Twin night feedings- formula

did you and your partner get up together and take one baby each?

if you got up alone- did you feed one at a time- or did you feed both at the same time?

it is soo early ....but these are the things that i am thinking about.

peaese share you twin night time feeding routine

TY ladies!!!!

and sorry for all the questions!!! i

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

it didnt start out easy, thats for sure.

One would wake up sooner than the other...so that one was fed 1st and then I fed the other. Feedings turned into an hr.
Very rough.
Even if the other baby was asleep, he was woken up for a feeding. This is a must!
I learned the hard way in the beginning letting one sleep and was up every HR!

If both were awake/crying to eat, DH and I had to feed a baby at same time.

I would try to feed them late say 10/11pm and hope they slept for 3hrs for next feeding.

DH and I would take turns waking up for the feedings.

You find your groove- because those babies will let you know when its good for them

Message edited 10/28/2011 9:51:07 AM.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

They ate every three hours for a LONG time. The overnight feedings would go like this (approximate, of course) 6:30pm feeding, then "bed", 9:30 bottle, 12:30am bottle, 3:30am bottle, 6:30am bottle.

I would go to bed at 7pm after DH got home. He would do the 9:30 feeding and he was "on duty" until midnight if they got up before then. I would be able to get about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep that way. I was on duty from midnight on and he got a nice block of sleep that way as well. They started going longer stretches at about 8 weeks but we still did the on duty/off duty times so we could each get a decent stretch of sleep.

In the beginning I always woke the other one up to eat if one got up. They started to get into a schedule that way. By about 3 months they were eating at 6:30ish, then bed and would both wake around midnight/1am. Then one would sleep through till 5:30 and the other (my littler guy) would wake one more time to eat at like 3:30am.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

Our are still eating every 3 hours. They're 8 1/2 weeks old but their adjusted age is really only 4 days old because they were born 2 months early.

We've tried it both ways. Waking up to feed 2 babies at night sucks either way!

Both of us getting up for every feeding is AWFUL for us. It might work for some, but not for us. We found that we need a good chunk of sleep to feel like human beings. Because of that, we are taking shifts. Doing shifts ideally gives us each about 4-5 hours of solid straight sleep, which feels much more refreshing than getting 5-6 hours broken up into 1.5 hour chunks.

If at all possible, even if we are both feeding babies at the same time, we try to stagger the feeding so hopefully they don't wake up screaming at the exact same moment. This makes it possible for 1 of us to feed both babies. Sometimes the boys don't let us though.

And yes, it takes an hour to feed them. Plus a few minutes more to get them down to sleep.

I'm home with them during the day, so my "shift" is obviously the longest.

DH gets home from work around 5pm. If I'm mid-feeding at that time, he'll feed whoever is waiting.

We make dinner between these feedings.

We both feed them at 8pm, but we stagger the feedings if at all possible to make the overnight easier.

After this feeding is when we put them to bed, and I usually take a shower and go to bed.

DH does the 11pm feeding and the 2am feedings on his own as long as the boys cooperate. After the 11pm feeding, DH will try to go to bed.

Sometimes he will wake me for the 2am if he's really tired or the boys are being difficult.

I'm on my own for the 5am, 8am, 11am and 2pm feedings.

The exact hours sometimes vary slightly since now we're allowed to let them go 4 hours overnight but most of the time we find they're waking after 3 hours anyway.

Hope that helps!

Message edited 10/28/2011 11:56:16 AM.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

thank you so much for taking the time to write these replies!!

do you find that one wakes up first?
and the other will sleep while you feed #1?

or

do they both wake up- and the one you are not feeding is wailing in the background for a half hour?

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

I was breastfeeding so it was a little different as far a help but I would always wake the other if one woke up.

Dh and I would each change a baby and then I would feed them together. If they were getting pumped milk I would still feed them together propped in their bobby pillows. Once DH went back to work I did it by myself. Changed them, fed them, swaddled them, back to bed then I would pump. It was about an hour and a half process with the pumping. (maybe about an hour or so without pumping)

You will find what works for you! It really isn't too bad I promise.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

We tried several different approaches The one that works best for us is when we both get a few good hrs of sleep. DH goes to bed at 9 (or tries to ) I feed them late 11/12. Then I go to bed. DH wakes up for their feeding between 230-3am. Then I get their next feeding anywhere between 6-730. So I usually get to sleep from 130am till 6-7am which is way better than sleeping 1 hr here, 1 hr there. Feedings usually take an hour.

