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#1
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Feeding schedule
Hi all,
I'm having a heck of a time with getting the boys to nurse at the same time. We manage it a few times a day. I try to wake the other up but they won't feed decently if I do that, especially Ben. Then they end up eating again in an hour. Is it to early to worry about/expect this or am I doing something wrong? Ben doesn't nurse very efficiently and so gets some supplementing which may complicate things. They are 2.5 weeks is all. -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
#2
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Feeding schedule
On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:41:45 -0500, "Nikki" wrote:
Hi all, I'm having a heck of a time with getting the boys to nurse at the same time. We manage it a few times a day. I try to wake the other up but they won't feed decently if I do that, especially Ben. Then they end up eating again in an hour. Is it to early to worry about/expect this or am I doing something wrong? Ben doesn't nurse very efficiently and so gets some supplementing which may complicate things. They are 2.5 weeks is all. We never tried to do this. Even though it was more difficult for us, especially at night, we let the babies eat when they wanted to. I personally believe that's best for the babies. -- -Seth Jackson, proud father of Derek and Mariel(10/1/99). Pictures at: http://hitmeister.home.mindspring.co...ypictures.html Music links: www.mp3.com/SethJackson www.mp3.com/loudspeaker www.SethJackson.net |
#3
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Feeding schedule
"Seth Jackson" wrote in message ... On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:41:45 -0500, "Nikki" wrote: Hi all, I'm having a heck of a time with getting the boys to nurse at the same time. We manage it a few times a day. I try to wake the other up but they won't feed decently if I do that, especially Ben. Then they end up eating again in an hour. Is it to early to worry about/expect this or am I doing something wrong? Ben doesn't nurse very efficiently and so gets some supplementing which may complicate things. They are 2.5 weeks is all. We never tried to do this. Even though it was more difficult for us, especially at night, we let the babies eat when they wanted to. I personally believe that's best for the babies. I sort of agree, which is probably why I'm having trouble with it! I'm not much of a schedule person to begin with. Everyone I talk to says to feed at the same time so it is nice to know that at least one person fed each on their own schedule and survived :-). -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
#4
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Feeding schedule
From our observation, they don't mind too much if the shift is small (say
1/2 hr) I would suggest, move them closer to each other by half an hour once a day and try to maintain that cycle for a day. Sometimes if one of them is cranky and nothing works, we have to give them little milk in between feedings, and then their schedule goes off. Then we try to bring them closer by 1/2 hr at a time. We actually try to force them to stay as close to schedule as possible, otherwise they want to eat every 1 hr and then they won't take enough. I personally believe they need to learn that they will get food every 3 hrs (or whatever is your cycle) and they need to eat enough to go on for 3 hrs without eating. Now if that 3 hrs becomes 2.5 hrs or 3.5 hrs, we don't mind too much. Hope this helps, Deepak Father of Rohan and Dhruv 03/01/06 "Seth Jackson" wrote in message ... On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:41:45 -0500, "Nikki" wrote: Hi all, I'm having a heck of a time with getting the boys to nurse at the same time. We manage it a few times a day. I try to wake the other up but they won't feed decently if I do that, especially Ben. Then they end up eating again in an hour. Is it to early to worry about/expect this or am I doing something wrong? Ben doesn't nurse very efficiently and so gets some supplementing which may complicate things. They are 2.5 weeks is all. We never tried to do this. Even though it was more difficult for us, especially at night, we let the babies eat when they wanted to. I personally believe that's best for the babies. -- -Seth Jackson, proud father of Derek and Mariel(10/1/99). Pictures at: http://hitmeister.home.mindspring.co...ypictures.html Music links: www.mp3.com/SethJackson www.mp3.com/loudspeaker www.SethJackson.net |
#5
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Feeding schedule
I liked feeding them at the same time, and I think it's a good thing to
