BabyWhispererForums.com
SLEEP => Night Wakings => Topic started by: nippo on January 14, 2014, 16:42:36 pm
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Hi there, my 6 month old twin girl (4.5 months corrected age) goes to bed with a little fuss for most naps and even at bedtime. She has always woken at night 2 or 3 times crying for 2 hours or more whilst I try and shh pat her. She used to sleep on me at night so when she wakes at 2 or 3 in the morning she wants me to pick her up. In the past we did a night of controlled crying and I hated it. It broke my heart and I wish I'd never tried it. However my little twin did sleep better and stayed asleep until 5am which she had never done before. I was grateful for a night of sleep.
We always used to feed her at around 3-5 am but she rarely drank more than 60mls so I know this is more of a habitual thing rather than hunger....
Now she is getting up at 2am and 4 am crying whilst I shush pat. I have baby whisperer so started to shush pat when she woke at night. The problem is she gets really angry and frustrated because I am not doing what is normal for her. It's like my presence is ramping up her crying and she can really keep it up for 2 hours or more. Last night she banged her legs on the bed and arched her body in frustration. I held back when she did to let her express her emotIons. She did that quite a few times and I think she just couldn't understand why I was shh patting her and not picking her up and sleeping with her.
Do I carry on? I feel so awful she cried for around 3 hours last night. And I am wondering if shh pat is the wrong thing if she gets upset when I do it. Help??!!!
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Hi there and welcome to the forum,
I know you mentioned she was only drinking a small amount at night, but I do wonder if she's hungry and therefore unable to settle? When you were giving her a feed, would she drink and go back to sleep?
Could you also post what her routine looks like, including the feeds?
How long has it been since you've stopped holding her to sleep?
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We are following the EASY 4 hour routine. I have only really started a proper eat, activity, sleep routine over the last week.
Big twin drinks really well and takes anything from 230-180 (230 being first feed). Little twin drinks a lot less, she is a skinny little thing and her drinking is a bit erratic. Mornings 210mls and after that anything from 90-180 per feed. Once she is full she won't take any more. I am weaning them at the moment and was hoping food might help but little twin is clamping mouth shut!
Before when we fed them at night, little one would sleep on the bottle and take 60mls, maybe 90mls...then go to sleep.she would sometimes wake an hour after feeding but not always...
I stopped holding her 5 days ago (4 nights)
Today I am breaking a bit from the routine and squashing an extra bottle in for her to see whether that makes a difference at night...
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Hi Layla, i wrote everything down today, I have started easy in the last week or so so it's still difficult syncing up both girls. Particularly as little twin is crying for up to 2 hours at a time whilst at night doing shush pat.
Wake 6.45
E: 7am - 210mls
A: 55 mins (tired from crying during shush pat )
S: 7.57am down and asleep by 8.09 for 2.5 hrs
A: 10.30am
E: 11am 180mls
A:
S: 11:50am
A: 12:41pm
E: 1pm -120mls
A:
S: 14:30 walk in pushchair 45 min nap.
A:
E: 16.00 180mls
Failed nap attempt at 4.30pm
6pm bedtime routine
7pm asleep
I realise this looks nothing like the BW routines but it's quite hard with 2 babies.they don't sleep at the same time and little twin sometimes does short naps or they want milk earlier etc..
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(((hugs)))
I wonder if they need more A as it seems like they are awake for a short time, sometimes having short naps (expect for the morning one) and they may even need less daytime sleep/getting rid of the catnap.
You could try stretching by adding 15mins every 3 days or so until you have something like this:
7am - wake
10-11.30am - morning nap (I would probably limit this nap to 1.5hrs so that there is more drive to sleep longer in the afternoon)
2.30-4 - afternoon nap - (again, limit it to 1.5hrs)
7pm - bedtime
While you are working on stretching their A's, you would probably still need the 3rd nap/catnap, but if the 3rd nap fails, I would do a super early bedtime so that they are not awake for 4 hrs before bedtime, which would cause overtiredness and restless sleep at night.
I don't have twins but I would imagine a staggered approach would work best so do one twin first and the other to follow 10-15mins later?
What do you think?
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Thanks so much Layla,
I would love to have more activity time. I feel like I never see them!
