My Baby NEVER SLEEPS!

She might be a tummy sleeper. My DS would *only* sleep on his tummy from the day he was born. If I tried the 'back to sleep' thing he would sleep 20 mins at best. GL! Hope you get some rest soon!!

This sounds like what I was going through with my son (you can read my previous posts!). At 4 1/2 months I decided I had to do something. Not only was I at my wit's end, my poor baby was not getting any rest. I also was trying to avoid making him cry at all costs. But it was not working for us (it certainly wasn't helping him sleep.)

I ended up putting him on his tummy to sleep. I know you're probably thinking "how could she??" & trust me I never thought I would do it. But we got very desperate. At the same time I also sleep-trained him (cry it out). It was a painful hour or two that first night, but ever since then I've had NO regrets. My son went from sleeping 9-10 hours a day to sleeping 13-16 hrs a day. And he is SO much happier now that he gets the sleep his body needs! I've never made him cry all night (in fact I'm still feeding him once a night even though he probably doesn't need it anymore, but that's my fault). I'm telling you this because I didn't even have to strictly follow any CIO rules, and it still helped us enormously.

Best of luck to you and your family. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

J.

I consulted w/ a sleep expert and she was AMAZING! At 4 months (believe it or not), if your twins are at a healthy weight, they can be sleeping 12hrs/night.
I would recommend, first, getting another crib for the other twin. They need a 'consistent' sleeping environment where they know that that 'place' means 'sleep' but I would probably avoid the swing (I think at this age I remember them growing out of the swing?). Bedtime routine is great (I did dinner, bath, pj's and bottle and then bed). Also, at this age, I remember her saying that they need at least 4/8oz bottles a day. Eating and sleeping go hand in hand so maybe pump and see how much breastmilk you are producing. Also, I let both my babies cry it out and if you do the '3 Day Sleep solution' (by the expert I consulted with), it's really very minimal. I don't think it's cruel - my babies are the HAPPIEST and people always ask me why they are so happy and well behaved and my answer is, "Sleep!" :) In 3 days, she guarantees that your baby will be sleeping all night (again, bearing in mind that your twins are at a good weight and healthy). I know she was recently looking for twins for a pilot show she is doing so maybe contact her? She is amazing!! If you can't consult w/her (it does cost some $$ but I will tell you, having them sleep was worth EVERY penny to me), then get her DVD - I believe it's $40 and it will change everything.
Good luck to you and God Bless your husband for serving this country! :)
www.3daysleep.com

Hi C. :-)

Are your four month old twins sleeping with you in bed? Or.. are they sleeping in cribs? Are they sleeping in the SAME crib? If they are in separate cribs, I might suggest you consider putting them together to sleep .. the one twin may just be feeling a loss of the other and might just be restless.. let me know what the sleeping arrangements are so we can know if other ideas are needed.
hugs,
A. R.N., Energy Medicine Practitioner

Try a sleep sack.
Amazon has these and you can see the reviews there.

Perhaps the sleepless one has an issue with something you're eating? Some babies are sensitive to milk products or corn or wheat and kght show less dramatic results than others when feeding occurs. My baby began waking in a similar pattern as well as getting hives and vomiting (I hope this is not the case for you!). I dropped all milk sources from my diet and she began holding her milk down, sleeping better and skin cleared. I had to check ALL labels for anything milk related.

I wouldn't worry much about the bottle thing like others have suggested. Your baby needs YOU and nothing can replace that. A bottle would tend to overfeeding her anyway, and probably would be wasteful because she would vomit the excess or it would pass right through her. And since you're alone and it would be difficult to get her to take it from you, it would be more useless than its worth.

C., all I can say is I feel your pain. My daughter was just the same - she wouldn't take a nap unless someone was holding her and then only for about twenty or so minutes. And if you put her down she started screaming again. It was awful, especially at dinner time because I had a one year old as well and couldn't just skip putting something on the table. I had a teenager come in for a couple of hours each night to hold her while I attended to my other one and it was a lifesaver. She grew out of it at five months of age and it was like having a different baby so I want to tell you I know it's hard but it's not forever!

Did the change in sleep patterns happen after an illness or vaccines?

Try wearing your baby. Get a Baby Bjorn or other carrier and wear your baby on your chest. My son was a difficult sleeper and this helped out tremendously.

I am so sorry to hear about your sleeping troubles, here are some things I do for both my boys (8 months/2 years).

Black out shades
Sound Machine (they both enjoy "ocean")
One size up in diapers (your twin might need the next size up when sleeping to absorb more pee, making it more comfortable)
Sleep Sack and an extra layer of clothes for the winter months

Also, you said that the baby won't take a bottle. Have you tried a different nipple. Some bottles are Standard Size and others are Wide Neck. Try different ones to see what works :)

For naps during the day my son went through a period where he would wake up after 20 minutes also, it is part of their sleep cycle. He would wake up from a nap after 20 minutes and be up until the next nap. What I did was to help him get back to sleep after that initial wake up after 20 minutes. There are several options for your daughter - rub her back, rock her, give her a pacifier, etc. - choose the one that you feel most comfortable doing. I chose rocking. The first day I had to rock him after every 20 minutes, then it was to the point where I had to do it only after the first 20 minutes. After about 3 or 4 days my son was able to sleep through his entire 2 hour nap without any help. Once your daughter gets over this hump, she should be fine as sleep really does beget sleep.

Back sleeping is still way safer than tummy sleeping for babies that are not turning themselves over yet. Are they gaining weight at the same rate?If the good sleeper is gaining more weight, maybe she is hungry. It sounds like you really need a break. Have you tried different styles of bottle/nipples?
D.

Between 12-20 weeks, the baby's sleep becomes more like ours. As it does, they sometimes jump awake before heading off into the deep part of a sleep cycle. So, you are in the fun place of teaching your daughter how to go to sleep. If you put in some work now, she should be a good sleeper by 6 months. Yes, that's right, you may have two more months. Yes, it sucks. Welcome to being a mom ;-) Unless you want to do CIO: then, you may only have 4-10 days. You pick. If you want to avoid CIO, then:

First key: make sure you put her down WIDE AWAKE. Yes, she will pop right back up. Nurse her until she is drowsy but awake again, and again, and again, until she puts herself to sleep. After a few days, or a week, you should be able to nurse her, and put her down wide awake, and she should sleep better.

Second: if she does wake up, nurse her and put her down again. If this doesn't work, then:

Third: Alarm clock method: 5 minutes before you think she will wake, go in and startle her just enough that she rolls over. This should reset her sleep cycle.

Soon, very soon, the naps will be consolidated, i..e you should be getting at least 60 minutes, not 45, not 30, but 60-75 minutes for each nap.

Try harder with the bottle feeding.