Nap, Meal & Playtime Schedule, Ideas & Toys for Twins

The Twins are 9 months old and these little ladies are on the move. They are rapidly growing, eating solid foods, pulling themselves up and standing. They are all over the place. Literally. With twins and a toddler demanding my time and attention, I have quickly learned that in order to maintain my facade as the group lead (this role is often challenged by Big Sis…) I have to be prepped, organized and pretty much three steps ahead.

I am no expert at implementing a nap schedule, choosing appropriate foods for progressing babies and organizing a successful day with minimal temper tantrums and tears, however, in good ole’ Groundhog Day fashion, I learn from each day and go forward with new ammo.

I am going to share with you our [flexible] nap, meal and playtime schedule, ideas and toys for twins. As always, a work in progress! Hopefully this will help you in similar situations with your daily schedules.

MEAL TIME

When the twins began to eat solid foods it added a whole new hectic wrench into the routine. Prepping, feeding then cleaning up seemed to take up the entire day. Attempting three meals on day one was a huge backfire. We scaled back and practiced with one morning meal. As it became more of a seamless part of our day we added the second and then third.

You need to find a groove or else it’s like anything else with twins (or multiples) you will feel like once you actually finish one meal (prep, dining, cleaning) it’s time to do it all over again! It doesn’t need to be ‘standard’ meal times either. We do 7:30am, 2pm and 5pm. Sort of random, however, with naps, getting out, etc. it works.

Lastly, with Big Sis, I used all the fancy equipment. I had the steamer, baby mixer, containers… I attempted this with the Twins, however, it took me too much time. So we scaled back and now my tools of choice is a peeler, fork and pot of water. No high tech machinery needed.

A girlfriend of mine that also has the twin, big sis trio shared that she has her twins eating the food that the entire fam is eating. I was impressed and also try to incorporate this into our practice, I’m just not all in yet. Although, I am very proud with how the babies handled some of the food that I typically would have never tried at this point! Albeit, the food is cut up extremely small. Some of my simple go-to food choices have been…

Banana’s, avocado (sliced up and served right in the shell), steamed sweet potato, pasta and sauce, wasa crackers with peanut butter (no allergies here…), oatmeal, cream of wheat, Greek yogurt (plain and fruit on the bottom), cottage cheese, soft bread… just to name a few. I’m loving the pasta, bread and crackers because they can feed themselves. (multitasking haven!)

Our morning routine goes a little something like this:

Before I get the babies from their cribs, I mash a banana and top it with Greek yogurt. Grab Big Sisters chocolate milk (Yup, she gets chocolate milk in the am… I chose my battles.), her breakfast, two bottles prepped w/formula and my lifeline coffee. This all comes upstairs with me. You heard right, breakfast in bed.

I set the floor up with a blanket and a bunch of toys and then get the babies, change diapers and dress them for the day.

I am still using the double nursing pillow (pictured above), just not for nursing. This item has been a savior with the Twins from the start and I highly recommend it as a must have with twins. I have mentioned this before, Essential Twin Baby Products For the First Month.

(THE TWIN Z PILLOW – BLUE The only 6 in 1 Twin Pillow Breastfeeding, Bottlefeeding, Tummy Time & Support! A MUST HAVE FOR TWINS! – CUDDLE BLUE DOTS)

They are able to sit up happily and securely while I feed them. After they eat they are off to the floor for a little play time. Their morning nap is short to follow so that’s why we stay upstairs. Its just too much to move everyone downstairs then up again in such a short period of time.

ACTIVITIES

The most successful activity as of yet is the cage play pen. I put a ton of interacting (aka noisy) toys in there along with an assortment of other baby toys and they stay busy for a pretty good amount of time. A lot of their entertainment is each other so there is a lot of stuff for them to do in there.

My second fav activity are their bouncy’s. One is an actual bouncy and the other is more of a saucer. I recommend these as a must have too. You are constantly going back and forth, in and out of rooms tending to one of the babies or their siblings and its just a place where they are contained and safe. Giving you that little slack to tend to other things.

NAP TIME

The nap schedule took some time to develop. It first took sleep training to get them into their own room and cribs. Then recognizing the babies natural sleepy time cues. Looking for the obvious such as getting irritable and clumsier than usual, rubbing their eyes, or not tolerating being put down. With twins you know it’s more difficult to hold and soothe two babies at once. Enter nap time.

The twins nap at 8:30am and around 3/3:30pm. They go to bed at 7pm. They go down every time awake. Always. They don’t fall asleep right away and that’s OK. I have a monitor on them and they are usually playing with each other through their cribs, talking, standing, laughing. It’s kinda cute to watch. Eventually they fall asleep and when they wake up that late afternoon “fussy time” is not as prominent as prior the nap schedule. Win win for all involved.

Like I said, the twins turned 9 months this week and we probably started introducing a more strict schedule at around 6/7 months. Mainly, when meal times became a more prominent part of our day. Stay flexible, prep the best you can and try to roll with the punches. If you have other children there will always be surprises thrown your way. It wont be perfect so if you can embrace that, then you’ll be fine!