This looks like a good plan, my only worry is that if I put them to bed earlier they may wake at 4-5 am and be wide awake.
I'll give you a recap of last night:
Bed at 715am. Little twin woke at 5.20am with a mantra cry. It was my husband's turn so he shush patted her for 20mins and she went back to sleep. ( I would normally leave her and start shush patted when real crying starts? Is thus right?)
She then woke again at 6am and instead of getting her up my husband decided to shush pat again. She had a mantra cry at the start then 30 mins later it turns into a real cry. My husband then realised it was 6.45 and picked her up! I was a bit upset with him because he got the whole night completely wrong but he said he wasn't sure whether to shush pat through her mantra cry...I am now worried that we have sent out the wrong message as we didn't see it through to the end....
Overall the night was better. I am going to print off yr schedule and give it a go today. I was basically looking for any sleep cues and putting them to bed as I was worried that I might miss their window. Will try today and tonight and Let you know how it goes. I will try and keep their 7pm bedtime otherwise big twin will start waking before 6am which is her wake up time now....
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Oh I forgot two questions, I've only just managed to get them onto a 4 hour routine...they generally wake at 6am (little twin is still a work in progress) now which is great.
In the routine above, it would mean a 10am feed (4 hours from 6am wake). Which is in the middle of suggested nap time. Just realised that now whilst putting them down! How do I get around this? The reason I want to keep the feeds to 4 hours is they take more milk in one go and I can then feed solids an hour later...
The other thing is they haven't mastered the art of napping so big twin does 45 minute naps a lot. I am trying to extend naps which is working some times but If, for instance I put them down at 9 and they wake at 9.45 I then feed at 11 and shorten A time so they don't have a huge wait until their next nap? Sorry still trying to work things out, they never do what I want lol!
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I used to treat anything before 6am as a night feed and at 6 months we still sometimes had a night feed and I would then do a top up feed (which wouldn't be much) when she woke for the day and start counting from there.
If the baby wakes up and mantra cries, you would generally let them be until they really need you but even if your DH did what he did (bless him, it's great that he's trying!!!), don't worry about that ruining things for you.
So in the case of one twin waking up at 6am, you would probably shift everything to an hour less at this stage and then we can look at maybe shifting the day forward once the night wakings are better.
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Layla!!!! We had a full nights sleep!!
I haven't quite managed to implement your routine yet but I tried to eek everything out by 5 minutes as it was all little twin could manage. She was falling asleep on the floor and I felt so bad...
Big twin went a bit bonkers so she may have been overtired but hopefully I can keep it up for a few days and they can move on a bit longer.
Recap of last night: I tried tanking up little twin so gave her a bottle at 5pm then her last bottle at 7pm bedtime. She slept right through!
BUT now big twin wakes up. She was up at 2am and put herself back to sleep after 45mins of playing. The woke again at 5.17am and I wasn't sure if she was awake or falling in and out of sleep. Eventually we both got up at 6am when she did a little yelp.
I am not sure why she is awake so early. She did about 10 hours lat night which is a good sleep. I can't get her to bed later as she is too tired by then. And I like that both twins go to bed at the same time...
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Update:
Last night little twin went to sleep at 7 and woke at 4.47am. She didn't cry, just played for about 20 mins then tried to go back to sleep with long periods of silence. Then she started to get frustrated because she couldn't sleep and started fussing. It wasn't an 'I need you' cry, more like an irritated/frustrated cry which I tried to let her work out on her own. It turned into a mantra and frustrated cry. But it was now 35 mins so I got up and started to shush pat which actually was only one pat and then just leaving my hands on her back and she went to sleep in 30 secs. I don't know if this was so quick because of how hired she was. Should I have intervened sooner? I'm a bit unsure....
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Sounds like a great night! I would have probably done a prompt feed and then back to bed... but the fact that you were able to resettle is great! I think its good to leave them to it when they wake if they are not crying.
With regards to the big twin waking early, that may be from many things.... routine could be one of them (if she's taking the 3rd nap and having too much daytime sleep) or it could be that she needed a feed. Again, if it were me, I would have fed and back to bed and done a top up feed upon waking. You might not be able to get them to do the exact same thing (like sleeping through the night at the same time) since they are all different :)
How are you going with naps and daytime routine?
