POM Check-In 11/18

[Squishy622]

Welcome to the bi-weekly POM check-in. This is a thread to share in the unique challenges of parenting multiples. All are welcome whether you've just delivered or you've got multiples headed to college. Pregnant POMs, feel free to pop in if you have questions as well, we want to continue to foster relationships with all POM's and help you gain confidence as you start your new adventure as a POM soon.


- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples?

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss?

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on?

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc?

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food.

[nomnom]

- b/g, 14 months

- 15 month checkup on 12/19. R still doesn't feel like walking, although I'm pretty sure he can. G is walking well.

- When should I care about language development and walking? I just figure that they'll get it in their own time.

- R seems to be chewing his food finally (sort of), so I can feed them regular mac n cheese instead of mashed up mac n cheese. We're still trying to introduce more variety in their diet. It's been hard because I feel like we're barely keeping our heads above water lately between illness, travel, and all the demands on our time (planned and unplanned).

- QOTW: I want cranberry sauce. And mulled cider. Basically all the stuff with cinnamon.

[pbandj714]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? B/G, will be 5 months on Sunday.

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? They have their 6-mo appointment on 12/23. L loves to stand and look around the room. G will put a tiny bit of weight on his legs for a split second and then crumple like a rag doll. His core strength is getting better though. He can sit like a tripod for a few seconds before toppling. L is pretty good at the tripod. Both are rolling both ways, although once they learned back to tummy they've gotten lazy and hardly roll tummy to back now. They both love belly sleeping; I find them that way every morning.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? Nothing I can think of off-hand.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? They're taking about 28-30 oz of formula/day, split into 6 meals. We're not planning to start solids until closer to 6 months, but when we do, should formula intake remain about the same?

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. I'm most excited about the PUMPKIN PIE. Mmmmmmm.

[piccyami]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? 8 week B/G

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? Their 2-month appointment is on 12/6, so we have a few more weeks before that. Z has started really watching everything and seems to really like mirrors. W has started cooing at everything when he's not in angry baby mode.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? How do you get them to stop fighting the bottle? W goes into hangry baby mode around food time, especially motn and if I have to wake him to eat. Even though he's really, really hungry, he fights the bottle and shoves it away, then gets angrier because no milk. How do I deal with it? It takes him forever to finish a bottle when he starts to fight the bottle.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc?

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. Pecan pie and homemade rolls are my thing. That reminds me. I also have to make jelly for next week.

[piccyami]

Also, pbandj714, how are yours already 5 months old?

[pbandj714]

Nov 18, 2016 14:50:48 GMT -5 piccyami said:

Also, pbandj714 , how are yours already 5 months old?

I don't know!! The time has seriously FLOWN. 

For the bottle fighting, L does that sometimes, too. She'll flail and act like she doesn't know what to do with her hands (insert Anchorman joke here). Sometimes I'll open my hand really wide so my fingers are sticking out away from the bottle and she'll eventually grab onto them instead of pushing the bottle away. It works...most of the time.

[mc13]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? 12 weeks, G/G

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? The girls are growing so much. They are almost out of 3 Month clothing and their newborn cloth diapers. They coo all the time and are giving us super great long stretches of sleep from like 7pm-after midnight most nights. DD1 was a horrible sleeper until 18 months so this is a dream.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? Did anyone kee their twins in the same crib? Ours are still in rock n play but thinking about transitioning soon and can't decide which way to go. We can always try it with them together then split but maybe since they sleep so well in the rock n plays by themselves we should just go for separate cribs.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? Ugh, yes! Bottle feeding is impossible. The girls are EBF and I nurse them on demand during the day since I'm home with them. We've had 3 instances now where I was gone for an extended time and they just refuse bottles. E will take a few ounces for DH but not my parents last night. A just flat out gets mad. Do I really need to buy one of every bottle until one works or can I just get the ones we have (Avent Naturals) to work? Or any other tips??

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. Don't judge, but I love homemade stuffing with canned Ocean Spray cranberry sauce. Mhmmm

[mc13]

@nomnom I'm no expert but DD1 will be two on 1/6 and she babbled and said basic words like cat, mama, dada around 15 months but then her language skills have slowly gotten better over the last few months adding in other basics like all done, up, dog, and lots of animal noises. Her pedi only asked about saying a few words at her 18 month appt and said it's no worry until 2ish years old.

