The routine. . .

We have our boys on the 'feed play sleep' routine. Basically that means they have their bottle of milk (feed), then have some awake time (play) then go to bed (sleep) and then they wake up hungry and the routine repeats its self. We are demand feeding at the moment, and the cycle can be anywhere from 2-6 hours long. The extremes are rare, it usually repeats every 3-4 hours.



FEED

The boys wake up hungry, and hungry boys can not be ignored. They each have their own cry to tell us they are hungry. Benji whinges, sucks madly on his dummy (pacifier) and sounds like he's saying "eg eg". Sometimes it's just one "eg" and other times it will be a whole string of about 5-6 "eg eg's"!!
In this video he says only one "eg" in the middle of his whinges.

Ethan says 'eh eh eh' and pants a lot in between cries.

Each boy is given his bottle and is allowed to drink about 40mls (1oz) and then we take away the bottle and give him a burp. If we don't, he'll get a lot of gas, and a belly ache and throw up! The poor little loves don't like to be burped because they are still hungry and they only notice that their food has gone :(

We burp them either sitting on our lap, or over the shoulder. Either way, it's an upright position. Ethan knows that he gets food in a laying down position, so sometimes when we're trying to burp him, he tries to lie him self down, and kisses the air in the hope of getting more food. Otherwise he allows us to burp him while he sighs with every breath out and makes a squeaky noise when he breathes in. Sounds like "ahhhh eh, ahhhhh eh, ahhhhh, eh" It's a funny noise. Benji usually just grizzles and wriggles during his burping procedure Sometimes he likes to have a dummy to suck on while he's being burped. Both boys can make burping very difficult!!

When we lay them back down after their burp, they ask for more food. Watch their mouth. . .

Benji first . . .

Then Ethan . . .

After finishing their burp (which can take 10 seconds or several minutes) they continue to have more milk. Benji is a quiet but messy drinker and will often soak his bib and his clothes with milk and require new clothes. Ethan is a noisy drinker, and pants and squeaks and sighs towards the end of his bottle. He is much neater and hardly even needs to wear a bib. Each boy drinks 100-140mls (3-5oz) each, depending on how hungry they are, and after having several burps, it's on to play time.

PLAY

Play time can be anywhere from 5 mins to about an hour or more, depending on how tired they are. A 5min play time is basically a nappy change and a short cuddle for a very tired boy. A longer play time may be some tummy time, or lying on their back on their floor mat. They may also have a story read to them, a song sung to them, have a cuddle with mum, look at some toys, go for a walk in the pram, have a bath, listen to music or lie in their rocking chair. . . . .or a combination of these things.

SLEEP

We put them to bed when they are showing us some tired signs. Benji gets tired quicker than Ethan. Benji gets very grizzly, he gets the jerky arm and leg movements and clenched fists. He gets wrapped for bed and he likes to be sung the song '10 little ducks' while being held upright and looking at your face and bobbing up and down. After a few verses, he will become more relaxed and can be put to bed. Because it's winter, we warm their bed with hot water bottles before they get in. We put him into his warm bed and usually within about 30secs he will start to cry. All he needs is a dummy and a little pat on the belly and we say "shhhh, shhhh, shhhh" to him and he calms down quickly. He will usually be quiet for another 5 mins sucking on his dummy. He will then spit out his dummy, have a few little grizzles over the next minute (that we ignore unless he really cries) and he will then put himself to sleep.

Ethan is a much more alert baby. He can tolerate more awake time than his brother, and will often go to bed after Benji. Ethan does not have as many obvious tired signs, but will sometimes get clenched fists and start to grizzle. He also gets wrapped for bed and will be put next to his brother in the same cot. He will usually cry after being put down, and will like to have a dummy and a pat on the tummy and a little "shhhh shhhh shhhh" will help him calm down. Often that is all we will hear from Ethan, he will spit his dummy and fall asleep without crying. If Ethan starts to grizzle or cry he needs to be soothed again. He is not as good at self settling as his brother.

In the ideal world, the boys will fall asleep at this point, and not require much attention. They are getting very good at falling asleep quickly after their night time feeds, but in the day, sometimes it takes them much longer to settle and we will have to go and "shhhh shhhh shhhh" them and pat them on the belly and give them their dummy, or a cuddle or whatever they need to help them sleep. It can take anywhere from 5 mins to over an hour to settle a boy for sleep. They will then sleep for 1-5 hours, and the routine repeats its self.