TRY, to see if it works for you, but it's certainly possible to do it otherwise. There are plenty of mothers/babies who don't like simultaneous feeds who manage fine on separate ones. There is a big difference between "This worked really, really well for me, so it's worth a try" and "You just HAVE to do it the way that was so successful for me," don'tcha know. I think I've also heard of folks who had simultaneous feeds at some times of the day and not others. One mistake we definitely made (I think, can't go back and try it the other way to prove my point!) was going on waking one when the other woke at night when it was *consistently* the same one sleeping longer, and she was getting harder and harder to wake. We should have taken that as a sign that she was ready to sleep through. But that was later, maybe four months. We were just terrified of playing tag team feedings all night long, and having once achieved a night routine of one middle of the night feed and one early morning feed, didn't want to mess with that. As for getting a routine going, I found a good first step was to do more or less the same things in the same order every day, like taking a walk at roughly the same time each morning. This was a big help for *me* even more than the babies, because I didn't have to think too much once I got the routine settled. I didn't have other children at the same time, though. --Helen |
#6
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Feeding schedule
Helen,
I could've written your post! I always woke the second baby when the first one woke up, and it was always the same one waking first and second. Then one time I woke the second and was carrying him into get the bottle, and he fell back to sleep in my arms. DUH, a light went on and I thought "gee, maybe he'll just keep sleeping"! And that was when sleeping through started I, too, was afraid of getting NO sleep if I had to feed on demand. It worked for us and I do believe it helped them to get on a schedule as they really had no choice. I had a five-year old at the time who had a very hard time adjusting to her brothers being around, so I couldn't be a walking zombie all day. You do what works for you and your babies, Nikki. You should know that if you feed on demand you will basically get no sleep, but it sounds like it's not working the other way anyway! It is still SO early, I would keep trying feed them together and see if they get the hang of it, maybe another week? And I should mention that for me, I would feed the baby who woke first then wake the second one as soon as the first one finished, that was for the first month or so. Then I discovered that if I feed them together, the total feed time would only be about a half hour and they would go right back to sleep. More sleep for me that way! They were also bottle-fed so I know that makes a difference. Hang in there, Ellen |
#7
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Feeding schedule
wrote in message I think I've also heard of folks who had simultaneous feeds at some times of the day and not others. This is what we are doing right now. One mistake we definitely made (I think, can't go back and try it the other way to prove my point!) was going on waking one when the other woke at night when it was *consistently* the same one sleeping longer, and she was getting harder and harder to wake. We should have taken that as a sign that she was ready to sleep through. But that was later, maybe four months. Oh - good tip! I'm not sure what I'll do at night. My help went home and tonight is the first night dh will be helping. I hope it works out. I very much want these babies to sleep primarily in their cribs. I'm thinking dh either won't help at all (never did a thing with the other two at night) or he'll bring them down stairs and sit in the rocker/recliner with them and watch TV. Not so good for getting them to sleep alone in their cribs. Hopefully I'm wrong :-) As for getting a routine going, I found a good first step was to do more or less the same things in the same order every day, like taking a walk at roughly the same time each morning. I'm so much better then when I had my first. These babies are lucky they aren't firsts! -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
#8
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Feeding schedule
"Ellen" wrote in message You should know that if you feed on demand you will basically get no sleep, but it sounds like it's not working the other way anyway! We are doing a bit of both right now. The good news is that if I can get dh to help at night I can actually sleep a fair amount while they are eating since I am nursing. It is still SO early, I would keep trying feed them together and see if they get the hang of it, maybe another week? I do like feeding them together. It *is* really early. I need to remember that! Hang in there, Thanks, I've had a lot of help and they still sleep a lot during the day so right now I'm doing really well. Reality will set in though as my aunt left. She had been here and was a lot of help. I'm sure they will eventually *wake* up and be a lot more work during the day too! -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
#9
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Feeding schedule
2.5 weeks is a bit early to expect them to nurse together well all the
time. Keep trying some...during the day. Once each of my girls had nursing down well on their own, it was quite a while before tandem nursing was actually more efficient than nursing one, then the other. |
#10
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Feeding schedule
mine were both 6 + weeks before tandem went well. Good luck! : )
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