as time goes on, you'll get used to it. I think at about 4 or 5 months, my twins naturally fell into a day time routine where they slept for 2 hours at a set time later on in the monrning - I'd put them down for their nap and try to have an hour or so myself.

Good luck!

Yes, I used to go back to bed for the morning nap! Essential in my opinion!

They have a massie growth spurt somewhere between 4-5 months so definitely not before then. But they also have another around 6 mths about when u start weaning so don't expect miracles from food either as they don't tend to eat much at this point, t's still all about the milk until much later

Ladies thank you for all the advise and sorry for my late response - i guess i just need to be patient and let the little girls take their time! I guess i keep comparing them to my best friends singleton who is 4 days older and sleeps from 11pm-7am! Every baby is different so i should just go with it. . . . .that being said my DT1 has slept twice from 11 - 5am now!