10-Week-old Twins on Different Schedules

One of a parent's biggest concerns now seems to be how to get a baby on a schedule. My advice is don't try (even if we're talking about singletons). Some babies will get on their own schedules, some will naturally adjust to their parents, and some just don't do schedules (that's mine, lol). Especially at 10 weeks, the best advice is to feed on demand and let baby sleep as he wants.

Of course, having twins makes this a lot harder. Is there anyone who can help? You still need a lot of rest, and you need to spend your time with the babies rather than cleaning and such. Maybe your husband can pick up a bit of the slack. And don't worry about having a picture perfect house - those days are gone!

Hi, K.:

It seems like you know what their schedules are right now.
Just a thought. Which baby are you choosing to be the one that
you want the other to follow?

Will this be a pattern of labeling if one doesn't do what the other does?
Can you allow them to be different from birth?

Just want to know.
D.

Hi and congrats on your new babies! My twins just turned 1 and I got them on the same schedule right around this 10 week mark. In order to get them in sync, I would start trying to feed the one who isn't hungry a little early while trying to feed the hungry on a bit later until the 2 overlapped and they became hungry at the same time. I hope that makes sense; I was trying to adjust the schedule by holding off the hungry one for 15 minutes or so since the other wasn't hungry. By keeping the hungry one from eating for that 15(about) minutes, it gave the other one a few more minutes to hopefully get a little hungrier so I could feed them at the same time. Once they are eating at the same time, they're naps should start falling in sync as well which makes a HUGE difference in your day. I also applied the sleep techniques from the book Baby Wise which helped SO much with naps. Good luck, it gets much easier :)

I have twin boys who are 3 now and I gotta say that I had the worst time getting them to eat in the middle of the night at the same time - they'd just fall back asleep if they didn't want to. At 10 weeks it's really hard to have their schedules syncing but the things I did was when one got up in the morning I got the other up so they'd be ready for their first nap at around the same time. I don't know if you're BFing or bottlefeeding but in the night I had them sleeping right beside my bed and I'd just pop one on my boob when he woke up and fall back asleep. When the next one woke up I'd switch them. Before you know it they'll only be doing 2 naps a day and you can sync the naps better and they'll be sleeping longer at night so that their different night schedules won't be making such a walking zombie.

My twins are 11 now. I was told by the doctor not to even try scheduling them until after 3 months. I woke the sleeping twin when the first one woke up. It is not easy to get them on schedule but just bear with it, the end result is totally worth it !!! Make sure you schedule nap and bed times also and be consistant. You will be amazed at how much easier things are when you schedule. I worked days and my husband worked nights and scheduling made our life so much easier. There will be times when your schedule will be hard but really try to stick with the same bed and nap times every single day no matter what is going on.'

Take time to enjoy this time I know it is hard in all the craziness but it really does go by too fast. Good Luck !!!!!

Perhaps you should try feeding one after the other instead of at the same time. Yes, they can grow at different rates. The most important thing is that they are both gaining. Also you should make sure that you perhaps try feeding the one first one time and then change to other first the next time.