The under/over/around 1 Twins thread for support, tips on how to survive and enjoy twin parenthood!

[DreamingOfPeace]

BB3: dcda non id girls Sept 2011 (plus ds)
TwelveLeggedWalk: DCDA DD and DS 14.09.11 (PFBs)
Tiggersreturn twin boys (?!) (plus ds age 5)
Wherearemyearplugs twins (plus ds)
Ceeveebee b/g twins 21.11.11, PFBs
minesapintofwine: non-id boys 02/02/2012. dcs 1&2/pfb on good days.
ClaireMarathonFeeder: Boy/girl twins born 08/02/2012, no3&4, dd1 (2001) and dd2 (2004)
rednellie nonID boys 13.03.2012 + DD 03.02.10
Lemele: id boys (plus ds)
Skitoo : DCDA Non ID Boys, 01.04.12 DC 1&2
DreamingofPeace: dcda non id boys, 4.4.12 DC 2&3 (DD Sept 2010)
beyoglu: dcda non id girls 21.4.12
Bigboobsatlast ID twin boys 30.04.12 DC #2&3 (DD Feb 2010)
Scollister mcda girls 3.5.12 plus DD age 4
Twin2makes4 mcda girls plus 2 ds,age 8 & 4

Again, sorry for mistakes, doing this from my phone!

Settle in ladies :)

[rednellie]

Hello all!

Witching hour seems to be a common thing. My DD who is 2 and a half still goes a bit doolally from 4 to 6pm.

Enjoying being home, but not really resting that much. My Dad went in last week for his new knee so been driving Mum et al back and forth to the hospital (2 hr round trip) and then DH's parents have been down (for those who've heard me moan before, yes MIL did manage to talk about my nipples/bf/titties at least 20 times in the space of 5 mins). So, not totally relaxing, but nice to have laundry done and food.

Anyway, waves to all. And congrats baileys on your progress!

[ClaireMarathonFeeder]

We had the witching hour too!! It's a lot better now, since about 14 weeks, but we still spend the last hour before bedtime in tears (the twins snd occasionally me too). Putting them to bed earlier hasn't helped either.

Dtg especially who used to be so good at going to sleep on her own in her bouncy chair, playmat or basket, seems to have forgotten all about it . She doesn't take a dummy, or bottle and has stopped sucking her thumb too. How on earth did it all happen???

[DreamingOfPeace]

Gah Claire, DT1 is exactly the same- no dummy, bottle or thumb sucking and can't self settle. ????? possibly maybe cows milk protein intolerance for DT2- he's been having baby porridge (which is made with 55% fortfied milk according to ingredient list) and we've been having loads of wind, puking and screaming til 10pm again, no dairy for me for 2-3 days and only banana etc for him and miles better today. Fx for the end of the witching hour all round, but i think one of mine was hungry and one in pain, so definitely worth checking all possible options twin2

Do they not kick them out after 5 days red? Hope his op went well and really helps him. They can be so good! Laundry done always a bonus, shame its not generally restful though. MIL are sent to try us, you did well not to wallop her with your feeding cushion after all those comments in 5 seconds flat.

I had a lovely, lovely morning swimming with my PFB DD while Dh drove the babies round to make them sleep so I could be away. An expensive option but it was absolutely lashing so buggy would have been grim. We even managed a cafe lunch afterwards. So a fab day for me. DT1 just been up for the first time so I'm diving for shower and bed now.

[DreamingOfPeace]

Meant 5 minutes red but you get my point

[BB3]

Witching hour? I am sure I have called it much worse things in the past few weeks 6.30-7.30 is my nemesis!!!

Twelve - yes oly a sprint so 750k swim in the sea, 20k ride and 5k run but I did it faster than I expected (wanted to get in under 2 hours and managed 1.44 so was really pleased) but have had a week off and now know I need to start training again if I am going to be able to improve my fitness. Am doing another one next year so that I can get round it without feeling like I am going to die!!!

I wouldn't worry about cushions for walking, babies are made to bounce a bit so they will be fine. I think edie is almost ready to walk, she likes to be walked one handed everywhere but is very straight legged! Ayse has just mastered standing up alone (from sitting position) and is just demanding praise for that!

Red - your stories about MIL make me chuckle, I am sure mine does but as she says it in a different language I chose to ignore it! :)

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

'Only' a 20k ride and 5k run.

