Twins. Yikes.
For those who have twins, I could leave the blog post there and you would totally understand. I had planned on monthly updates, showing the progress of the twins, telling you how I was getting on. WRONG. The babies had other plans. 17 weeks of being sick, catching colds, flu’s, bronchitis, RSV, conjunctivas… you name it, they had it. I didn’t know if I was coming or going, I had to check more than once a day what day of the week it was. Hot meals? Forget it, I couldn’t even get a cup of tea before it went cold. so you can imagine my excitement when I got 4.5 hours sleep. Actual real, unbroken sleep. 4 and a half hours? Is that it? believe me… it was like a full night in a swanky hotel after months of them both waking every hour. Each. Sleep, no puke and babies who were smiling! It was time for a little bit of a routine.
I had read a lot of parenting books. Some to me felt a little harsh and some…. I wondered if they even had kids. Probably not. Some were ok. So, I scoured online, pinterest, google, websites and some good friends on twitter helped me out. I put a little ‘cheat sheet’ together from a load of different sources and worked around the babies until we had something that worked for everyone. It’s a little trial and error and you have to pay attention to baby cues as well as getting the rest you need. Then, throw in twins plus a pre-schooler… it’s a whole other ball game!
With twins you have two options, you can have them staggered, so your feeding one at a time and the other isn’t going mad because they are hungry, or you can have them on the same schedule. Which is great if you have a little help.
My husband works pretty early in the mornings, so he leaves before the first feed, and he isn’t home until just after tea time, so unless one of my lovely family members pop over, its just me and Ruby. So we slightly stagger and mine are 10- 15 minutes apart. I’m sharing my schedule with you and highlighting the times/routine that would be used for just one baby or twins on the same routine.
Schedule:
6:45am – I get up, have a cup of tea and prepare milk.
7:00am – Feeding time. I wake Harry, he’s always the fussy one, so its best to get him up first. I give him his milk first. Change him then pop him on the play mat.
7:15am – Emily’s turn for milk. same again, change… play mat.
8:15am – I start to wind down, I turn any tv off. And pop on some white noise in the bedroom. So it can be heard and they know its nap time soon.
8:30am – (1 hour nap) I swaddle Harry, pop into the bedroom, which is in darkness. I stand and have a cuddle. No rocking (I feel it over stimulates them) I just have a cosy little hug. Kiss on the head and I pop him in the cot. Awake. (white noise is still playing).
8:45am – Emily’s turn. Same, swaddle… hug… bed.
9:30am – Wake Harry & change.
9:45am – Wake Emily & change.
10:30 – Harry Feed. This feed I give them both a pot of fruit, some puree apple & some milk. (if weaning).
10:45am – Emily feed.
12:00pm – Harry Nap (1.5 – 2 hours) Nap Time.
12:15pm – Emily Nap. Same as before. Swaddle, hug, bed.
2:00pm – Harry Feed. Just milk.
2:15pm – Emily Feed. Just Milk.
3:30pm – Harry Nap (1 hour) Nap.
5:00pm – Puree food meal & 1/2 bottle of milk.
5:15pm – Emily food/milk.
5:30pm – Harry Mini Nap – 20-30 mins only.
5:45pm – Emily Mini Nap 20-30 mins only.
7:00pm – Dedtime routine. Bath, snuggles, white noise. massage.
7:30pm – Bedtime feed.
{10:30pm – dream feed, if needed.}
I know it seems like a lot of naps. I thought so at first too. But a little one so small is meant to have around 18 hours a day sleep. 12 at night and then the rest in the day. I found short naps better, they were less grumpy and little bursts seemed to help. The crazy half hour at 5:30pm seems like it would disrupt any sleeping at bedtime with it being so close, but believe me, I dropped it and keeping them awake until the 7:30pm bedtime made them grumpy. It’s only been a around 10 days using this routine, but Emily now sleeps right through the night after her 7:45pm feed and Harry has slept right through for 4 nights. Now… I am no expert, so if it doesn’t work for you, just adjust it and find what suits you and your little one. I like to get up a little early and wake up properly before I have to wake any children and have that important hot cuppa. It seems like a lot when its written down, but I found its really worth sticking with, those few hours are great for showering, cleaning up and catching up on work or blogging.
Love this, and well done babies! Giving you some sleep! Phoenix is waking every two hours for the past two months, and unsettled some nights more so due to teething… poor mite. i am wiped out! hats off to you lady xx