How can I feed my twins solids at the same time??

Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2011 Posts: 912

hi twin moms! so I cant believe it but my 4 month old twins have begun eating solids! they do great with a spoon and love most flavors of baby food...the problem is I have always bottle fed them simultaneously since they were born and have tried to do the same with baby food and so far its been so so hard. here is what I have tried:

feeding both babies using 2 spoons and 2 bowls at the same time. one spoon for baby a, one spoon for baby b and back again. this resulted in ALOT of crying. the babies didnt like waiting so long between each spoonful and they became so upset I had to stop feeding them and just give them bottles!

then I tried feeding one before the other. well, as soon as I sat baby a down to eat first, baby b became hysterical because he smelled the food and wanted it right away. so I went to give baby b a paci, leaving baby a mid bowl so baby a started crying!

finally, I tried bottle feeding first so they werent so hungry and gave them 6 oz of formula. then I tried feeding one first but had the same amount of crying from the other oen that I wasnt feeding.....I gues its great that they love the baby food so much but I am totally overwhelmed with the task of feeding both! I hope someone here has some good suggestions on how to do this...I read somewhere that using one spoon and one bowl is a good idea but I like to know exactly how much each baby eats and that would be very difficult to know if using just one bowl....

please help! I love my children more than anything and hate to see them crying!

thanks amazing moms!

Executive Member Joined: May 17 2011 Posts: 272

good luck- I use 1 bowl and 1 spoon and always did it this way- I feed them until they seem uninterested in eating anymore and start playing with their food. Even this way is not fast enough for them!!

Senior Member Joined: Feb 16 2010 Posts: 214

Like this! http://www.ikeahackers.net/2010/12/ultimate-twin-highchair.html

Beginner Joined: Oct 25 2010 Posts: 7

At that age my twins ( now 13) were in the type of floor chairs that I could adjust their sitting position. I sat them in their chairs and also did the one ( v large ) bowl and 1 spoon method . I had to spoon v fast otherwise they were not happy at all. they will adjust to waiting the seconds between mouthfuls as I remember that by 6 months they were in high chairs and much better at knowing their spoon was coming ! BTW they were my hungriest babies and biggest eaters compared to my others and much more demanding at meal times. You and they will get there !

Platinum Member Joined: Apr 12 2010 Posts: 5882

I dont have twins but I do know (from my mum) that when I was little, she had a brother a few weeks older than me...what she would do was make one big bowl of food, sit us next to each other and spoon one to me one to him one to me one to him etc etc.

Good Luck (and mazel tov for getting to this stage Wink

)
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Silver Member Joined: Jan 09 2011 Posts: 912

I used to spoonfeed them as they sat in baby chairs in front of me as quickly as I could. They were so cute, and they loved it. And then as soon as they were able to sit in high chairs I would give them finger foods and see how much they could do on their own. I did that with all my singletons as well, and it certainly made them independent (if messy!) eaters very quickly.

I remember a certain woman coming to my house and watching me shoveling mashed carrots into two little mouths as fast as I could, and she thought it was amazing! She said that watching me with my twins had given her the urge to have another baby. And then, funnily enough, a few months later, she told me that I had it seemed not only inspired her to have another baby, but she was also having twins!

Moderator Joined: Dec 26 2005 Age: 33 Posts: 11430

I do as others said: I would put the food in one bowl and spoon the food into alternate mouths. It was definitely annoying, and there was a lot of screaming because they were so impatient, but they got used to it.

I would just give it to them until they seemed uninterested. At that age they really don't need too much food, it's mainly to get them used to it, so you don't need to worry that they're getting enough.

Posted: Wed, Nov 16 2011, 2:03 am Post subject:

Yes, I did one bowl & one spoon also. Gosh you are bringing back memories!
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Lucky Mom to 5
Nechama & Rena 21 Sh'vat, 5764; Rivka 5 Tamuz 5765; Avraham Tzvi 11 Adar I, 5768; CHD "1 in 100" miracle baby Eliezer Yosef, 13 Av 5772 (TAPVR, now repaired B"H)

Senior Member Joined: Dec 19 2009 Posts: 247

One bowl, one spoon is the way to go. If your babies are bottle-feeding nicely, you don't have to give yourself additional work trying to keep track of who eats how much. Sure, they will scream in the beginning, but soon they'll learn that the magic spoon is coming back to them. Learning patience is tough stuff even for us mothers Wink

I found that letting them face each other slightly in their highchairs helped, because then they could see the other one getting fed. This distracted them when it was not their turn to be fed.

When they were old enough, I sprinkled a few Meltaways baby food (I think Gerber?) on their high chair trays so one could be busy fishing for a meltaway or gumming it while I got 1-2 spoonfuls into the other one, and vice versa. Good luck!

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 17 2011 Posts: 6158

I remember the other twin screaming when I fed the first. The nanny thought it was super hysterical because the other baby got so mad they were not eating.

I trained my twins the first time I fed them not to scream. I did not give good to the screaming baby only to the quiet one. They caught on real fast. My mother thought I was mean. Interestingly, enough they were only quiet when I fed them, not when my husband fed them, the nanny or my mother.

Executive Member Joined: May 17 2011 Posts: 272

I also found what helped in the beginning (although I didnt start food before 6 months)was to try to distract them a little with some type of musical toy next to me on the table so while I was feeding 1 spoon to 1 kid the other would look at the toy- it helped just a little