Babies already seem to be transitioning themselves yet again, so I wanted to document our recent schedule.
It’s been a little over two weeks since the babies spontaneously slept through the night. It wasn’t a fluke–they are still sleeping well! (There have been two times when one baby woke up in the middle of the night and wanted a little extra to eat. We also think that one of them has had a bad dream a couple times–sudden loud crying that sounds different than normal, but the baby quieted right down when picked up and was actually still asleep.)
They sleep really well at the beginning of the night, but they do start stirring anytime around 6 or 7am. We usually get them up between 730 and 830, depending on how they’re doing. Since wakeup times vary, their daily feedings schedule also varies. However, we have started doing the bedtime ‘routine’ always around 9pm. We put on music (I have a playlist in iTunes and also a Rockabye Baby lullaby CD), turn off all the lights but one lamp, dress them in their swaddle blankets, and then feed them. They’re usually upstairs by 10pm.
They’re still on an every-three-hours schedule, though we usually do 2 1/2 hours for the last two feedings so we can start the last one at 9pm. They’ve been eating 5oz at each feeding, taking a total of 30oz or so.
Just lately they’ve been getting hungry every 2 to 2 1/2 hours all day, and wanting extra after finishing their bottles. So yesterday I gave them 5 1/2oz at a couple feedings, and today gave them 6oz at a couple feedings. They were still getting hungry before three hours were up! But they ate enough that the 9pm bedtime feeding was only 2oz.
However! The flipside of sleep awesomeness has been evening fussiness. They’ve been going a little crazy between 7-8pm. Lots of crying and screaming and unhappiness. After a couple nights of this, we finally brought out the swing I got last fall that we never used, and found that it lulled the babies out of their crying jags and occasionally to sleep. Phew. So we’ve been able to minimize the crazy by rotating babies between the swing, sling/Bjorn, bouncer or rocker. The last couple nights have been extra fussy and screamy, and we’ve pulled out the Baby Shusher app again, to some success.
The evening fussiness, napping after 7pm, and quick falling asleep after 9pm make it pretty clear that they need to be asleep for the night closer to 7pm than 9pm. Which makes sense–babies this age are supposed to be getting 12-13 hours of nighttime sleep. We haven’t been sure how to feed them the last feeding if they were already ‘in bed.’
Well, it seems like the babies are once again solving their own problems: I think they’re working toward taking 6oz five times a day, instead of 5oz six times a day. From now on I’m going to offer 6oz at each feeding and see if we can get them down for the night around 7pm.
We also need to finally get them into their own room. (We’d still keep them in their Rock N Plays at first, then start transitioning to the crib.) We’ve been a bit lazy about it but I think we’re both reluctant for emotional reasons too. We’ve been saying we’re moving them for at least three weeks, I think. But we’ll do it soon for real, I mean it.
We Have Twins?! 
You can also try “dreamfeeding” them. We used to put Eli to bed around 7 pm and then Phil would give him a bottle around 11 pm without waking him up — literally just stick the bottle in his mouth in his sleep and he’d start sucking. It was always a crapshoot how many ounces he’d actually drink (anywhere from 2-5), but it did help him sleep a longer stretch at night until he finally outgrew it around 6 months old.
Yeah, I’ve heard about that and figured we’d try it eventually! But sure enough, yesterday they ate their 30oz in only five feedings so we put them to bed earlier.