By:
Hindsfeet
on 10/21/2002 2:17:17 PM
Hi Christina,
I breastfeed on demand but usually by two months the babies have a pattern (like wanting to nurse around 3:30 or 4 every afternoon or waking to nurse around the same time every morning) and I "schedule" my babies based on their own patterns and schedule the rest of us around it.... for example I'd "schedule" the late afternoon feeding for 3:30.
Of course, since yours are preemies they may not yet have formed a clear pattern of when they eat. And I realize tandem nursing has it's own challenges. It's easy to keep the rest of the house going on schedule when nursing one (by using a sling for example), but with two you have no choice but to sit down somewhere to nurse. I have tandem nursed, though not with twins, so I do understand those challenges in part.
I think I'd just follow the schedule as best I could until I recognized a pattern in the babies feeding and then go from there. If they're not nursing every day around certain times, maybe you notice that they need to feed every 2 hours in the afternoons but do well with 3-4 hour intervals in the morning and you can create a schedule based on that... it's kind of a schedule-on-demand thing. ;o)
~Heather