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Well today they woke at 8. I didn't wake them at 7 even though we normally have a 7am start simply because I knew little twin had been up for 40 mins and big twin cried after waking up half an hour after being put down...
Both are on 4 hourly feeds (@8, 12, 4 and 7.30) and they drink 240mls for morning feeds then 210 thereafter. They have a few spoons of solids an hour after their feeds. Big twin eats a lot and little twin eats very little (well nothing really, most of it is spat out!)
Nap today was at 10am (BT 1.10 hrs and LT 1.50 hours) then 2pm but (BT 1.30hrs LT 25 mins then 30 mins) we put little twin back down for 30 mins at 4pm as she woke after only a 25min main nap at 2pm as she'd dirtied her nappy.
We had to pop out at 5pm and unfortunately they had a 15 non nap in the car. But they went to bed at 7.30pm and were quite tired.
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Ok, last night went badly.
LT went down at 7 was up at 8, 8.30 (30 mins of shush pat), 9 then put self to sleep, then moaned quite regularly (but went back to sleep) then up at 3, 4, 5 and finally up at 6....she settled quickly after is shush patted (no longer than 5 minutes) but I don't want to be a prop. Most of the time, I think she was uncomfortable. When I put her on her side to shush pat she went back to sleep.
We kept to the same routine...is this a regression? I don't get it...I feel a bit like we are going backwards.
Also for 3 days they were up at 7am which I thought was great because it gave them a good night's sleep. But their wake up time can be 6, 7 or 8. Do I just plump for 6 to get a routine?
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And now only do in 30 min naps today....feeling very, very discouraged...
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How are you going hun? Its normal for these nasty 30min nap to pop up when your stretching As until they get more used to it. How did they sleep at night?
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Hi Nippo,
Having same problem here, trying to extend a times but getting mini naps! Arg!
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Not sure...last night little twin woke about 4 times between bedtime and midnight but put herself back to sleep twice. Husband shush patted her back to sleep and took 30secs to a minute.
She then woke at 6 so we gave her her feed and she went straight back to bed and we woke her at 8.
Big twin got up twice. At 1am she put herself back to sleep after 20 mins. Then was up again at 4.45am. I gave her 15 mins and then got her some milk. She went straight back down and slept until 8.
I don't know if I am doing the right thing, feeding them at night? Read baby whisperer on night wakings and it said that feeding at night takes away from day feeds as they are on a 24 hour day so just a bit confused about whether night feeding is a good thing. They seem to sleep better (and I worry they aren't sleeping well without it).
Today we got them up at 8 and I topped up BT but little twin refused a feed. So I was left with one twin feeding at a different time from the other (2 hour difference which made everything harder.) I just can't seem to get them into a routine and it's exhausting me...
LT only did a 30 min nap am and a 40 min nap pm. She was tired and fussy so I tried to put her back to sleep. I shush patted for an hour but she wouldn't settle so I picked her up in the end as she showed no signs of going back to sleep. Now I feel like a failure!!
BT did a 1hr nap am and a 45 main nap pm...
I feel like I'm losing it
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I have no advice only sympathy!
I don't know about the feeding at night, as I am bf I think it is a bit different...my general thought is do what makes babies happy. Could you give only a v small bottle?
Mine so out of schedule with each other today too! Such a struggle. I feel here is more supportive that the other forum, do you? Felt that was a bit like, let them cry and put them on a strict routine and simple!
Hugs xx
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Hey Bestbees, everyone on here has been lovely. I found FF full of people who felt they had everything sussed and that's really not me! I am happy to admit that I am struggling and need help. I felt I was getting somewhere with sleep training. We had a week of 2 hour naps and almost full nights sleep. I just don't know how i'm going backwards...I think some things have improved. I generally have my evening back and can shush pat to sleep. But the night wakings improved and are slowly clawing their way back to the 3 or for wakings in the evening and twice at night...
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Night feeding at 6 months is perfectly normal! If you feel that they can't handle being awake for up to 3hrs, take it back a bit and maybe aim for 2 long naps and a catnap - so A time of 2.5 hrs. What is your ideal wake up time? If its 8am, then maybe aim for something like this:
8am - wake
10.30-12 - morning nap
2.30-4 - afternoon nap
6.30-7 - catnap
9pm - bedtime
If you want an earlier bedtime, then you will probably have to start waking them up at 7am so that they take their naps earlier and stay with the earlier bedtime. If they refuse the 3rd nap, then I would make bedtime much much earlier, like 6pm so that they are not awake for too long in the evening.