We used to have the witching hour, I found nudity (them, not me) helped, plus a bath time routine. Or failing that sling and crap tv (me, not them).

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

twin2 I hope everything is ok? Anything specific you want to chat about here? (chances are one of us will have been there!)

And judging from the multicoloured bruises on both my babies' foreheads as they work on pulling up, I'm definitely not trying to catch them on cushions! (they seem to get their worst injuries in their cots anyhow!)

[Teds77]

Hello twin mums - hopefully some of you remember me from the ante-natal thread. Am just starting to emerge from the haze of the first few weeks - my gorgeous boy-girl twins are now five and a half weeks old!

I will try to get to know everyone but wondered whether you might be able to offer some help and advice in the mean time...

We're trying to get a routine in place and during the day we do okay. However, does anyone have suggestions for evening? There seems to be lots of bath/bottle/bed on things I have read but is there an option for lazy mums who don't want to do baths every night? Also, we keep the twins downstairs with us in the evening - when did people start to shift them upstairs after their evening feed? And are there any tips if you don't want to feed the babies to sleep or if feeding to sleep doesn't work? Also, any tips on timings for evening feeds so that the feeds in the middle of the night work ok?

On feeding we have managed (after tongue-tie snip) to get both twins breastfeeding fine but I feel like I only just have enough food for both of them. I do try to express everyday (as this means I can have a feed off/do a quick feed if we're having 'meltdown') but am only getting very small amounts now that both twins are fully breastfed. Is this to be expected? Is there anything I can do to increase supply?

Sorry, lots of questions but any advice appreciated x.

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

Hey Teds, congratulations!

I'm not an expert on bf by any lengths, so you might be better off asking on the bf boards, but I would say if you are worried about supply just feed, feed, and feed some more! Then pump if you can!

Did they have some bottle feeds, or still do? I found with my two that mixed feeding meant my supply never properly caught up with demand, so I always had to give some formula. That's not an all-bad thing, but if you want to ebf then you need to be aware of it.

I certainly wouldn't worry about evening routines at this stage - we only started baths every night when they were 4-5 months old, and had been home 3 months plus. Prior to that point we used a combination of slings, moses baskets in the living room, and baby attached to boob for evening marathon feed!

I'd just try and take things really gradually - when you notice them starting to stay down for a period of time after a late evening feed (9 or 10ish), then pop them down upstairs. Gradually that time will creep forward, and/or they'll start sleeping more soundly in the couple of hours before that point so you can think about putting them to bed 7 or 8 ish after feeding them, then going back for a dream feed later. I wouldn't waste time trying settle two babies who want to be near you upstairs at the moment, it's not a fun way of spending your evening!

If you want some idea of realistic sleep routines (ignore all the mad 'Drink orange juice at 7.47 precisely' bits) then Gina Ford's twin's book has some useful information then throw away the book
Hope that helps a little!

[ClaireMarathonFeeder]

twin2 sorry to hear you are having a tough time, you are most definitely not alone, come back and moan away when you manage!

red I hear you about mils, I'm facing another week with her when we move as we need the help. I am dreading it already.

BB3 I'm in awe, you are amazing, I am so impressed! How on earth did you find the time to train??

twelve I'm loving your solutions to the withing hour, nudity and crap tv, sorry but I am picturing this woman rocking twins in front of the telly completely naked!!

Welcome Tedds, can't help on routines as I'm crap at them, but we kept them downstairs with us until they were sleeping a few hours in the evening (prob about 12-14 weeks), but then we were sleeping in the spare bedroom downstairs, so they were still pretty close if -when- they woke up -every half an hour-. We then all moved upstairs when they would have a long sleep first thing, adn I think that was about 4-5 weeks later...

We didn't bother with daily baths until they were hmm about 4 months, it was prob every other day before that.

One of mine goes to sleep with a dummy and a bit of rocking (normally a couple of minutes), the other however is a complete different story but she's a nightmare and only goes to sleep either feeding or -with lots of- rocking and pacing the floors.

And what Twelvelegged said ^

waving tobeyoglu and dream hoping your nights are better, baileys and kazar hope you are doing well and enjoying your babies!

[Lemele]

Any of you guys seen this btw? linky link

[ClaireMarathonFeeder]

Help!! My two woke up at 11.30, 2am, 5am and 7am!!! We've gone back in time! I am really starting to struggle now

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

Ooh Claire, sympathies and strong coffee for today. Might they have been woken by something outside? Coming down with a bug? Teeth? Dont give up hope yet!

