6:00am Wake
9:00am Nap for 1.5 hours
1:00pm Refuse Nap
2:00pm Refuse Nap
3:00-5:00pm Crazy Babies
6:15pm Bed
7:15pm Shenzie wakes crying, rerock to sleep
8:15pm Shenzie wakes crying, rerock to sleep
9:15pm Shenzie wakes crying, waking up Heaten
9:15-10:00pm Rocking babies trying to get them back to sleep
10:00pm Babies waking each other up
10:15pm -2:00am Up with babies. Jeff on Heaten duty, Lesley on Shenzie duty
5:00am Heaten wakes, refuses to go back to sleep
From 10 until midnight the babies played and played and played. They were so happy and HYPER, it would almost have been cute if I weren’t so tired and crabby.
We had really good sleepers for quite a long time, but this past month they are regressing. Molars and an ear infection came into play, but outside of that they are still getting worse and worse for waking up, not going back down without us rocking them into a deep sleep and then sneaking them back in their cribs. We do not do co-sleeping and I cannot sleep with them in the same room. When we move Shenzie to our room in the PNP I sleep downstairs on the couch. NOT fun.
Question for you twin moms out there…..How do you keep them from waking each other up? I can’t let them cry for any amount of time because they will wake the other one, but I feel like I am creating a monster by going in there too soon and not letting them soothe themselves back to sleep. We don’t use binkies, but they have their loveys that they use to soothe themselves back to sleep. I really want to separate them into their own rooms (they sleep separate at naps now anyhow), but separating them means giving up the playroom. What to do?????
Sweet blissful sleep
Thanks Janae for the treats, Heaten LOVES them!
On a brighter note today was weigh in for Weight Watchers. Week two weight loss - 1.5 pounds for a total of 6 pounds! Yippee!!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
This is what has worked for us. I don’t go into the room unless there is crying that goes on for longer than a minuet or two. They do sometimes wake each other up, but I fix the problem whatever itm may be and then leave. I let the soothe themselves back to sleep. So far(knock on wood) they don’t wake up at night unless something is wrong. Now naps have been a little different lately. Kolton is waking after 30 mins or so and just yells and yells. This wakes his brother and when I go get Kolton then Karter wants up too and then I have two cranky kids and a cranky annoyed mamma. Like right now he is yelling in his room, which I have let him do for 5 mins or so. I’m hoping he will go back to sleep but things are not looking that way. I don’t have the room in this house for them to have their own rooms but when we move they will and then if they want to sleep together they can and if not well then that’s ok too. I know what it’s like you just cringe when one wakes and then I get stressed sometimes because I NEED a break during the day. Well he’s still screaming, gotta go. Hope it gets better soon.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
At 6 months, we CIO with the boys because their sleep had gotten so out of control. At 4 months, Alex was getting up once and Nate was getting up twice. Then they got horrible colds and they got used to us comforting them and holding them until they were asleep. By 6 months, Alex would be up between 3 and 5 times, Nate would be up at least 5 times, usually closer to 15 times.
I knew things had to change when I fell asleep standing up patting Nate’s back at his crib. We tried every non-cry solution out there and things got worse and worse. So we read Ferber’s book, which was VERY different than I thought it would be. The book suggested a SLEW of schedule changes first, which we made. When things did not improve, Jon and I talked about what we wanted our long-term nighttime routine to be.
In our house, it’s go upstairs, brush teeth, play in bedroom as family, put on pjs, read one book for Nate and one book for Alex, then go to bed in the same room.
So that’s what we started the first night and we’ve kept it exactly like that since the first night of CIO. Since they cio together, they got used to sleeping through the other one crying. A month ago, Alex vomited in the middle of the night and we had to clean it up. Nate woke up (he was sleeping on the floor next to the vomit) but he didn’t get up because we told him it was night night time.
It’s a hard line to take, but if you ever want them to sleep together, you have to let them learn to soothe themselves back to sleep when the other one cries. You don’t have to do it through CIO, but if they’re sleeping together, there are going to be times you need to attend to one and not the other. This only gets more complicated when they are out of cribs.
Of course I write this long thing about how we CIO but I have to put in the disclaimer that I wouldn’t CIO when the babies are in pain. Motrin is much better for teething than Tylenol and it lasts longer. You can talk to your ped’s office about giving a slighter higher dose (or the max dose) right before they go to sleep.
Sorry for the long post. I know how rough the sleeping thing is. Even after we CIO, molars and canines were very very rough for Alex. We had a good two weeks of getting up at 4:30AM and sleeping with him every day because it was the only thing that would get him to go back to sleep. And a couple of 1:30 wake up calls.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I am so sorry, that really sounds like a nightmare (and I’m an expert on
nightmare sleep =)
We did separate them for a while when we were working on controlled crying -
Sarah in the PNP in the guest room for maybe 2 months? Finally we moved them
back together. At that point they were pretty good at self soothing and we’re
sometimes amazed what they sleep through. Or, one might wake the other, and the
other just ignores him/her. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes they wake each other
up and I have two screamer/criers. But it’s worth that slight risk in that most
of the time they soothe each other.
The book that really helped me was Jodi Mindell’s Sleeping Through the Night.
As she suggests, we focused on teaching them to put themselves to sleep at bedtime,
and especially J got much better the rest of the night. Now if someone cries I
wait 5 minutes, if they aren’t asleep, I go in and try to soothe them WITHOUT
PICKING THEM UP.
Of course, at 3:00 or 5:00 AM I usually resort to nursing as it’s the quick fix and
I just want to get back to bed asap. But very, very soon, I’m going to cut back
on that because I need more sleep.
I really did used to live in fear of one waking the other. It’s amazing how
liberating it is when you let that go and can hear one cry a bit without rushing
across the house at the speed of lightening!
Good luck, whatever you decide to do. Mamas need their sleep!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Apparently, my two don’t bother each other. They will wake each other up, but only if we don’t catch the crying one fast enough. And my son can generally sleep through his sister’s crying. It’s the other way around where we have some issues.
At bedtime, we let them settle themselves, and often they talk a lot to each other. Sometimes we have to go upstairs and get J to stop yelling at N when he falls asleep first. Sometimes we have to go up and get them re-settled. Hugs, kisses, blankies, but generally no picking up unless someone is totally losing it.
In the middle of the night — well, it depends. Sometimes we wait, but usually our sleep wins and we go and get the crying on and bring him/her to bed (usually her). Honestly, I love it. But it’s not for everyone.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Yay, I’m glad he likes them!! I usually go there weekly so let me know if you want me to get anything for you.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
I just went through this in January. Perfect sleepers got colds and started waking in the night. I would rush in to get Jackson (it was Jackson who always woke up) so he wouldn’t wake up Madison. I’d take him right to bed with us. Even after getting in a deep sleep he would still wake up screaming when I tried to put him back in his crib. So I would just keep him in bed. I knew I was creating a monster and after a few weeks of horrible sleep and upon the advice of other moms including the great and wonderful Eva, I stopped going in. Madison didn’t wake up and he fell back asleep on his own. I remember one night we had both of them up but that’s it. I also turned off the monitor in our room. I can still hear him crying but it’s not right in my ear and I think I sleep through the lighter crying. One night this weekend I had to get him because he just didn’t stop crying and was obviously upset.
Going in the room to try to soothe him does NOT work for him. It only makes him more angry when I leave! He screams even louder and that’s when Madison wakes up.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I am so not a Co sleeper either. Mark had our babies out of our room at 6 weeks. I think we all slept better.
I hope the little cuties start sleeping better. I have no advice. No twins for me. But I would say try to seperate them for awhile and see how that goes.
GOOD LUCK!!!