Feeding schedule after SCBU

[Twinmumessex]

My twins came home 2 weeks ago after 7 weeks in NICU/SCBU. They were on 4 hourly feeds which continued like a dream for the first week - they would wake, eat, fall back asleep, repeat 4 hours later. Now, I can feel it unravelling. They are awake for longer periods of time, sleep less and lighter and get hungry quicker, so feeds are happening nearer 3 hours apart than 4. He sometimes wakes ravenous after 3 hours, so once he is fed I will wake her but she will not be as hungry. I'm finding myself constantly clock watching and panicking about them feeding too soon or too late. Just now I was feeding him and she stared getting very stressed so I put him down with the dummy with the intention that I would come back to him once I had given her some, by which time he had fallen asleep. So now I'm worried he hasn't had enough and will wake earlier than he should because he didn't have his fill. She has drunk loads and is now just lying there awake so I worry she won't have as much sleep as him.
I'm in a constant state of anxiety about whether I am doing the right thing or not!!
Can anyone advise what sort of feeding pattern their bubas are on? Am I better off feeding them on demand, as you would with a non-SCBU graduate newborn?
Thanks for any advice or shared experience.

Saw your post, my twins are now 7 but I remember those early days, my rule was always feed both, so if one woke I would feed the other, same with nappies.
It feels like such hard work In beginning but you’ll get through it. Try to keep them on the same schedule as much as possible or you’ll never get any sleep! X

I think we were on a 3hourly schedule for the first few weeks, mine are ID born at 34 weeks and we were lucky and home after 5 nights.
I then tried to stretch it out at night. Hopefully someone with newer twins will be along to advise.

Looking back on it now those first few weeks/months were such a muddle through. Mine were formula fed, but started off every 3 hours for the week we were in hospital (not NICU we were kept in for me).
We got them home and that continued for a couple of days then it felt like it all went wrong, we were worried we had broken them somehow! They started wanting to feed every 2 hours, sometimes they wanted more milk an hour and a half later, but to be honest we just fed them more when they asked for it. Thinking back there were times when they were probably crying from tiredness rather than hunger but we couldn't tell the difference so offered them a bottle. We weren't too worried about overfeeding them because they would spit the bottle out if they'd had enough. Also I had read all about cluster feeding if they had been BF so figured it might be a natural instinct thing, or maybe growth spurts.
Gradually it did calm down again and went back to roughly every three hours, but I remember trying to balance out the sleep/feed/awake time was hard work. They naturally start to be awake more as they get bigger. I found it useful to write it all down so it wasn't in my head.
It's such hard work at the beginning but don't worry, you will get through it, congratulations on your new babies. We also tried to keep them on same schedule, feed at the same time, (one up, get the other up) and nap at the same time (haha, on the rare occasion that happened)

Thank you everyone for your responses. I've been feeling like such a failure and keep finding myself in tears, even when both are successfully fed, burped and peacefully asleep. It's so hard not instinctively knowing what they want and need! I need to find some coping mechanisms and a way to relax properly when they are both settled as my pre-baby crux would be a bottle of wine which I'm not sure would help the situation these days ha!

It’s so hard in the beginning it’s huge a change to your normal life, and you need to find your feet, you’ll get there and I promise it will get easier. Honestly you are doing brilliantly!
I also wrote everything down, I used to go to baby weigh in every week, probably drove the HV nuts but it made me feel better every week that they were putting on weight. It also got me out of the house and I made some lovely Mum friends too.
Is there a twins club near you or just a baby group? It really helps making some friends in the same boat.
A glass of wine every now and then kept me sane! Once they were a bit bigger though I suppose x

Don't worry I was in tears A LOT at the beginning. The reassurance from other multiple parents that things will get easier helped so much, and it's so true! Mine are nearly 14 months now. This time last year I was an exhausted mess