As for that story of 2 sets of twins within the year.... Jeepers. What that would do to your body, and the lack of sleep, and the expense because they'd have barely grown out of anything like carseats, and the childcare bills and and and... Just wow. I don't think my and dh's relationship in all seriousness would've survived another set so quickly.... Maybe one day

[ClaireMarathonFeeder]

I know twelveegged that woud kill our relationship to! Actually a few weeks ago I thought I could be pregnant (I'm not ), and the thought that it could have been twins again made me run to the closest pharmacy!!!

Re my twins sleep, I really do not know, I would have thought by 6-7 months sleep would get better not worse! Also the heat has finally come diwn and we're having lovely cool nights and I was really hoping this would make it better, but no luck. Could it be solids? As in they're not having enough milk during the day and want to make up for it at night? They're only having breakfast and lunch still and I make sure to offer bf often.. Dtb had about 8oz of ff at 8pm and still woke up at 11.30 and had a manmoth feed from me!!
On the upside, (cheesyness alert!) they are starting to giggle together a lot, look at each other and just start laughing which is sooo sweet.

[DreamingOfPeace]

Claire that would be a really good night for my DT1. He's killing me. I know he is rubbish at self settling and believes sleep is for wimps. Don't know how to change this though in a way to stop him waking the others.

Two sets of twins in a year.... Jeez. My body is destroyed after one set!!! And the nights. Good luck to them for good sleepers!

[ClaireMarathonFeeder]

Oh dream sorry I know you have it so much worse rhan me and I don't know how you survive. Can I plead old age in my defense??

[beyoglu]

Hi teds,
I have 18 week old girls.

On evening routines... we take the girls upstairs to their room, give them the last feed, swaddle, put on the wave sounds and put the light out. That's it. I do baths in the morning (and even then only twice a week) because by the evening they're too ratty to be bothered. I plan to move the bath to every evening when they're about 6 months or so and their naps have consolidated (at the moment they are awake for an hour and a half and then sleep for 45 minutes, all through the day).

At about 9 weeks our girls started to go to sleep for the night at about 7pm (I remember rocking them to sleep to The One Show every night!) Then at about 12 weeks, as they were sleeping really consistently in that 7-11pm slot we started putting them upstairs. Routine as above - we'd finish the feed and then move them to the cot while still awake but sleepy, give dummies and go. Often had to go back to DT2 but just replaced dummy and gave her a pat on the tummy if possible, only took her out of the cot if she was really wound up. Nowadays only have to go in once or twice at most, often she just sleeps.

I would say you're right not to feed to sleep - by all means end the day with a feed but then get them down in the cot before they fall asleep. That way when they wake, they're in familiar surroundings, nothing has changed since they fell asleep (some sleep gurus say that's important) but also, if they're calm and sleepy but awake when you put them down they're learning to fall asleep on their own which means they can do that in the night when they wake. Harvey Karp has all the methods of soothing little babies - most effective for us was swaddle and then lie them across your knees and jiggle them. They find it calming for some reason.

We do an 11pm dream feed. We've experimented with waking them up for it or just feeding them as they lie in their cots asleep - they seem to take slightly more if we wake them up. They then sleep till 3, and then till 6, and then they have the morning feed at 7.

[DreamingOfPeace]

Sorry claire, I was so tired and grumpy when I posted before. Sleep deprivation is grim and I agree that yours are giving you terrible nights. I didn't mean to imply it wasn't tough for you. Disappointing, I was hoping my dts would start to settle and sleep better like yours have, as mine were/ are so like yours in the evenings- except they don't (yours or mine!). Come on babies! Bloody DT1 was up every fucking 90 minutes, mostly slept in with me, when i bothered to spend ages settling him in his cot he woke after just under 90 minutes. He got up for the day at 5:30. FFS. Good job he's a lovely cuddly smiley little tike & daddy took him downstairs at 6am for me so i got another 40 minutes in bed .

Hello teds, no daytime routine here ad my dts have to fit in round my 23 month old DD. Bedtime is upstairs, naked energy-burning wriggling (which they LOVE) bath every night, as they get messy now they're weaning plus from DD kissing them/ stroking them with her grimy paws all the time, (& anyway, DD has a bath every night so its not a 'new' event to create for us, though we did it with DD too), bf to sleep and down. One sleeps through sometimes or wakes once. One is The Menace.

