First time mother of twins seeks advice

I have 3 month old twins, a girl and a boy, and I'm loving the whole experience of being a mum. However, as this is my first time I have loads of questions, as I obviously want to do what's right for my children....so if anyone can help answer even some of my questions I'd be really grateful:

Sleep issues

My son has never really napped well in the day, waking after about an hour. I would then spend the next hour trying to get him to sleep for the rest of the nap time. However, he has just recently start sleeping through the night so is 1 hour enough at nap time? He actually slept 12 hours last night (yippee) until 9am - is this too much sleep, is 9am too late, should I be waking him earlier? As I have twins I'm unsure whether I should try and keep them on the same nap scheldule or now adjust it as he is sleeping at night (she manages about 4 -5 hours before waking to be fed and naps for longer during the day). If he needs less sleep in the day is it better to cut out a nap time or let him have shorter naps?

Also regarding sleep....I'm following the Baby Whisperer routines, but my kids wake at different times every morning - should I be waking them so that they start the routine at the same time every day?


Eating issues

It takes both my children over an hour to finish their feed, by which time they are so tired they go straight to sleep. Everything I read says they should do some activity after eating and not go to sleep on a full stomach, but I have no choice as it takes them so long to feed. Is this normal, could they have digestive problems, should I see a doctor, or just stick with it? It makes following the Baby Whisperer kinda hard cos they have the activity time during the feed time as they're not interested in eating all in one sitting.


Until now I have been keeping the twins at the same pace, feeding at the same time, napping at the same time, but with my son now at a different stage to my daughter should I start to separate them, I'd really rather not, as it just makes organising everything easier, but as I said before I want to do what's best for them.

I would really appreciate any feedback that anyone may have and say, "Many thanks!"

Hi,Ive 2 sets of twins,all boys and non identical 3.8years+2years on Friday you can contact me 98062501 if you need help,books are only guide lines.Sarah

hi - i have identical girls - pm if anything - but, just for your information, there is a Twins club in HK - called Mothers of Multiples Organization - with regular meetings, activities, sharing experience coffee mornings and playgroupd - here is website:


http://www.moms-hongkong.com/


as for your questions:


nap - yes, same nap schedule - at 3 months dont expect much as they are still learning, however, to keep your sanity try to stick to the same nap schedule, it will eventually work! And you will have a break from both of them from time to time - you will sooo need it. Baby Whisperer is good, so is Gina Ford - stick to routines no matter what, i would say - took our probably around 4-4.5 months to get into routine.


feeding - yes, took ours a good hour too, dont worry about sleeping on full stomach, that's what babies do most of their first months anyway - stick to routine, they are fine.


separating them - we never did (they are just over 2 yrs old now) - they sleep in the same room, they eat together, nap together etc. I think you should think about putting them in separate classes in school, but that is not something you should worry about right now, really!


Good luck - it is a brilliant experience, having twins!

"It takes both my children over an hour to finish their feed, by which time they are so tired they go straight to sleep"


Our daughter was born with a cleft palate, so it took her very long to eat sometimes. Our pediatrician and the nurses told us that if a feed takes longer than about 25 minutes, we should stop feeding. Otherwise too many calories are expended eating in relation to the intake. In any case by not allowing lazy feeds the baby has an incentive to eat faster. That definitely worked. After a while she would be done in 15 max.

maybe axptguy is right to a point - i really would not expect them to finish in 15 min for months at this point - but more like 30 min or so. Axptguy, twins tend to be much smaller and often are born early (one is lucky to get to 36 wks with twins) - so they do develop a bit slower than single babies.


Ours took around 45 mins to feed and burp, I think that;s what ljang means? Half the time it is the winding that took longest and you definetly dont want to put them down without it.


Ljang - do you breastfeed? I found it easier to give them bottle - you know exactly how much they have. With breastfeeding, you dont really - so you might be giving them too much?

"Axptguy, twins tend to be much smaller and often are born early (one is lucky to get to 36 wks with twins) - so they do develop a bit slower than single babies."


Point taken.



Well our second was a preemie (though full weight) and always a bit "behind". Lazy lazy lazy breastfeeder. She kept falling asleep after five minutes, nicely snuggled up to the breast. After a few days we went with pump and bottle and she would finish her meals. ;)