With Miss H, I loved that I tracked what some of our days were like schedule-wise in the early days, including when Miss H was 2 1/2 weeks old. It’s really fun to look back on, especially right now when I’m sleep deprived – it’s made me realize I was just as sleep deprived back then, maybe even more than I am now (or, at least now I’m used to it)!
The twins are almost 4 weeks old, so the other day I tracked what our schedule was like from midnight to midnight (we use the Baby Connect app on our iPhones). It’s crazy to see that the babies went through a combined 28 diapers (14 each!) and consumed 52 ounces via bottles (mostly formula, about 6 ounces of breast milk for each baby during the day). And I pumped 11 ounces of breast milk during that time period – obviously I can’t keep up with their demand!
So here’s what 24 hours with our 4 week old twins looks like (from midnight to midnight):
(The babies had been sleeping from about 7/8pm)
12:00am-12:10am: Miss Hop had a bottle (Mr. Hop had his bottle before the clock struck midnight!)
12:10am-1:48am: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 38 minutes)
1:48am-2:33am: Miss Hop had a diaper change and a bottle, a diaper change; Mr. Hop had a diaper change and bottle; I pumped after they went back to bed.
2:15am-4:20am: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 55 minutes)
4:20am-4:45am: Miss Hop had a diaper change and bottle; Mr. Hop had a diaper change and a bottle.
7:09am-9:45am: Miss Hop had 3 diaper changes and 1 bottle; Mr. Hop had 4 diaper changes and 2 bottles; I pumped; both babies had their first baths.
9:45am-10:37am: Both babies slept! (53 minutes)
10:37am-12:40pm: Mr. Hop had a diaper change and a bottle; Miss Hop had 3 diaper changes and 2 bottles; I pumped.
12:40pm-2:28pm: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 12 minutes)
2:28pm-4:28pm: Mr. Hop had 3 diaper changes and 2 bottles; Miss Hop had a diaper change and a bottle.
4:28pm-5:46pm: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 18 minutes)
5;46pm-7:15pm: Miss Hop had a diaper change and a bottle; Mr. Hop had 2 diaper changes and 2 bottles; I pumped.
7:15pm-8:23pm: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 8 minutes)
8:23pm-9:02pm: Miss Hop had 4 diaper changes and a bottle; Mr. Hop had a diaper change and a bottle; I pumped.
9:02pm-10:28pm: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 26 minutes)
10:28pm: Mr. Hop had a wet diaper
10:28pm-12:00am: Both babies slept! (1 hour, 32 minutes)
That’s a general rundown of what our days/nights are like. Because we’ve got two wild and crazy babies on our hands, they both sleep a lot during the day but I was only really able to note when they both were sleeping. Very often one baby will be asleep while the other is having a bottle, getting a diaper changed, etc. Other moms of twins have described newborn twin sleep as a game of “whack-a-mole” – one is down and the other is up! It’s so, so true.
Also, while it may seem like the night left few breaks, this was actually a picture perfect night for the babies – probably one of their best so far! They both went to sleep easily when we put them to bed, had 2.5/3 hour breaks between bottles, and easily went back to sleep after their diaper changes and bottles. It was fantastic! We’re still holding out for longer stretches of sleep, but for right now we’re just grateful that they are both sleeping and are on the same schedule.
Do you ever look back on a day with your little one in amazement at how busy they can keep you?
pomegranate / 3533 posts
WOW! If you don’t mind me asking, when/how long did you sleep during all of this?
pear / 1547 posts
Wow, that made me exhausted just to read it! Good work – the idea of twins terrifies me! And then I also realized that my 7.5 wk LO probably only sleeps as much as your babies do together…I think I need to work on the sleep thing! And only in the moby, but hard to argue with the little face snuggled down on my chest right now
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@FliegepilzHut: I was wondering the same thing!
When did you sleep or even eat or do anything for yourself??? I’m tired just reading this!
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
That’s a lot of diapers…. wow.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@FliegepilzHut: & @Adira: I should clarify that I’m obviously NOT doing all of this solo
Mr. H and I do a good job of splitting up the duties, especially at night. I actually have a post coming up sharing how we split our time!
@mediagirl: I know! I’m excited for these babies to grow some more so that we can switch to cloth diapers
kiwi / 643 posts
It is TOTALLY whack-mole. Oof, hang in there! Are you doing “one up, both up/one eats, both eat?” That’s the only way I stayed sane!
