Routine

So I wanted to do a post generally about my day to day routine, however as I’m sure all you mummies will know, once you get used to one routine your baby changes and then so does the routine. I feel like I really started getting into the swing of things with Blake and Ivy around the 4 month stage. Before this I was in a routine but as they reached this age they became easier for me to handle on my own. Baring in mind they were 6 weeks premature so it took that much longer for them to settle into a bit more of a routine.

Now don't get me wrong.... I absolutely love having twins and I wouldn't change it for the world. Probably no different to mums of singletons who say they adore having one and wouldn't change it, but you still get those moments where you want to rip your hair out and scream into a pillow. For me I think the most challenging part of having twins was the feeding situation.

Before I had Blake and Ivy I spoke to a lot of twin mums about their routines and tried to gauge how I would want to feed them. Whether it would be at the same time or one after another, breast or bottle.

There are defiantly pros and cons to both but I decided very early on that I wanted them on the same schedule. Now I know every baby is different and that is also the case with twins. Blake and Ivy were very different when it came to feeding. At the beginning Ivy was heavier, ate better, took more milk and overall just was a lot easier to feed. Blake wouldn't take much. He was hard to feed, very slow and didn't show much interest in milk. Well this soon changed. It was probably by about 4weeks where I noticed Blake was gaining weight a lot quicker than Ivy and soon over took her. With this, his feeding also improved and he suddenly became the easier one to feed. He was quicker, took more and winded so well. Ivy then started to struggle with her feeding from about 7weeks and continued to be more difficult to feed.

The thing for me that I struggle with the most was not being able to feed both babies out on my own. This would mean that if friends of mine had plans to be out together but it was during a feeding time, I couldn’t go and I hated that because socialising and being around people was what made the beginnings of motherhood that bit easier. Now some people are probably reading this and think well why can't you feed them out just do one after another. Ivy was such a slow eater that if I scattered their feeds I would have spent my whole day feeding. It got to a point where she was so bad with her milk I would have to walk around my house whilst feeding her as this distraction was the only way to get her to take about 3/4oz. Some feeds took up to 2 hours and that wasn’t even for her to finish the bottle. It soon became obvious there was an issue and we found out after going to a paediatrician that she had a milk intolerance. After a while it became apparent they actually both had this problem but reacted very differently with milk so it took a bit longer before I changed Blake’s milk.

I feel once they were put on Alfamino (prescription milk) things got much easier for me. This was 13 weeks for ivy and a few weeks later for Blake. Once this problem was sorted I then felt I could really start getting them into a better routine including their naps.

Babies from a very young age can apparently begin to differentiate day and night. I started implementing this from about 3/4 weeks. I would have them sleep in their sleepyheads downstairs in the day. During this time the tv would be on, people would come in and out where they were sleeping, people would talk at a normal volume and the lights were on. I would then start the winding down night time routine around 6pm. I would take them into their room where the lights were dim and I put their disco ball light on which they loved to stare at. I would also do a bit of tummy time at this point but neither were overly keen being on their tummy so it didn’t ever last long. I also played Disney music whilst the disco ball was on.

I would then bath them at about 630 and then dry them, moisture them and put them in their babygrows before giving them their 7pm bottle. I did the same routine at 6pm every night from about 4 weeks. For weeks and weeks they would scream when I got them out the bath. They hated it. But eventually they got used to it and funnily enough now they are so happy when I get them out the bath. Once they were put down after their 7pm bottle this would be a quiet room and pitch black. It wasn’t until around 13 weeks where I moved the sleepyheads into their room for day naps and started to actually implement how their room is at night time too. I did this as they started to not settle or sleep well for their naps downstairs. They were always very good and going down on their own at night. I’ve never rocked either of them to sleep. I guess when you have 2 it’s harder to even attempt to get into that sort of habit.

