Our Feeding Routine

I always hear people talking about getting babies on a schedule. We'll, our twins are on one. It might not be the best one ever but here is how we spend our time.

1. One of us will wake one twin up and change their diaper
2. Amy will breast feed for 30 to 45 minutes
3. Just before Amy finishes breast feeding, she will wake me up (if I am sleeping). This means I will normally get about 20-30 minutes more sleep than Amy per feeding.
4. I will then prepare two bottles, wake up the other twin and change their diaper. Then, trade babies with Amy
5. Amy will breast feeds the second twin for 30 to 45 minutes
6. While Amy is breast feeding, I will burp the first twin, feed them with a bottle to supplement their food intake, burp again, and let then sit up for awhile to make sure it all sits well. (Caden often spits up a little while Caroline normally keeps it all down.)
7. I then change a diaper (if necessary), swaddle them, and put them down to sleep. They normally are very good about going to sleep after eating.
8. About then, Amy will finish breast feeding the second one. I will take that twin and repeat steps 6 and 7.
9. While I am doing step 8, Amy will pump some breast milk for use during the next feeding cycle (step 4)
10. If the kids are both sleeping, we're done. Other wise, I will walk them around to calm them down while Amy gets some time to relax. (Unless Amy wants to hold a kid and talk to them for a little while.)

And that is our feeding routine.

It takes us between 1.5 and 2 hours to do all of the above steps. We repeat the steps above every 2.5 to 3.5 hours and feed the kids at least eight times in a 24 hour period. That leaves us with somewhere between 30 minutes and 1.5 hours free between feedings (typically, we have just over one hour). Plenty of time to sleep, eat, clean, shower, etc... Okay, so it is not plenty of time, but it's our life for awhile. :)

I can't wait until Amy is able to breast feed both of them at once. That will greatly shorten how long our cycle will take. Amy could definitely use the extra sleep.

P.S. -- I will post some more pictures soon. We have taken a ton and now that we are home, we have some scenery other than our hospital room and clothes other than hospital shirts and blankets.