Tips and Tricks for Managing Multiples.

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By this time, God willing! — your precious bundles should be eating about 6 times a day. Basically once every three hours starting at their “rising” time (usually when the sun comes up — earlier in summer, later in winter) all throughout the day. They often eat like gang-busters in the evening, usually “storing up” for the long night ahead, when they will sleep through the night. Don’t be surprised if you have to feed them at 5pm, 7pm, then again at 9 or 10pm.

Growth Spurts

Just when you think you have a schedule figured out — the babies will go through GROWTH SPURTS. They will want to eat a TON, around the clock. You will feel like a human/cow mutant if you are breastfeeding. This usually only lasts for a couple of days — per child.

Solid Foods

Solid foods can (can, don’t have to be…) introduced between 4 months and 6 months. Everyone will want you to do it earlier rather than later. Feeding twins solid foods is a lot of work so hold off as long as you can. Also, there are lots of “rules” about how to introduce solid foods (only one at a time, usually waiting 3 – 5 days before a new one is introduced to detect/avoid allergies, etc.) — be sure and read up on all that. Your pediatrician should have all the necessary information and timeframes.

Scheduling

Here is what a typical schedule for babies around this time frame, eating a little solid food, might look like the following:

4 – 6 Month Sample Schedule

• 6 am — first feeding of day (breastmilk or bottle), go right back to sleep
• 9 am – second feeding of day (breastmilk or bottle), followed by play time, then back to sleep
• noon – third feeding – rice cereal made with breastmilk/formula, then follow up with breast/bottle, play time, back to sleep
• 3 pm – fourth feeding of day, play time, back to sleep
• 5 or 6 pm (they often get fussy this time of day) – fifth feeding of day – jar or two of fruit/cereal followed up with breastmilk/bottle, often need comforting (snuggling, holding), may go to sleep — better to keep them up with a bath!bath time for babies
• 7 or 8 pm – sixth feeding of the day – breast milk or bottle – put to bed for the night after bottle

Bed Time Routine

• HOT Tip: From many pediatricians — the BEST advice given was to give the babies a bath at night to signal its BED TIME. They say that a bath is SO different than ANY OTHER thing they do all day, that he guaranteed it would work to get them to bed easily at night. Many families stick to this routine as it works so why change it! It is suggested that after dinner, play with them a bit, keep them awake — then bath, bottle, bed. It works!