But we still have our bad nights where they wake and wont go back down and the feedings can take 2-3 hrs. It is really rough, I won't lie. But that is because I LOVE my sleep, really, I use to sleep 9-10hrs pre twins, so for me, sleep deprivation is torture. other people like my DH, who don't require that much sleep can deal a lot better.

We always wake the other baby. Luckily one sleeps pretty good and sleeps thru the others feeding. A few times he has woken up and yes I let him cry or fuss. Same thing during the day, I feed every 3 hrs and stagger, but there are those times when they both are hungry at the same time and I am the only one here....so yes one cries. I can not for the life of me figure out how to feed both at the same time. Props do not work either. So it is one at a time and one has to wait!

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

i was always on my own at night. my DH works 14-15 hrs a day plus at least 2 hrs in commuting time so he usually only has 5 or so hours to sleep every night.

i always fed them together, or one right after the other. if one was up i would start feeding and then wake the other. if they were both up i would feed them together in their boppys or alternate who i was holding. they were in my room and my DH would get home sometime between 11pm-2am usually so he would help with one feeding if he got home during it. otherwise he stayed on the couch so i could feed them both in my room. i propped them in their boppy in my bed and would alternate burping.

i use the small ready to feed bottles at night and kept a basket on my dresser with clean bottles, formula, diapers, wipes etc.

it is overwhelming at first but you will all figure out a groove and make it work!!

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

in our 2 weeks home this is what we have worked out for the night time.
the girls are still on the NICU schedule of feeding every 3 hours.
we both do the 11, but make sure everything is set for the night before we start.
I sleep in the living-room with them in the pack and play and do the 2 by myself. I feed them both and then pump. with pumping it can take from an hour to 1.5 depending on the girls..
dw always takes the 5 (i still get up to pump) we alternate who sleeps with them from 3 to 5 and then she always stays with them till the 8

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

DH got up with me while he was off from work. When he went back to work he would sometimes half wake up and say "do you need help" but I really did it all on my own.

From very early on my girls would sleep 10 hour stretches once we realized we should stop waking them up at midnight.

There was a stint where K would wake up at 3, I would nurse her and put her back down to go to sleep. Then J would wake up around 5 and I'd do the same. Then we would all get up for the day when DS got up at 6:30.

I am EBFing the girls which is why I never really had DHs help. By 11 weeks I wasn't changing diapers in the middle of the night, I was just feeding them.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

My triplets are going to be 4 months next week...but only 8 weeks adjusted...they were 10 weeks premature.
When they first came home from the NICU they were on a every 3 hour schedule. My DH and I would take turns with the feed (we each needed to get some sleep). We learned how to feed all 3 at once. Although propping bottles is not recommended from some physicians...its what works for us. We have 3 and need to have some sanity.
After they were about 12weeks old (actual age), we started letting them go longer stretches. Usually 4-5 hours. Once one baby woke up, we would wake up the other 2. Everyone ALWAYS ate at once. We run a tight ship! For the past 2 weeks (around 15 weeks actual age), they now eat at 9pm and go down to sleep. At around 3am we Dream Feed them. Once one of them just begins to stir (we usually have 15 minute until they wake up completely), my DH and I wake up and get the bottles ready quickly. (they take a lot less this feeding, only a half of bottle (2oz)). We feed all three while they are still sleeping in their bed. This feeding only takes 10-15 minutes. Then its right back to bed for us and they sleep until 6:30-7am.

You just have to find what works for you and your DH. It took a couple of trial and errors, but we finally feel like we are in a good position. We are getting long stretches of sleep, and it looks like they will be sleeping through the night in no time.

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

Re: Twin night feedings- formula

In the beginning, DH would do the 10pm and 1am feedings, while I would sleep. After the 1am feeding, he would come get me and we would rotate so I could do the 4am and 7am feeding. The boys slept in their bouncy seats in the living room. Whoever was "on duty" would sleep on the couch, while the other person would sleep upstairs in our bedroom.

We did wake the boys every 3 hours in the beginning bc they were so small and we wanted them to gain weight. We fed both at the same time. One would be on my lap, the other next to me on the couch.

We definitely didn't have this plan in place ahead of time....it just kind of fell into place. Once you're all home from the hospital, you'll figure out a way that works best for you too!