All of a sudden this week (22.5 months old), just when I started to worry, DD1's language has exploded! She's started repeating most words I say and picking up a new word almost every day. My nephew is about 6 weeks older than her (turning 2 on 11/24) and he was almost he same way and now has lots of words and is putting 2 unrelated words together - like "baby cousins, baby car seats".

[Squishy622]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? 14.5 month ID girls

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? Gah this age is SO fun. I love it. I complained last time about worrying about their language. Since then I can confidently say that M has some "words" (but is only just starting to walk) and L has been working on her sprinting everywhere skills so I'm sure the words will come soon.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? Nope

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? Nope

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. I'm definitely a sucker for stuffing.

[nomnom]

@feegan I'm not worried yet, but I want to make sure I'm not too lackadaisical about milestones.

[schmella]

12m b/g
A is walking, everywhere. And officially done with his helmet! He has three evenly spaced bruises on his forehead from head butting the railing at the playground last week and whacked his head on 2 benches after falling flat on his back this morning- it's a steep learning curve. W is a maniac, she repeats all the sounds and has even strung together a sentence. Oh and this week she realized I would pick her up if she cried so that's been fun. A learned "Hi!" today.
Concerns: colds with toddlers suck, they have so much energy to burn but can't go anywhere without infecting others. UGH. Any ideas to burn some energy at home, inside, without terrifying my dogs are welcome.
Feeding: We we're hoping to be down to 1 bottle by now but still have 2 because sick babies don't want to eat or drink anything. It has taken us a week to go through a formula container and I realized that's what it's like to have one baby and laugh/cried hysterically.

I get stupid excited about canned cranberry jelly. And pumpkin pie

[schmella]

piccyami, you could always try a faster nipple. I know with BFing, the concern is that too fast will lead to BFing issues but it's something to consider. You could try tipping the bottle to rub the nipple in the roof of his mouth for stimulation, or putting s finger under his chin for support and to stimulate his suck reflex. Mine both fought bottles at different points- each kid went through a phase where just holding the bottle near their mouth was all it takes, and a phase where we felt like we were force feeding them. It sucks.

ETA- at 8 weeks, you can find videos on YouTube for sidelying and paced feedings if he's fighting the whole feeding. We worked with a speech therapist for A, which is something EI can help you with if it is an issue. There is always an option to change bottles and nipples to find a shape LO likes- will he take a pacifier? Th me shape of the paci might give you a clue for bottle nipples

[piccyami]

schmella, he's a weird kid. Every paci works. He seriously loves them. We also tried the faster flow nipples, which just made him scream louder during his angry baby stints. He's just very committed to being angry. When he's in that mood, he just gnaws on the nipple, so nothing really comes out. I have one more nipple to try when I wash it.

[dke2010]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? 8 weeks, ID girls

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? Their 2-month appointment is tomorrow. I'm anxious to see how much they've grown in the past month. The girls still wear NB clothes and diapers but they've definitely put on some weight.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? When do you start a bedtime routine? I normally feed them between 9-11pm (whenever they're due to nurse) before I go to bed. Sometimes they wake every 3 hours to eat and sometimes they sleep for longer stretches. One night they ate at 9pm and didn't wake again until 4am. I'm wondering if a bedtime routine would help with consistency.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc?

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? I love the turkey and mashed potatoes!

[schmella]

Nov 20, 2016 5:21:33 GMT -5 piccyami said:

schmella, he's a weird kid. Every paci works. He seriously loves them. We also tried the faster flow nipples, which just made him scream louder during his angry baby stints. He's just very committed to being angry. When he's in that mood, he just gnaws on the nipple, so nothing really comes out. I have one more nipple to try when I wash it.

Has he been checked for tongue and lip ties? Has reflux been ruled out? Does temperature make a difference? Otherwise... each of mine went through angry bottle refusal periods- they both have pretty severe reflux so for us it was an indication that we needed to check their dosage but sometimes it was just a phase. Which is obnoxious as heck.

[macchiatto]

Hi. I haven't posted in a while; not sure if anyone remembers me but I'm back on TCF for now.

