I have 4 1/2 month old twin girls. I am needing help with a schedule now that they have started rice cereal and other veggies. They are on a 3 hour schedule during the day with their bottles. Now throwing in the solids, I am having a hard time keeping them on track. A schedule seems to work best for us, since I also have a 3 year old running around the house. It allows me some time with her as well. Any help is appreciated.
I'd also transition them to a 4 hour schedule.
We used the ideas from the Babywise/Preparation for Parenting program with all 6 of our kids, including the twins. Love it! You can order/buy at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or directly from Growing Families International (I think the website is www.gfi.com?)
Try the books BabyWise & BabyWise II for some help with this.
Congratulations on your twins!
I would suggest that you get them to eat every 4 hours if possible. It may be a little bit hard at first, but it will be soooo much help to you espically if they eat at the same time. As well as help them start sleeping thru the night, if they don't already.
When I started Ash & AJ on solids at 5 months, since my ped wanted us to wait since they were preemies.
We did cereal with fruit in the morning followed by a bottle of milk for breakfast. Lunch we did fruits, veggies and a meat w/ milk bottle. What we would call snack time, would be a bottle and some fruit. Dinner time we did meat, veggie and fruit. Before bedtime we did straight bottle.
Of course, it didn't always fall like that, since you have to give them a fruit, meat or veggie one at a time to see if they react to it, but I didn't have any problems with any of the solids they were getting.
Also, Ash & AJ ate at the same time, so I just put them in their babyseats (car seats) or the boucy seat and feed them, since they couldn't sit up on their own. Since they were preemies, they really didn't start sitting up on their own until about their 1st birthday. That when we went to the little highchairs that you put on a regular chair, since we didn't have a lot of room. I also used it on the kitchen table for the longest time, since I didn't have a lot of room. If you do that and have carpet, I suggest putting down a shower curtain under the table...it will keep the stains off your carpet!!! :)
Hope that helps. If you need any other ideas, just give me a buzz.
Also, you may want to (if you haven't already), check out your local Mom of Twins Club...they are a great support system. Not all areas have a group, but it doesn't hurt to try...you may be able to get to at least e-mail another group for support if you don't have one locally.
Take care,
God Bless,
J. D
Proud, Blessed Momma to Ashleigh & Austin "AJ" ~ 3 1/2 yrs old
I used the schedule from the Contented Little Baby by Gina Ford for my twins. It is an awesome book and very specific about food and naps. You can get it on Amazon. She also has the New Contented Little Baby, I'm not sure how different it is.
Your babies are really too young to be feeding solids. They should only have breast milk or formula until they are six months old, per the Pediatrics’ Association. Then you should start them on whole foods, not processed foods like the rice cereal. Sweet potatoes or avocadoes are great to start with as they are rich in nutrients. The solids may be causing the problems with the twins’ schedule. They have very delicate digestive systems, and throwing solids in the mix too early can cause distress to that system. Not to mention they are probably getting too much food through out the day and that can cause sleep issues in itself. You might want to lay off the solids for another month or two.
I don't have twins but found "Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo to be a life saver in terms of scheduling. I know you can get in on-line or at any decent sized bookstore.
