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Multiples
HELP please!! babies are off schedule- how do i get them back?
Yesterday the hubby watched the kids. Tues night my DD slept from 8pm to 8am. She got 2-2hr naps yesterday. DS slept most of the night as well and got maybe 1 2hr nap.
Up until the beginning of this week they ate 6x's a day 6oz each time. We dropped the dreamfeed Monday night and DD slept through the night Monday & Tuesday night. DS did as well although he wanted his binky a few times. But no feed.
DD eats every 3-4 hrs during the day. DS eats every 3 like clockwork. Yesterday DD got up at 8am and DS got up at 7:30. They BOTH ate every 4hrs and only got 4 feeds in before their routine bedtime at 8pm. DS went down after bottle but DD cried from 8pm - 9:30pm!! Their last feed was 7pm. They missed a whole feed yesterday!!
Needless to say they were both up at 2:30am looking a bottle which i gave them. DD went right back to sleep after but DS was up until 4:30am.
How the heck do i get them back on schedule?? I woke them both this am for a 6:30am bottle which is when they usually get their bottle. So i'm hoping that does the trick.
I think they would have both been fine to sleep all night if they didn't miss that feed.
How can i feed them every 3hrs if they aren't hungry? Would you go back to doing a dreamfeed at like 10pm if they only get 4 feeds in before bed?
Please help 
i'm back to work and i'm exhausted....i was really hoping this was the start of good things when they slept longer at night. I know they can stop doing this but i know it was because they missed that feed.
Thanks for any input!!
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Re: HELP please!! babies are off schedule- how do i get them back?
Schedule Question-
You only went off schedule for one day- I wouldn't stress. Just start today on the schedule you set, and tomorrow as well. It might take a couple days, but I think one day will probablly do the trick.
Feedings-
There's NO WAY that under 3 months old my girls would have been ok with 4 or 5 feedings. I think we were doing 7 at that point b/c we had dropped the overnight feeding. Their last bottle was around 9:30 pm.
What makes you think they're not hungry? If they woke up at night and needed to eat, then they ARE hungry!
We followed Baby Wise so my girls ate every three hours...and really still do. I'm just getting ready now to explore dropping a bottle feed and increasing the other bottles. They now sleep 8-8. My girls first started sleeping from 10-6 at 9 weeks - not consistently but a few times a week. By the end of August (9 weeks was end of July), they were doing it every night.
We've had some weeks where they would get up once to eat b/c of growth spurts, etc. And when we made their bed time earlier at the end of September (7:30 last feed, sleep by 8), which was for OUR sanity and so DH and I had some time together, they would get up once to eat about 4 times a week. By end of October/early November they never got up to eat again. Had we kept a later bed time, I am confident that tehy would have slept through, but we needed time at night for ourselves.
Believe me I know it sucks! I took a long-term sub job after I had my twins; they were 7 weeks old when I started! It is really hard to keep babies as young as yours on a schedule. We didn't attempt a schedule until they were around 5 months old (and did the same with our other kiddies). They may be going through a growth spurt as well so that will complicate things.
At your little ones' ages we let them tell us when they were hungry with the exception being at night. We also had one of the boys STTN around 2 months old as well. We let him sleep.
I'm a bit confused by a few things as well. You said that your DD cried for an hour and a half. Did you have her fussing it out? Jon was Mr. Cranky pants and had colic so no matter what we did he was unhappy. Having said that, the swing was magic for him! He slept it his swing for naps and night-time for months! He also had reflux.
DD didn't wake up at all. When DS wakes he wants a binky and goes right back to sleep. He is not hungry. Last night i could tell he was so i fed him and his sister at 2:30am. They have been doing great with 5 bottles. Pedi says 30oz a day is fine due to their weight. I bought babywise but i'm not following it as far as the feedings go because they have shown me that they can sleep thru the night w/out a 6th feed. If they were hungry i'd feed them.
If DD last ate at 7 pm, then was fussy from 8-9:30 pm, I would probably have offered her another bottle before putting her down again. I would have dream fed DS to get another bottle in before I went to bed.
If you jump started them back at 6:30 this morning, I'm sure they'll be fine. Our girls are eating five times a day, 7 oz bottles. Sometimes it's every three hours, sometimes they go longer. Most times they finish the bottle, but not always.
I actually did offer her another bottle at around 9ish but she wanted nothing to do with it. She was overtired.
how much do your girls weigh? Mine rarely finish the 6oz but i offer it to them anyway because sometimes they do. Thanks!