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@twoofeverything: Miss Hop is the hungrier of the two usually, so generally at night she wakes up first and whoever is handling the feeding is able to feed & change her and put her back down before Mr. Hop is up. Which is much more doable than trying to manage two screaming hungry babies at once!
olive / 57 posts
OMG, we are expecting twins in February and I find this schedule both terrifying and impressive! WOW. Thank you for sharing, I am always so excited for your twin posts as a little glimpse of the future! How is little Miss Hopscotch fairing through all of this, if you don’t mind my asking? We’ve got a daughter who is currently 2 and a 1/2, so similar to yours. She’s a good girl, but I can’t imagine her waiting around much while all of that baby stuff is going on!
pomelo / 5041 posts
@Mamagoose: my questions and thoughts exactly!! My twins are due in March and we have a 14-month-old. To say I am somewhat terrified of the future is probably an understatement.
honeydew / 7230 posts
Wow! One day you’re going to look back and be so grateful you have this log. I’m only 6 months out from the newborn twin days but I can’t rember it at all. I guess the sleep deprivation will have that effect! The early days are such a crazy time! You’re doing a great job!
nectarine / 2765 posts
Man, I really don’t miss those days…they were rough. I’m impressed you actually managed to document the day, very impressive! Whack a mole is the perfect way to explain it, it’s never ending! Sounds like you’re doing great, it does get easier!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
I don’t know if this will be any comfort, but I read this and was kind of shocked to remember what a crazy schedule the newborn days were. So, it definitely fades from your memory over time! Twin sleep and discipline seem to be the most challenging things to me so far about having two at the same time, so I totally identify with the whack-a-mole idea.
These early days are crazy, but I promise it gets easier! Keep up the good work!
honeydew / 7968 posts
Can I tell u I can’t remember the twin days too? And I canNOT imagine having to do it again. I honestly don’t think I could. Great job keeping them on schedule. I was very adamant about keeping my kids on schedule too. My son was the hungrier one of the two. Woke up wailing.
guest
OMG, this has me totally freaking out. Just found out we are expecting twins in June (probably be here more like May). Do you really need to change one child’s diaper 4 times in 40 minutes? That is crazy. We were planning on cloth diapering with one, now with two, we figured we would still give it a try. But 4 diapers in less than an hour? I don’t think I can deal with that.
pomegranate / 3053 posts
Wow! I give parents of multiples lots of props! You’re doing a great job!
nectarine / 2152 posts
Yup. Having anxiety flashbacks just reading this post, never want to go through that again!
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
You’re totally rocking this! I’m curious to hear how you’re sleeping too and how you’re handling Miss Hopscotch’s schedule. Is she home all day or at school?
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@Mamagoose: & @marionberry: Miss H is doing ok with the transition. It’s hard but she slowly is accepting the “new normal.” Fortunately she’s in daycare fulltime so that really helps, as it just leaves us with the weekends to manage having all 3 kiddos together right now. When we’re all home, we usually divide and conquer: one of us will take the babies (if they’re awake) and the other will focus on Miss H. I think the biggest thing we can do is when one of us is with Miss H, we are 100% focused on her. Every day is a challenge, but getting better!
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@angela: we are planning to cloth diaper too when the babies get a little bigger! Newborns go through a lot of diapers in the early days, and that times two is a lot. Sometimes you’ll change them and then they poop immediately after that. But once they get bigger there generally aren’t 5 diaper changes in an hour
My suggestion is stick with disposables when they’re tiny because you won’t want to deal with the extra laundry and then when they’re bigger and you feel like less of a zombie, you can switch to cloth. We love cloth diapering (did it with our oldest for 2+ years) and I think it’s totally doable for twins!
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@Mrs. Stroller: Miss H is in fulltime daycare! And I have a post coming up on how we’re divvying up our nights between Mr. H and I so we can both get some sleep!
olive / 57 posts
@mrs.hopscotch: Thanks for the response! Glad to hear she is doing ok. Makes sense that when she’s around she needs/gets some 100% attention! Our daughter will also still be going to her nanny share M-F 8:30-5:30, so we can also minimize our zone defense
Good luck with those adorable babes!
guest
@Mrs. Hopscotch excited to follow you and your babies. Especially interested in your stash and your transition to cloth. I have friends that have done it with one, but not two. Also, interested in your feeding. I see you pump and bottle feed. Are you EP or a mix of BF and pumping? I’d like to try to BF but people look at me like I’m crazy. I feel no support, and I know that is important. I have always wanted to BF and I hate the thought of having to give that up because of our double blessing.
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
@angela: We have about 40 Bum Genius cloth diapers from cloth diapering our older daughter; since you need about 24 cloth diapers for one kiddo (I obviously had way too many, ha!) I’m hopeful the 40 will be plenty for the twins. Mr. Hop is currently in cloth today at 6 weeks old…still have some leaks but it’s nice to just add pj’s do the laundry pile vs. adding more disposables to the trash. I am not breastfeeding at all; the twins get 1-2 bottles/day each of breast milk and the rest if formula. I just haven’t had the time to build up my supply, and we got off track at the beginning with trying to nurse so it just never really happened with them. HOWEVER, I nursed my daughter for 10 months so I’ve already had that experience. If these babies were my first, then I would probably make more of an effort to nurse (at least part time; I think with two babies it’s nice when other people can give you a break and give some bottles if you’re comfortable with that). However, for me with an older child and twins I haven’t had the time to invest in nursing them because I need to share my time with my daughter along with the twins. It’s hard!