Our 5 mo. twins used to have a beautiful sleeping schedule--waking up just once a night! Those days are long gone, due to schedule changes over the holidays, a scary bought with pneumonia that had my little girl in the hospital for a week, and the beginning of teething.
Right now, the twins are sleeping in the bassinets of separate Pack n Plays in our room. This is a change as they used to sleep in their swings (I know, bad decision!). We rock them until they're sleeping (they won't go to sleep on their own), then lay them down. Each sleeps for a while, but, on average, they wake up every 45 min/hour. When they wake, we try to let them self-soothe, but intervene before they make enough noise to wake the other twin.
We'd appreciate any advice! Tonight we're going to try separate rooms--husband & son in our room, daughter & me in the babies' room. Something's got to work!
M., I don't have twins, but I know someone who has triplets and of the three, two of them are twins. And she found that even though they each had their own crib, they wouldn't sleep seperately. She put the twins together and now they sleep fine. Maybe it would be worth giving it a try?
The biggest thing I can suggest is teaching your babies to put themselves to sleep on their own. It's not really a fun job but, it really pays off in the end. My husband actually did alot of the job with both of our boys because I wanted to rescue them right away. The best routine we used was a step-down kind of a method. Where on Day 1, you rock until the baby is VERY drowsy and almost asleep and then you put him/her in the crib. Day 2, you rock for a bit shorter of a time... And then less and less each day until eventually you just lay the baby in the crib and the baby falls asleep without any rocking or holding. It's not always fun because there may be crying (from you and the babies) but, it's so good for the baby to be able to put him/herself to sleep. You should be able to find lots of methods online... The Sleep Lady is really amazing... You can even sign up for monthly newsletters from her, which I did for a while. Anyway, best of luck. I remember those nights of being up every hour. I hope you figure out something that works!
Hi M.
I agree with staci. The best way toget a good night sleep is to teach your children to sleep on their own this dosen't mean ypu will never cuddle them to sleep but when they are healthy they should be able to put themselves to sleep. Good Luck
P.S The sooner you start the easier it will be
Hey don't knock the swing. We used one too for the first 3 months :) It was wonderful (and the advice of Dr. Karp - Happiest Baby guy).
Anyway, I agree with another post that they may be too big for the bassinet, but you know where they're at developmentally and size wise. We tried to go from the swing to the bassinet, but it didn't work. One problem was it wasn't stable enough ( you know how it gives a bit) and every time he moved it was "noisy". It could just be a comfort thing. Have you tried your crib(s) (if you have one)? They might enjoy that more.
Good luck.
That is really often for 5 month olds to wake up. Are they cold? Is there too bright a light on? The thing that worked for our family was a bassinet WITH A LIGHTED MOTORIZED MOBILE on top. That was the best investment we ever made in baby equipment!!! It worked for BOTH our children. When they woke up too close between feedings, I would just push the button and a soft light on the mobile would turn on and it would start going around. WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!! The baby would fall back to sleep within a minute or two.
We got ours at Target for about $80 (3 1/2 years ago.) Our daughter was about 8 to 10 weeks old and was NOT sleeping at all. The only time she would sleep was in my arms! So, we bought the "special bassintet" and we would swaddle her, in a blanket, lay her down, turn on the light and mobile and she would be out!!!
Of course she would still wake at reasonable intervals to eat.
im starting to be afraid your babies are getting too big for the basinett thing. you have to get them out of there before they learn to roll over, if they are already rolling over, or have started to, get them out of there now before there is an accident.
as far as noise, its surprising that quiet is something that your babies need; most babies are used to noise because the womb is NOT a quiet place. you should never have to tiptoe around the house while they are sleeping. you should be able to do regular chores and carry on -
my son is 2 and we still use white noise/lullabies when he naps or is in bed. he sleeps in his crib in our room with us, my husband is a light sleeper and needs the white noise himself :P and its convenient for us to all be in the same room. its comforting too.
anyhow, try getting some sort of white noise or the cd that we have; for crying out loud. its got 8 tracks on it of different household/white noises. very good. we ended up finding it when my son was almost 3 months old - for 2 months we ran the vacuum at night. this cd has a vacuum recording on it - we ended up making a cd of 8 vacuum tracks. the tracks are around 9 minutes long each.
anyway,
try that. use night light (which im sure you do)
also remember that your babies are young, getting to be the age for teething, and doing a lot of growing in their first year, they are going to be hungry, A LOT.
bear with them.
i cant imagine having twins when one is such hard work, especially with the night feedings. you are a stay at home mom? thats a helpful thing for you anyway.
remember that they wont wake at night forever, its actually helpful that they do (prevents sids when they dont sleep too hard) and you might actually miss the nighttime connection when its gone. :D and the way you nurture them during the night now makes a TON of difference about how they feel about sleep and night time later.
