
But in my household, if they're fed and changed and still crying, they are simply overtired. They may not look it. They may not have "sleepy eyes" or be yawning, but they need to sleep... desperately... even more than I do! It's amazing how much time flies and how little awake time newborns can handle. In the first month, they are pretty much only awake for feeding. After that, awake time gradually grows but even at 2 months my little ones cannot handle much more than 1 hour of awake time. If we pass 90 minutes they start flipping out and will not go down without a fight (which is when I resort to the WeeGo carrier mentioned above!).

Most twin parents say getting babies on a schedule is key, and you can try straight from birth but it may not be worth the stress. My babies had a terrible latch and were not gaining weight the first two weeks so I had to give up tandem nursing for a "laid back" position and on top of that I had to pump to supplement. By one month they were both on track for weight and we were back to exclusively breastfeeding. The doc OK'd me to not wake them at night, but when one baby was up I made sure to get the other one up so they were on the same schedule at night. I kept the room fairly dark at night with the sound machine on, which was their cue that it was nighttime, and they never did get their days and nights confused. We were VERY lucky there! During the day though, I still haven't bothered with getting them on the same schedule. I actually kind of prefer when they are opposite since I can enjoy feeding and bonding with one baby while the other is peacefully sleeping. But we will probably be attempting a schedule soon, the flexible 3-hour "eat-play-sleep" BabyWise schedule worked well for my son from about 8 weeks so we may try that soon.
It's very easy to get down, way down. You're not getting enough sleep, you may not know (yet) how to easily comfort your babies, they may be crying... a LOT. It's hard. It's VERY hard. But you know what? It WILL get better. In fact, one day you'll look back on this period and think, "Man, I miss it! I miss when they were itty bitty babies! I miss when they NEEDED me and we could just sit and rock and cuddle." So, when you're up every two hours with the babies throughout the night and you feel like "THIS IS THE WORST!!!!!! I FEEL LIKE I'M GONNA DIE" just take a moment to look at your precious little babies and realize this is truly the longest shortest time and despite the many hard and terrible parts of it, it's also amazing and wonderful and something to be cherished. Pause for a moment when you're changing a diaper to just stare into your little ones eyes, to squeeze those chicken legs getting chubbier every day, and coo at each other. When you're feeding them, put down your phone and just embrace the moment. Or pick that phone back up and take a few pix! |