I know they don't recommend feeding to sleep but I always have. DD slept through at 10 weeks 5 days and i fed her to sleep til 9 months. she then started going down awake and just sucked her thumb, never cried until Sleep Hell began aged 13 months but that's another story and over now . DT2 is fed to sleep every night and then put down and sleeps all night quite a bit now. So I'd say don't beat yourself up if you do it, I gave myself months of stress worrying about feeding to sleep with DD and the issue never arose. Now DT1 is another kettle of fish altogether

Oh, and DT2 not screaming in the evenings now we are both dairy free... I may try adding a bit into my diet again soon to see if its coincidence but loving him being more settled in the evening. He was waking once or twice refluxing etc last week after baby porridge too and slept 8:30-7 last night so fx he continues to be happier, though its a pain. Could it be too much food/ type of food Claire? May be clutching at straws. I'm still feeding mine before solids but they're not 5 months til next week. Hasn't helped DT1 sleep. What a shame cooler nights hasn't helped.

[DreamingOfPeace]

I saw this today, funny after lemeles link

more double twins

[minesapintofwine]

Oh wow to the two sets of twins within a year just can't imagine that......

Welcome teds and congrats we didn't start a bedtime routine until 9 weeks (bath then feed then bed) but I think it did help them to sleep longer. Day routine didn't click until 4 months then changed again when they started solids. So don't worry too much as things will comed they will change I honestly think it's best not too get too hung up on routines (I know it's hard not to when everyone else seems to have one and you can't help but think how much easier life would be!) as it'll just happen naturally anyway. I have no idea about bf sorry (but always admire those that bf) I suppose it woould be harder to implement a routine due to evening cluster feeds? Not sure though!

My dts are finally sleeping in day 1 hour in am and at the moment 1 hour pm poss working to longer. They are having less daytime sleep now but do sleep 12 hours at night so that works for me. Except without the 5am feed wake at 6.30 for the day instead of an extra few hours till 8am yawn. DT2 having teething probs at mo too so am back and fore a few times in night. They've been teething forever it's about time they popped through!

Having a cheeky midweek curry and now as been shopping with dts all day got back a bit late so no bath just top and tail. I'm zonked!

Hello to everyone else hope you are feeling better claire and sleeping tonight!

[rednellie]

Ted's welcome! You dounf like you're doing great. With befits all about supply and demand so just keep responding to their cured and you'll be fine. Expressing once a day is quite helpful for building a supply up but don't get hung up on amounts.

We're doing ok here. My dad has been amazing since his op, practically bounding around. I however am shattered. Dt2 is back 2 his old trick of crying 4 toe hrs straight in the night. I'm wondering if it's to do with his dodge skin as he's got horrific snappy rash again and a rash all over his body and face. He had nappy rash before that lasted 2 months and a reaction when i changed washing powder. I think coming here with diff water soap etc has really set off. Poor baby.

Hope all other babies are sleeping- I'm looking at you Claire and dream's babies.

.bb3 you're an inspiration.

Apologies for any typos. Got a smart phone and so far it is just succeeded in making me feel dumb.

[rednellie]

Omg it's barely legible!

[Teds77]

Thanks for all the advice - am reading and digesting! Sorry not to post more but still trying to get the swing of this twin motherhood thing! X

[DreamingOfPeace]

Oh, your poor DT2 rednellie, killer nights. What does the GP say about his rash? Horrible to not be able to instantly fix your babies especially in the sleeping department

My DT1 continues to torture me with not sleeping. He slept for 2 hours as his longest stretch last night and that was from 8:15-10:15 before I'd got into bed so not even helpful. I can occasionally get him back to sleep by shush patting while holding in a dummy (but he won't take a dummy himself) but he generally wakes within 5-10 minutes so i always end up having to feed him back to sleep. And I really don't want him to wake his brother or DD so I'm stuck. Incidentally, DT2 slept 8-7, for about the 5th time :) .

Oh, chaos, back later

[minesapintofwine]

I'm being a bit nosy here just wondering/willing/yawning hours away as dh has taken dts to 'watch' the rugby. What pushchairs do you all have? I am lucky enough to have 2 a chicco tandem and a cosatto side by side but I rarely use the tandem bought the side by side as wasn't getting on with it. I always feel so obvious with it! I know theyre not the creme de la creme of dt transport but they do me ok (with a little bit of oiling and occasional cleaning must get round to that). Just wondering how many what you have and any regrets etc? can you tell Im bored?