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? 7y/o fraternal twin boys

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? It's going well, actually! This is their first year in separate classes (2nd grade) though they've both recently ended up for the GT program so they're together one day a week after all. Oliver is typically developing while Leo has some special needs. Leo's been waitlisted to restart a few therapies for months now and we're in the process of switching developmental pediatricians, but overall he's doing well.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? Not at this point.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? Nope.

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food.
So hard to choose just one! Maybe stuffing ... or garlic parmesan mashed cauliflower ... or pumpkin pie.

[macchiatto]

pbandj714, I've heard different things on this, but our pediatrician told us that breastmilk or formula are the main source of nutrition until 12m; to think of solids as more for practice rather than nutrition until that point. Our boys' formula intake did sloowly taper off from about 8 or 9 til 12m though but they were still getting at least 24 oz/day of formula.

piccyami one of mine did that off and on for months. It was challenging! Often we had to keep expermenting with different flow nipples, different pacing, etc. We eventually realized it was probably his reflux wasn't adequately controlled.

mc13 We did keep our twins in the same crib til 6m. Once they were done with swaddling, we separated them. That's awesome about the language explosion!

@feegan 12-18m was one of my favorite ages!

dke2010 we started a bedtime routine around 7-8 weeks. My boys started STTN at 4.5 months (pleasantly surprised they both started at the same time!). We followed a lot of HSHHC principles in terms of sleep cues and timing, putting them down drowsy but awake, etc. It worked surprisingly well without crying but I know every baby is different!

[bocaburger]

Hi everyone, sorry I've missed a couple check-ins!

piccyami Can you try to pre-empt it by starting a feed before he starts crying? (Not always possible I know, but maybe he has some hunger cues you can look out for, or maybe you can feed him on a schedule.) Re: MOTN, once my pediatrician was satisfied with their growth she gave me permission to stop waking them for nighttime feeds. That might help!

dke2010 We started a bedtime "routine" fairly early but not on a specific schedule - we start it whenever they are due to eat between 8-10pm. It's quite simple, we change their diapers, put them in pjs and swaddles, turn out the lights and put on white noise, feed, burp, put them down. If they are fussing we sing a little but normally they fall asleep while nursing or burping. Then again, today it took 3 tries per baby to get them down and we didn't succeed until after 11pm. So what the heck do I know.

[bocaburger]

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples?

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss?
Mostly good. They definitely recognize me now and smile when they see me, which is so nice. Unfortunately they've also developed a preference for me so when they are really worked up I'm always the one who had to soothe them. They're also teething right now, so pretty fussy and not sleeping as well.

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? I'm just so, so tired. I think the nursing is really taxing on my body and the lack of personal time is really hard for me emotionally. When they finally go to bed I need to spend a while unwinding, so I end up going to bed late because I feel like it's the only time I can get to myself.

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? G is teething and she has started to clamp down on my nipple with her gums and then yank. It hurts and actually made me bleed the other day. I'm terrified of what will happen once she actually has teeth!

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. All the pies! Pumpkin, pecan, and my aunt makes an incredible chocolate chip pie but unfortunately we're not with her this year.

[twobananas]

Nov 18, 2016 13:50:54 GMT -5 pbandj714 said:

L loves to stand and look around the room. G will put a tiny bit of weight on his legs for a split second and then crumple like a rag doll.

This is my kids exactly, my daughter could stand all day and my son can barely get his feet flat on the ground. Glad to hear it's the same for you!

[twobananas]

Joining this a bit late!

- How old/combo (gg/bb/bg/etc) are your multiples? GB, 5 months!

- How's it going, any upcoming Dr Appts or milestones you'd like to discuss? Going well, I occasionally stop to think and realize that twins are so freaking hard, but for the most part we're all enjoying life!

- Do you have any questions or concerns that you'd like advice on? We cheated on the no solids until 6 months and gave them some turkey and mashed potatoes last night!

- Any feeding specific questions regarding nursing, FF, solids, weaning, etc? Nope, other than the contraband solids, all is normal

- QOTW: What Thanksgiving food are you most excited about? If you're not in the US or don't celebrate, tell us about your favorite fall/comfort food. I love sweet potato casserole!