Baby Feeding Schedule and Log

Lessons Learnt from Maintaining a Feeding Log for Twins

I maintained a feeding log for my twin girls schedule from when they were a month old till around 4 months old. I used the Baby ESP app (the only app I've ever paid for)and I also used a modified paper version of this log (yes, I designed my own excel spreadsheet).

Note, if keeping a log is hard work, other options for tracking your twins' feeding are the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer (click link for more information) and Nursing bracelet

           

I learnt a lot about how to design a feeding schedule for babies from the logs and cannot over-emphasize the usefulness of keeping a log for baby scheduling. Here's a run down of what I learnt

1. Babies are born with an internal clock. I fed on demand for a while and used that time to observe the twins' eating habits. They ate at different times, but from the logs I was able to pick the best times to feed them both and I started them on a feeding schedule
2. Babies know how much food they need in a day and they WILL get it. With the schedules, I noticed that within a 24 hour period and without fail, the girls always ate the same volume. They were accurate to the ounce. When they wanted 24oz of milk, they got it. It didn't matter if it was 12 bottles of 2oz or 6 bottles of 4oz; so I always aimed at increasing their bottles to whatever holds their tummys for 3-4 hours. That's how we went from 8 bottles every 3 hours to 4 bottles every 3-4 waking hours.
3. Speaking of waking hours, from #2, I figured that if babies get their daily calorie requirement in the daytime, they would sleep through the night. The issue is for a while, they are not physically able to take all that formula in during the day. When their bodies were developed enough to hold ~28oz of milk from daytime bottles, they started sleeping through the night. (This point for both babies came when they were around 14lbs in body weight and 4-5 months old)
4. From #3, I figured that when my babies start waking up at night and not back to sleep an hour later and are fussy even with a pacifier on hand, they're hungry. I feed them and I also realise that it's time to increase the daytime calories again.

Why am I posting about this? Well, both girls have been living up to #4 now so I know it's time to get some more solids in those little tummys so mommy can get some semi-interrupted sleep.

Please note that this is what I've observed from my babies. All babies are different so... that's my disclaimer right there.