Twins and Solid Food
September 6th, 2011 | 
Author: LG and DJ are my first babies so introducing them to solids was a new experience to me. To the mommies that already have a youngster before twins, some of this will be the obvious. Being a first time mom, it wasn’t to me.
Solids
We started solids at 1 week shy of 6 months.The twins began eating oatmeal cereal at 4-1/2 months, but we held off on fruits and veggies.
I had various reasons for waiting – less chance of allergies, easier on their digestion, not wanting to mess up their feeding schedule again (we had finally plateaued with the amounts and times) etc.
We didn’t waste any time trying to get them to take a spoon or like the new textures or flavors! DJ acted like a little birdie wanting a worm from the very first spoonful. LG struggled with tongue reflex for a bit but was still eager to eat!
Feeding two with a spoon is time consuming! One piece of advice I read about feeding twins is to feed them simultaneously – one bite to twin A, one bite to twin B, one bite to twin A, etc. That totally didn’t work for us in the beginning. Twin A was distracted by twin B eating and vice versa or got mad because she wasn’t getting her food fast enough.
Now that they are a little more accustomed to food, I sometimes feed them simultaneously and it is definitely faster but more challenging.
Food
Now for the most important part – the amount of food to have …
The best advice I can give – More than you think you need! 
We had quite a bit stocked up but one thing I never paid attention to was how much we had of each flavor. The “rule” is to feed a new food for 3 to 5 days to check for allergies. With two little mouths, that’s 6-10 jars of one flavor. For some reason, I never considered that. That means 6 jars of peas, 6 jars of apples, 6 jars of green beans, 6 jars of pears, etc. And that’s only 3 days worth of each flavor.
When I finally comprehended just how much food was necessary, I sat down with our supply and laid out a rough feeding plan. Here’s an example of how we built up flavor variety quickly …
We had some Stage 1 or Supported Sitter foods, which are single ingredients, and we had Stage 2 or Sitter foods, which are mixed ingredients. For the first week, I fed apples for 3 days. Neither girl had a reaction so on the 4th day I added sweet potatoes. For the next 3 days, I fed both apples and sweet potatoes. Once I knew sweet potatoes were safe, I added Stage 2 Apple Sweet Potato mixed meal. So, after 1 week, the girls were eating apples, sweet potatoes, and the mixed meal.
The next week, I added a new fruit on Monday, waited the 3 days, and added a new veggie. 
This plan works for us and I feel safe following it simply because neither DH nor I have food allergies or sensitivities, and we have no family history of allergies on either side. If there are allergies in your family, you should definitely follow a slower schedule for introducing new foods.
If you do notice anything suspicious that might be connected to a new food, stop feeding it and reintroduce it later on. On the 2nd day of trying carrots, LG developed a diaper rash and a slight rash on the right corner of her mouth. I wasn’t 100% convinced it was the carrots, because both girls were beginning the teething process, but I stopped the carrots and plan on waiting until LG’s rash is completely cleared up for at least a week before reintroducing carrots.
Curious about the picture? It’s actually kinda hard to tell how much food is really there. The jars are stacked 4 deep and 3 high in most cases. The pouches are about 6 or 7 deep. The tubs are 3 deep and 6 high. I’m guessing it’s about 30 days worth of food. The cereal, next to the flower, will likely last longer – maybe 2 months? I’ll let you know if my guess was right for how long this supply will last us.
Related posts:
Posted in 
Tags: