Feeding Twin Babies and Sleeping in the Night?

Feeding Twin Babies and Sleeping in the Night?

by Wendy
(California)

My twins are 6 weeks old and I take care of them by myself at night. Any suggestions on how to care for both of them at the same time. I've read that they both need to be on the same schedule so I feed them at the same time but getting them back to sleep is difficult and they both end up screaming. This happens twice a night. I carry one until they fall asleep while the other one cries and then carry the other one after I get the first one to fall asleep. It turns out to be a very long process each time. Any suggestions?

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Feeding Twin Babies and Sleeping in the Night?

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Jul 19, 2010
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Been there!
by: Shannon

My girls were very fussy sleepers until about 10 months. I would "tag-team" the babies, feed one and hope the other wouldnt wake up but that always backfired. If you can feed them at the same time, get both up together and deal with both then put them down together. That'll buy you a few hours at least before the next awakening! it's just TOO hard to spend all night dealign with one baby and then the other! At one point I'd put them in their infant carseats on the ground and rocked them to sleep with my feet while I sat in a chair. Or put one in a swing and just leave her sleeping there! ANYTHING! I think the big thing we eventually learned is that we had to teach them to self-soothe at some point. Not trying to get them to fall asleep in our arms, but teach them to fall asleep in bed. After that they were the best sleepers ever. no matter what, this will eventually go by! You eventually will get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time! Trust me!

Jul 18, 2010
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I've Been There Too
by: IDTwin&Mommy2IDTwins

When my twin boys came home from the hospital(6wks after birth from the NICU) my husband was working a very long outtage at his power plant, so he needed his sleep more than me..lol. He's an intelligent electrical engineer who works very hard so I can stay home and raise our 3 children. My twins are now 1.5 months shy of turning 3 yrs old. I can remember the long up all nights very clearly! I did the same as you, fed them at the same time so that we wouldn't have a baby eating at almost every other hour of the day & night. When one awoke to be fed, brother wasn't far behind..lol. I would if at all possible try to change diapers before they started on the bottle b/c most of the time they would fall back to sleep during burp time. For every other feeding I would rotate the baby that I held(a different baby every feeding) to share my mommy time and would prop the other baby up slightly with blankets & pillows & use a receiving blanked comfortably on his belly to prop up the bottle for him. It was impossible to hold both babies and both bottles with only 2 arms! I always would wish for one more arm in the middle of my chest for extra help..lol. If they didn't fall back to sleep by the time they finished eating, I would keep all lights off and lay them in their crib and turn on the music of the mobile. One of my boys as he got older 3-6 months got almost impossible to get to sleep at night. I would have to soothe him any way i could to make him feel relaxed, calm, and comfortable. I even tried letting him fall asleep in his bouncer in the crib until he fell asleep, then I would carefully get him out and ly him in his crib. Another idea for you if your twins are sleeping in the same crib, if you feel comfortable enough for them to be in seperate beds you could try that. I never did that unless the one baby was having a rough time getting to sleep then I would place them back together in the crib. I hated the thought of them ever having seperation. They slept in the same crib until they were just too big for the same bed. They were seperated long enough in seperate isolettes in the NICU, I wanted them to regain the bond they shared in the womb. Good luck with your twins, babies are blessings and twins are double blessings! Try sleeping during the day when they sleep if at all possible. That's what I did, I had to so I could function since I was their primary care giver. It will get easier as they get older I promise! Enjoy all the little things it gets fun! God Bless, Brooke

Jul 14, 2010
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Me too
by: Jessica

I also took care of my twins during the night by myself. There is no easy way to do it but you will find something that works for you. I tried at first to feed one and then feed the other but I felt like I was up for SO long! So, when one would wake up, I'd get them both up, check diapers and then feed them both at the same time. I would burp them both and then swaddle the up as quickly as I could. Then I'd place them beside each other and tuck another blanket over them (to keep them close together). Most of the time b/c I had done the diaper change BEFORE the feeding...they were pretty drowzy from eating and would generally go back to sleep. I had one that went to sleep easily with no paci and one that needed a paci. However, the paci would fall out and he'd wake back up every time. (That was NO fun). But you will find something that works, I promise. And if someone offers to come to your house and take a night shift for you...LET THEM! A little extra sleep goes a long way!!

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