Their napping and feeding routine was pretty much the same from this point up until about the age of 6months. Their nap times have come forward slightly as I found I was putting them down too late and they were then overtired and wouldn’t settle. I brought their naps forward by an hour and since doing this they have slept better. I used to have to spend their lunch time nap out in the buggy everyday for about 4/5 months. It wasn’t until I was unwell that they had to sleep at home and they soon learnt to nap in their cots. Now luckily they will sleep in or out and I will try and do both regularly so I’m not ever restricted to having to go out or having to stay at home for their naps. I think because in the early stages I was restricted where I could feed I wanted to always make sure I wasn’t restricted to their sleeping.

4-6 month routine -

Wake up between 6&7am

7am bottle

8-930/10 morning nap

11 bottle

12/1230-2/230 lunchtime nap

3 bottle

4/430 - powernap (no more than an hour but awake by 5)

6 - wind down upstairs

630 - bath

7pm -bottle and then bed

(In the earlier months of the above routine I then did an 11pm dreamfeed and a middle of the night feed when they woke. This was dropped by Blake first followed by Ivy quite a while later.) Will do a blog on nights separately.

The main things that changed during this period of time-

The powernap when they were younger used to be between 5-6 but it was brought earlier probably around 5 months

6months+ Routine -

Once weaning began this changed things up quite a bit. I had to fit in 3 meals which took time. I started with lunch then added breakfast then dinner. They also eventually dropped the later powernap and have now dropped their 11am bottle. These were all gradual things.

Ivy dropped the late afternoon nap first. She didn’t seem tired and it was effort to get her to sleep. She wouldn’t go down in her cot and I attempted letting her stay awake on a few occasions to find she actually took her 7pm bottle better and still went down well. At this point I then made sure she no longer had that nap. Blake would still get ratty so he dropped that nap a bit later. To be honest if he has a short lunchtime nap and seems tired he may if I’m out, fall asleep in the car on our way home. So far this hasn’t affected him going down at night so I still let him have it if he happens to fall asleep. Ivy probably wouldn’t be the same.

The 11am bottle being dropped was just a natural thing where I would find that they were taking less and less milk so I lowered what was 7oz to 5oz and then just stopped giving it to them and instead gave some cooled boiled water regularly and lunch at 1130am. Once I didn’t give that bottle on the first day I then didn’t go back. I did however always have it with me when I was out in case they both had a melt down lol. That was only for the first week of dropping it. Both not having that afternoon nap made it very obvious I needed to bring bath and bottle a bit earlier. They do also say that babies should be asleep by 7/730 in order to wake at a good time. So if you find your baby is waking at 5am for the day, try putting them down earlier. Sounds weird I know but it actually works. So here is how their daily routine looks now-

6.30/7am wake up

7am bottle

730am breakfast

8-9/930 morning nap

1130 lunch

12.15/1230 - 2/230 lunchtime nap

3 bottle

5 dinner

6 bath

630 bottle and then bed

The next changes will be dropping that 3pm bottle and replacing it with a snack and then I would assume their nap times changing slightly and maybe their lunch being brought a bit later to 12.

Obviously every babies routine is different. Luckily both Blake and Ivy are good on the same schedule. Blake does tend to sleep more then Ivy but they still go down around the same time. I still go out during their naps at times as it allows me to get things done too.

Now at 8 months old the only thing that ever throws routines off slightly is the teething situation. Blake now has 3 teeth and Ivy still has none. It’s tough because Blake’s really struggled as those teeth have cut through and it’s challenging dealing with him whilst making sure Ivy isn’t crawling into walls. All fun and games though and absolutely loving this age.

What I have written seems all very easy but it was tough getting to this point. Ivy at night and both of them during the day naps were tricky. I think one of the arts of day naps is getting them down before they are overtired. I found there was a really small window. Getting rid of the dummy for me was when things actually improved. As I said earlier I will do another post about the nights as this is a whole other story!

I hope any of what I have put has helped. I do feel like I’ve only really skimmed through my routine as I could literally sit here writing essay after essay about each routine from birth but if you have any questions feel free to message me.

Love to all and thanks for reading xx