:D
good luck,
www.askdrsears.com might have some help for you!
I have b/g twins that are now just over a year. We had the same thing go on around 5 months. Both my twins were teething and had recently went through a stomach bug. My hubby and I also thought the same thing...quick go get the first one before the other one wakes up. We thought about separating them but I didn't want to do that yet. We were told by a family friend who also has twins to just let them self-soothe. It was hard at first, and a few times they did wake each other up, but now if one wakes up we hear a few peeps and then nothing. It was really hard for me not to run in their room every time they made a sound but it has gotten a lot easier.
Hello there! I understand the lack of sleep with twins. I have twins that are about to turn 5 (yikes!) but I do remember many sleepless nights. Be patient with the change of schedules...it may take them longer to adjust, even though you may have already re-adjusted! Also...have you noticed that they are going through a growth spurt? Are the girls eating solid foods yet (baby food/rice cereal)? I remember this buying some sleep time. I remember my twins having times where they were unable to sleep (I always blamed it on a growth spurt) and then all the sudden they fell back into place again. My twins also slept in the same crib. Several people told me not to have them sleep in the same crib, but after various sleepless nights I put them in the same crib anyway and what do you know...they SLEPT!!! Anyways...I hope one of these thoughts might help...hang in there...it does get easier :)
We always started out with the bassinet of pack and plays too for our babies when they were new, however, I found that their quality of sleep once they gained weight wasn't that great, and as soon as we moved them to their cribs with a good mattress we all slept much better. I don't know if this would help your little ones or not. Good luck :)
Go read the book "Babywise" Everything you need to know to get your twins to sleep is in this book. I was recommended this book before I had my first child by several of my clients. Now I recommend this book to everyone. Everyone who has read this book swears by it and loves it.
Babywise teaches you how to get your children on a good sleep pattern through full feedings instead of snacking. What that means is, it is important to feed a child a full feeding meaning all at once a full 3-4 ounces instead of letting them eat a little here, fall asleep and then eat a little more ect. when a child has a full tummy, he/she will sleep better. It also teaches parents not to use sleep crutches such as swings, being rocked to sleep, pacifiers or other sleep crutches to get the child to sleep. This book teaches parents to get their kids to feel more independent on their own. What this will do is simple... when a child feels secure and independent... if they wake up in the middle of the night, they will self sooth themselves back to sleep without having to use a sleep crutch.
All I can say is my first child was sleeping through the night at 7 weeks after I read and followed the advise of this book. now my child is 18 months old and she goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 7:30 am every day. I just had another child a few weeks ago and am doing the same thing with him. He is only 3 weeks old but is already sleeping and eating at regular times. He eats a full feeding and then sleeps for 2 to 2.5 hours. His routine is pretty predictable now because I have followed the book.
I also know that twins can take a bit longer to sleep through the night. This book does have a section just for twins as well. good luck
Hi M.,
I too, am a mother of multiples. Triplet(b,b,g), who are now 6 and a 8 yo daughter. I am also a licensed daycare provider.
To not go through everything that's already been written by others, I fully agree with what Staci said. In addition to that, children as well as most adults(myself included) wake during the night to some degree, and have learned or will learn to put ourselves back to sleep. All of my children were cuddled, rocked, loved & squeezed untill they became drowsy, then were layed down, awake. We put a cd player in their rooms which play soft mucic(no lyriks)for a soothing effect or "white noise" if you will, and to this day I have never had a problem putting them to bed at night. Also, it is very important to develope some type of bedtime routine. Ex: Dinner, playtime, bath, stories/snuggles/rocking, bed. Try to do this each night if you can. Children thrive on routine and come to learn it and look forward to each thing as the evening progresses. Good luck to you. Some words of encouragement- as they get older, it does start to get easier...now mine are 6 going on 16, or so they think(wanting to do everything for themselves...so independent :0)
M.,
It is fine you let them sleep in the swings. Whatever works for your family is fine. I think you will find that the separate room idea may be good. Keep your kids close and if you are nursing, nurse on demand. They are still young and learning about you and being able to trust they will be cared for when they need something. The cry it our method doesn't work and is often used on children that are too young anyway.
Co sleeping is the way that worked best for us and so many other families. Another bonus: areas of the world where co-sleeping is the norm have the lowest SIDS rate. The US has the second highest infant mortality for an industrialized world! Go figure.
Read Night Time Parenting by Dr. Sears or go to the Web site askdrsears.com. The book saved our lives when our oldest was little.
Stay with your kids, as this will and soon they will be grown with lives of their own.
The days (of nights in this case!) are long but the years are short.
Hang in there,
J.