With regards to feeding, as a rule of thumb I used to feed if mine woke anywhere from 4hrs onward (same E as during the day).
If they have a short nap (either morning or afternoon), then I would offer the next sleep (be it a nap or bedtime) earlier... around 15-20 mins earlier.
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So last night attempted our version of shush pat, sing oat. Pupd just angers them. Took fifteen mins of crying for by. Normally they go down well. I only fed if three hours had passed. Twin two cried for an hour atten thirty then slept til two then 5.30. Twin one cried. More often but shorter. Overall felt better but up for the day at five thirty!
Hope your night better Nippo?
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Thanks Layla, I do appreciate the help.
Although the twins are 6 months, they are actually only 4 and a half months because they were premature. So I treat them as 4 and a half month olds.
They can't seem to stay up for even 2 and a half hours right now. They manage 2 hours max at the moment. Maybe over weeks I can get them to 2 and a half...
Last night went well for little twin. Only woke up at 5 so I fed her (she puked everything back up and so a big change and my sheets too!!! But that's another story!!!) And then back to bed.
She is still asleep now and it's 8.20 (I should wake them really but as they won't take a top up it means I will feeding before they sleep which isn't good, I just can't get it right lol!!)
Big twin woke up at 1am and my husband shush patted her to sleep, it took an hour after an hour of her being up and moaning on and off.
She then woke at 6 so I gave her her morning feed and back to bed. I decided on putting them straight back to sleep because they are clearly still tired. They go down really easily with no fuss and stay down for a good few hours...I just need to work out how to get round starting their day with a feed so I'm still on EASY and not on AESY which is kind of what ends up happening!
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My LO would also wake in the early hours of the morning and I would feed and she'd go down for another hour or 2. I would then do a feed when she'd wake (which was more or less a top up feed) and we'd start our E's from that time. So don't think they have to have a full E when they start, it doesn't have to be strict EAS, if you know what I mean.
I forgot about them being twins and premature, sorry :-[! Definitely then cut back on A's and if they can only stay up for 2hrs, then don't push anymore.
Great to hear little twin slept well last night. Sorry to hear she puked, I hope she's not coming down with anything and it was just a one off :(.
With regards to feeding them before sleep, as long as they are not falling asleep on the bottle every time, you should be ok... if they are having a feed and then need a nap about 30mins later, that is ok.
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I think I have the biggest problem with little twin and top ups. Big twin will take it but little twin refuses. 2 hours just doesn't get her appetite up enough...will try and experiment a bit with a smaller bottle at 5am feed and see if that tides her over...will keep you updated.
The puking is because little twin likes to sleep on her tummy and she has always been a bit pukey even on her back. So a full tummy and her turning onto her tummy aren't really a good combo. She actually puked up 2nd feed too...and I didn't realise... Felt really upset with myself when I realised she'd slept in her sick for a few hours....she must have done it in her sleep.
Bestbees- glad things are looking up. I think slowly they will get what you are trying to do. It does involve some crying which is hard. I battle with it at nap times but I am hoping that one day soon it will click. Night times are definitely a lot better.
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Omg, I just had the worst night and day with little twin.
First put her down for her nap as she was showing tired signs totally forgetting that her feed was due. So after 15 mins of shush pat I realised and fed her. What a whally! She ended up going down about 15 mins after feed as I tried to separate feed from sleep.
She basically fought each nap, and the catnap she cried so long I just abandoned even though I could see how tired she was. After an hour of crying I just couldn't take it any more.
As a result she was exhausted and so I put her down early at 6. She fell asleep whilst sitting up and burping her. And I couldn't get her up. I put her to bed and 20 mins later she was up. I shushed her for about 10 mins and she went back to sleep. Then she woke again 20 mins later and this time she cried and cried until 10.30pm 3 hours later when I offered her her next feed. ( I had offered milk prior to this but she refused, and I know she wasn't in pain because as soon as I lifted her out of the cot to offer milk she started laughing and kicking her legs ready to play...) She then woke at 5 and I fed her. Then up at 7 tired. So I put her down for her nap early. More crying and I left the room as other twin was alone and I has to check. After 5 mins she calmed down and went to sleep
This is the worst night and day since we started sleep training. I know it's my fault for forgetting feed and not going out so I could force a catnap. But now I feel things are getting worse...
