I am the mother of 2 girls. My oldest is 17 months and my youngest is 5 months. yes very close in age and both having the same issues. my husband and I can not get the girls to sleep through the night. They have to share a room but my 5 month old is still in her bassinet in our room. We want to put her in her crib next month when she is 6 months old but she has to share a room with her sister who is also not sleeping through the night. Does anyone have any advice on how we can get them to go to sleep in the same the same room at the same time and sleep through the night?
Everthing you ladies have mentioned we have tried. We tried the lullaby cds, lights on the ceiling, nature sounds, white noise you name it we tried it. I don't know what else to do except stick tot he routine we set and put them to bed at the same time earlier than we have been. Our oldest went to sleep last night to the nature machine playing thunder storms all night. She only woke up once but that was because her sister starting crying because she was hungry. otherwise oldest slept from 9:30pm until 7:30am. Now I hope it continues and we can figure out how to get the youngest to sleep through the night. We tried cereal in her bottle but she still wants to eat every 4 hours. We would really like for her to sleep longer at night. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
find a calming lullaby CD and put it on continuous play all night. When the babies start to wake they will hear the music and go back to sleep. It also helps them go to sleep. STICK to a routine: Dinner, bath, brush teeth, read stories, love from mom and dad and bed. Don't alter the routine if you can help it. Hang in there it will get better in about 18 years! ;)
I would not try to put them both to bed at the same time. Get your oldest one down first and the earlier the better. I would start a bedtime routine 30 minutes before you want her to sleep. Give her a bath, read her a book, say your prayers and put her down to bed. Stick with the routine. It will take about a week but you will notice a difference. While you or dad are putting the oldest to bed, the other should start a bath with the youngest and get her to bed 30 minutes - an hour after the first went down. Do the same routine. Bath, nurse the baby, and rock her until she is very drowsy and put her to bed and have her soothe herself to sleep. Do this for about a week or two and she will be ready to go into crib within the month. My husband puts our oldest to bed because it is easier for him than the baby. After our oldest is in bed, we put our baby down for the night. It works for us but routine is key and not trying to get them both down at the same time is key. If you would rather the baby go down first put her down then put the oldest down, it's whatever works best for you. Stick with it and it will work.
This may not solve all the problems, but I LOVE white noise for blocking out sounds. We use a CD of a babbling brook (no music) and put it on repeat. I think you'd be better off to look for a CD rather than a noise-maker machine, because sometimes those can sound "canned", but the kids probably wouldn't notice.
When we go to my in-laws and don't bring the CD, I turn the radio on to static. It helps ALL of us sleep.
Hi L.,
I'm a new mom to a 7 month old and as someone already mentioned (I think) we've found The Baby Sleep Solution book to be helpful. We don't use music, white noise, pacifiers or anything else except a nightlight. I just followed what the book suggests... four feedings a day at the same time, three hours nap time daily (usually one in morn and two hours in afternoon) and most of all NO nap between the third and fourth feeding. Also found it very helpful to put him down sleepy, but not sleeping. This is difficult when he's fussy or just tired and refusing to sleep, but reassuring him and being able to walk out (even closing the door slightly) has made a huge difference -if he does wake during the night he's now able to soothe himself back to sleep without being picked up or us even coming into the room. Of course we have some setbacks, but more or less if we stick to the schedule that day we will usually all sleep that night :) Good luck -I know I need it and I only have one!
Btw, I realize you have the two and both soon to be sleeping in the same room, but maybe some of the above will help with your 5 month old and maybe then overall...
Don't panic. It could be that the baby learns to sleep through the noise or the scufling that the oldest one makes. The baby may end up to be a good sleeper because of it. Just see what happens first before you panic. It could be that it ends up with the oldest laying still knowing that she may wake the baby up and accidentally fall asleep, teaching her how to sleep. It may all work out just perfect. You never know.
I have read every sleep book out there, here are the best. Three books- The No Cry Sleep Solution for toddlers and preschoolers and the No Cry Sleep Solution, Elizabeth Pantley. Before you try CIO do a Google search on CIO and anxiety disorders. Another one with detailed ideas is The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, Tracy Hogg
I have a 1 yr old boy and to keep him asleep, we leave the radio going all night.
ditto to Amanda C and Keri H!!
Everything they said was right on!!
My husband is addicted to DL music, so he made us like a 2 hour CD of ocean sounds. Either that or the static will help if one starts crying, to hopefully sooth the other baby. I keep our CD player very loud especially if we have friends over once she is in bed. Works great!
Good luck!
*Remember to say your prayers each night for patience too, Ask and you shall recieve. :)
