Establishing a Schedule With Twins.

Many moms (and even some doctors) have commented on how well Aria & Cadence sleep. Ever since they were three months old they have slept through the night, and the stretches get even longer and longer as they grow! When they first slept through the night, they slept from 8pm - 6am. We were very proud of them for that! Now they sleep in until about 8:30 am, over twelve hours straight! We are very spoiled parents of twins, I tell you. If they have an off night and wake up at 6 instead, we wake up really grouchy and complain, but to many other parents that's considered a good night, haha. Well, want to know our secret?

Establish a schedule.

This is the most important thing to do if you have twins. It's also the most important thing to do if you have just one baby or, three, or five. It's equally as important, especially if you want sleep - which as parents, I think we all do.

Now you're thinking "My baby wakes up five times throughout the night and wants to eat every single time - there's no way they'd sleep through the night." (Sorry, I always use "they" because I forget most people don't have twins). Oh, but there is. First, establish a schedule. It's simple. We have them on a schedule and we stick to it. Here is a quick example of what our daily schedule looks like.

8:00 AM - Babies wake up/first feeding
8:15 AM - Babies go back down for a nap
9:30 AM - Babies wake up from nap and play
11:00 AM - Second feeding
2:00 PM - Third feeding, second nap
4:30 PM - Babies wake up again!
6:00 PM - Fourth feeding
8:00 PM - Final feeding of the day, then down for the night

Our schedule keeps to about 3-4 hours between feedings, 2 naps (about 2 - 2 1/2 hrs each), and then they sleep for 12 or more hours! They've stuck to this schedule since they were about 3 months old. Trying to wean them off of their night feedings was really easy too. They had been used to drinking 4 ounces at night, so over the course of a week we slowly lessened that each night. So the next day they'd get 3 ounces, then the next day 2 ounces, etc. until they just slept right through the night and have been doing it ever since.

This principle can be done with every night time feeding no matter how old your baby is. The schedule you keep them to during the day will help them to expect when "sleep time" is. Our girls are like clockwork. If we are a minute late in the schedule, they'll let us know. But man, are they amazing sleepers!

We are truly blessed, and you can be too!