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Oh no, I am so sorry to hear all that but please try not to beat yourself about it. Just remember that everyday is a new day!
With regards to the catnap, I wonder if it would be easier for you to APOP this nap. I APOP'd Jenny for the catnap as the girls were home at that time and they needed me as well. Do you have a baby carrier? I wonder if you could push one twin in the pram whilst the other one is on you (in a sling/baby carrier)? The 3rd nap can be the hardest for them to fall asleep for... its the first nap to disapear so lots of mums do the same (ap this nap) and it won't affect sleep training!
Will be back with more thoughts, hubby needs to use the computer ;)
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Sorry for being dim but what is APOP? Thanks xx
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Ok tonight followed normal routine and went out for catnap. Little twin wasn't overtired but decided at bedtime that she wasn't tired and wanted to play. She was rubbing her eyes whilst drinking her milk and I left her to calm down before putting her to bed. But she went into another meltdown. Lasted 45 mins and she kicked out when I tried to shush pat her. I left her to calm herself and she was chattering for about 5 minutes which then turned into full on crying again. She normally calms when shush patting on her side but she just didn't want it. She was tired though...
In the end I had to leave her because I was making her worse...it took about 10-15 minutes before she fell asleep. But no I feel like I should have kept with the Shush Pat even if she didn't want it, because now I've just left her to sort herself out...I just don't know what to do...for the last 2 weeks she has gone down in less than 10 minutes...
Just feeling really down about the whole situation. I know patience is the key but I can't bear hearing them cry. I feel like I am making them suffer...it feels worse because we had a good solid two weeks of our bedtimes being quick and both going down in under 10 minutes...
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APOP - accidental parenting on purpose... so in your case, you are helping your LO's have the catnap, which a lot of babies fight but they still need it as they can't make it to bedtime.
How long was it between the end of the catnap and bedtime for little twin? I found around 5 months, the A was about the same before bedtime, even on a 30min catnap. Maybe she wasn't quiet tired enough for bed yet and then worked herself into an overtired state. Be careful trying too hard to help them sleep. If you see that she's mantra crying and its not "I need you cry" and you interfere, that can make things worse.
What were you doing 2 weeks ago? How were they going down in under 10mins?
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2 weeks ago we did a night of controlled crying. Checking in at 5 minute intervals and shush patting under the guidance of a sleep consultant. It worked really well as from that night onwards they pretty much slept until 5am. I just found it very hard to hear them cry so decided I would do shush pat instead. After that night we had no problem putting them down and they went to sleep after about 3 minutes on average and we shush patted them whenever they woke up rather than letting them CIO.
They were very responsive and shush patting seemed to take around 10mins until 2 days ago. Little twin seems to be right back at the beginning. Last night after going to sleep, she rewoke at 10 and cried for 2 hours again. I briefly took her out for a nappy change and as soon as she was out of the cot all of the crying stopped and she started chattering to me and laughing which I ignored. I just changed her and put her back in the cot. As she was calm I left the room and 5 minutes later the crying started again so my husband and I took turns shush patting. She was tired as her crying was broken with 30 seconds to a minute of sleep. Then she would wake up and start again. It was like she had another little surge of energy. Eventually she fell asleep at 23.45 and didn't wake until 5am when we fed her.
I don't think it is hunger, prior to sleep training she habitually woke at 10 and we fed her and then at 1am and then at 5. For two weeks she hasn't needed any of the feeds minus the 5am. And her daytime feeds increased from 90-150mls to 200mls which is what she should have been taking. She has always been on a 24hour day...
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Sorry to answer your question about the time between her catnap and bedtime - it was about 2 hours and 10 minutes. They are now 5 months corrected age.
She was definitely tired as she was rubbing her eyes etc. But she decided at the end of her feed thst she wanted to play instead of sleep. She was rubbing her eyes even while she was in the cot...