They were both over six pounds at birth, and are now in the 13-14 pound range. But they've been on five bottles a day for quite a while now.
I hate it when they get overtired! It's so frustrating, and you just want them to settle and go to sleep so they'll calm down. It'll get easier, I promise!
Thanks!! Your babies are little cuties
. Mine have been eating 6oz 6x's a day for a while but just dropped the dreamfeed. They have shown me they can sleep without that or the middle of the night feed (except for last night lol) Mine weighed 7.3 & 6.9 at birth and now close to 13pds. Thanks again for your input!!
Yours are little dolls, too! Yeah, it's magical when they drop that middle of the night feed.
Honestly, I think Marlowe would take even bigger bottles at times if we offered them, but they're both huge spitters. She can suck down 7 oz. in less than ten minutes at times, LOL!
I'm confused again....
In the original post you said they were eating 6oz a day, 6 times a day = 36 oz.
When you dropped it to 5 feedings you also changed it to 30 oz?
You said before that your DH only gave them 4 feedings...so was that 6 oz, 4 times a day? That's why I said they would probably have been hungry.
If you're "dropping a feeding" I'm assuming your're making the other bottles during the day larger since your babies are too young for solids. Right? (I'm sure you are, but I'm just confused by what the problem is right now).
If you want to follow Baby Wise, you still can even if your babies are comfortable doing only 5 feedings. The principle is just eat/wake/sleep, and doing a consistent schedule.
My girls went through phases like yours are where A could have slept through if I let her, but B still wanted to be up. We just decided that on the nights where B was up and wanting to eat, we'd wake A also even if she could sleep through. Because every once in awhile A would be the one to wake up, and I didn't want to let them wake at different times in the night and be fed. We also when they dropped their overnight feeding would wake up and be ok getting the pacifier. But then growth spurts would come, and we'd be back to giving them a bottle for a few days and then increasing their bottles during the day!
sorry...i'm all over the place. They have been taking 6oz bottles 6x's a day. BUT they don't usually drink the last oz. Now they are most of the time that is why we didn't increase it more. We wanted to but they weren't eating it even with the dropped feed. No they are not on solids. I feed them when they are hungry. If they get through the 6oz and still seem hungry they get 1-2oz more. So yes, they are eating 30oz which for their weight is sufficient. DS wakes for his binky. he is not hungry. he goes right back to sleep. Even when we did the dreamfeed he would wake up for it.
30oz in 24hrs is plenty. My boys are almost 4months and my pedi told me only to go over 32 if it's really obvious they're hungry. Otherwise stop. (I was overfeeding big time so she had to give me the business about how much babies take).
We do 3.5hr schedule and sometimes I have to wait an extra 15min for DS1 to get hungry. We start at 6am and have 6 feedings but I'm working up the courage to drop the dream feed b/c my boys hardle drink anything at it. I guess I don't understand what your question is. Is it that you can't fit in 5 feedings or 6? It's easy to fit in 5. My 5th is right before bed -7:45-8ish.
I totally agree - that's why I wasn't understanding your bottle dropping/hunger questions...
Thanks Caden!! I was starting to feel like i wasn't doing a good job! I guess i just want to keep the dream feed dropped still because everytime i do it they wake up during the night. I have noticed that if i don't interrupt their sleep cycle they stay sleeping (except DS for his binky he is def NOT hungry). When they eat every 4 hrs its harder to get the 5 feedings in because they go to bed at 8pm. I was asking if i should do a dreamfeed on those days or just let them wake if they are hungry. I hate the dreamfeed. They sleep like crap when we do those. But i wanted to know what is best.
I think i'm good now. I think today they are back on schedule as i woke them up earlier than yest (6:30am - yest was 8am-I let them wake on their own) and their 5th feed is usually around the same time yours is. Days like this they go to bed at 8ish or 8:30 and sleep all night without another feed. Hopefully yesterday was just a fluke! And hopefully Gramma is getting all feeds in today because DH didn't yesterday
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Thanks as always...sorry if i sound like i'm rambling. I'm soooo tired. I haven't slept good in days and i'm back to work
I would suggested waking the other at the same time for a feed so that you aren't getting up 2 times a night.
Is it perhaps something other then hunger? My girls are 4 months now and are doing 4 bottles a day 7 1/2 oz. and 1 tablespoon of rice cereal at the dinner bottle and are sleeping wonderfully though the night.
We feed at 8:30 12:45 5:00 and 9:45
Just give it some time and follow their lead but still inforce the time table that works for you.