And now big twin won't nap in the day!!!!! I put her down for her regular morning nap and she played in her cot for about half an hour then started crying. I left her for a while as usually this is her way of putting herself to sleep but her crying became more persistent. I went in and shush patted and it made her worse she went into meltdown crying trying to push me away. So I left her which made her even worse because she didn't want me to go, but she didn't want me to shush pat. I shushed her by the side of the cot which worked for about 2 minutes then she started up again...I took her back into the living room and she calmed down but was fussing. She then closed her eyes whilst sitting on her Granddad. I picked her up back into wind down and into cot. Again she cried and I shush patted and she pushed me away and pulled my hair so I stepped back and that made her worse...I ended up abandoning after 25 minutes and putting her in the car seat. She slept for 15 mins and now is up again. Clearly tired....I feel like crying!!!
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At some stage shh/pat stops working and pu/pd is better. Maybe rather than shh/patting you could try pu/pd.
How to PU/PD (inc age adaptations)
I am sorry you feel like things aren't improving :(.
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Thanks Layla,
I'm going to keep trying for a while...Little twin was up 3 times last night again. For an hour at 7.30 then 1.30 until 3.15 then again at 5am and we fed her, she only drank half her bottle then up at 6.
I don't get how she can go from sleeping through the night for nearly 3 weeks to suddenly going back to square one...I'm at my wits end.
Dreading bedtime and now also dreading nap time...just have to keep going and hope to see an improvement.
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I wonder if something is bothering her? Do you think she may be teething? Is she learning a new skill? If her daytime sleep has been messy, her nights will be affected. She may also be going through some sleep regression...
If you see that she's fighting you on naps and bedtime, it's possible she does need a little more A?
Rather than shh/patting, have a look at the link I sent you about pu/pd method.
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I did wonder if she was teething. She isn't really displaying any of the classic signs but she was off her milk and missed this morning's feed...she has also been very clingy this morning, she is normally a very independent baby.
I put teething gel on her gums but she's still off her food. I think maybe she is having some movement but they aren't actually pushing through yet.
Big twin did ok today. She went down for her naps but only for 30 mins cut short by a giant poo...I'll take that rather than no naps at all!
I have found little twin settles without shushing or patting. She like a hand on her chest and on her back until she drifts off...is this ok? I have yet to test this at night but seems to work better during the day.
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If hand on chest is working better, then I would continue using this method and then slowly work towards no hand on back and/or chest until you don't have to do anything. How did they sleep at night?
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It was a weird night, little twin woke once at 9.30pm and cried so we did hand on chest and she kept falling in and out of sleep and crying when she'd wake (or remember! ). After about 50 minuted she started talking to herself and blowing raspberries so we left the room and after 25 minutes she put herself to sleep.
She then woke around 2.30 and cried a bit. Took about 20 minutes to fall asleep. But not sure how my husband did it at he had to get to work early this morning.
Big twin seems to wake every night between 3 and 4. She never cries, just plays for an hour and then goes back to sleep. Last night she woke twice. For an hour at 3 then again at 4 so I fed her even though she was babbling away in bed and didn't seem desperate. She drank her milk and I put her straight back down and she played for another 30 mins before going to sleep.
I'm exhausted though! I can't sleep until they are silent. So I've had about 2 hours!!
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How are things going?
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Hey Layla, we have had a week of sleeping through until 5am or thereabouts!! Yipee!
I have a problem now though. We tried dream feeding to get them to sleep until 6.30/7 buy neither will take it. They just want to go to Sleep. We tried 4 nights in a row and they just refuse the bottle and cry until we let them go to bed.
It got quite stressful so we stopped and continued with their feed when they wake at 4-6am.
Trouble now is that they take their milk, go back to bed and wake at various times between 6.30-8 and refuse a top up. This makes our routine messy. We don't have set meals because they wake at different times each day and I'm having to stretch feeds so they can have their last bottle at 7...
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Wow, that's great that they are sleeping and if they don't want the DF, don't force it upon them. I understand it will mess up their first feed... I wonder how you would go maybe offering less at the 4-6am feed? Could you maybe start reducing how much you're giving them (so instead of 4oz you could do 3?)... maybe they will want a top up when they wake up or an hour or so after they wake up?
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I was thinking that too. I have started reducing the feed tonight. How quickly do I reduce? An ounce a week?
I still can't believe they are sleeping through.
We still have a minor issue with big twin waking at 1-2 am. She doesn't cry. Just plays for half hour to forty five mins and then eventually goes back to sleep. She wakes again between 4-6 for feed. I guess I worry she is losing out on sleep. I don't feed her, or even get up as she doesn't cry out. She just quietly talks to herself then drops off...
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Yeah, I probably wouldn't do it too quickly.. an ounce a week sounds good! Have my fingers and toes crossed they keep it up! :-*
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We've enjoyed a good long spell of sleep so we moved both twins into the same room. We've now got them waking each other up which is a massive pain.
when they were apart they were sleeping until 4-5am and sometime LT would do the entire night. Now they are together, LT is waking up at 1am again and waking BT up they don't cry just don't settle back to sleep. Last night they were up 1.30 on and off until 3.30 when I fed LT and BT refused bottle. LT finally went to sleep at 4am whilst BT continued to moan and fuss until about 4.30am. Then they were both up at 6!
Not sure if this is just them getting used to each other. But the first night they both slept until 4am.
We think LT might be teething (although I still can't see any teeth yet), she refused two bottles yesterday and I just couldn't get her to take her milk. She ate a good lunch so I won't worry too much...
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Do you have to keep them together? Could you keep them separate? Or maybe use white noise if you want to keep them together and hopefully they won't wake each other up... or they could just be getting used to each other like you said ;D.
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We live in a small 2 bed apartment and we would have to keep one twin with us again which is not really an option as our room is just too small. My one saving grace is that they don't cry when they wake. Just play for ages so I don't go in. Hopefully they will start to ignore each other and sleep. Last night they were up at 3 then I fed them ( they have been refusing milk in the day- another issue that's just arisen whilst weaning) so I am giving them their night feed because they are even refusing their bedtime bottle. I know I got them to sleep through until 4am before but I guess babies are ever changing!
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are they still taking the catnap? maybe its time to transition to 2 naps as being awake in the middle of the night could be front to much daytime sleep/need for a routine change
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They are still taking the catnap. They have only just turned 6 months corrected age. Thing is, I don't think they are UT. They are pretty awful nappers and rarely do more than 45 mins no matter how I jiggle around their routine. I thought by extending their morning by 10 mins they might go down for longer. But it hasn't made a difference.
They do seem to be settling now though. The last 2 nights they've Been up at 5am, I've fed them then put them back down...I can handle that .
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Just a quick update: we had our first full night of sleep with the twins together!
Hoping it lasts. We had one wake up at 10 LT has started screaming on waking up. High pitched full on screaming, not sure why! But we shush patted through it and it was over in 15 mins....
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Wow, that is incredible!!! ;D ;D ;D
Could the LT be teething? Dd would also sometimes wake up crying and dh or I would have to give her a quick pat and she'd go back to sleep.. not sure why she did it ::)
Sounds like they're learning to sleep through each other's noises, which is also awesome :)
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It's not teething, it seems to be a developmental thing I think. LT has started to have what seems like baby tantrums?! She sometime clenches her teeth (well, jaws) and growls when she is excited or she is bored etc. I think she funds it hard to deal with her emotions sometimes. Just didn't think it started this young. Now when she wakes up the last couple of times she screams and clenches until she can finally go back to sleep.
Nap times are worse though! She got to a point where when she woke up after 45 mins I could shush pat her back to sleep. The last nap I put her down for she went into total screaming and crying meltdown which lasted 2 hours until I took her for a walk. Its like she got to a point of no return...I must admit it threw me a bit. And I feel a bit worried about shush patting her in case she does it again!!
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Do you think she might be ready for some more A? If the naps are back to 45mins, usually that meant for us needing more A :)
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Our nap times have never really got past 45 mins lol. I have been working on shush patting to extend which worked for a week. Somehow in that week LT has begun to scream whilst self settling and I have to go back in and stay with her until she goes to sleep. It's like she's overtired but she isn't. She has learnt to scream....
She is doing it before bedtime and at naptimes too now...it's become part of her sleep routine...it isn't just screaming. It is accompanied with full on tears and snotty nose. She can't stay up for more than two hours at the moment...