Twin chaos after illness help!

[*Ali*]

Sorry, I didn't reply to your last post.  I had intended to come back after a think and never did. Oops!

A time at 8-10mo is between 3-4hrs. Here is the link that shows how it changes by age Average A times and "Is my baby ready to increase A time?"

Most LOs move to one nap around 12-18mo but the tweaking and capping of one of the naps begins long before the final switch. Here us a link with all the info, 10 to 12 mth old Sleep Gone Wonky, and the 2 - 1 Nap Switch

How many ounces/mls are they getting during the daytime now with the top up after solids? I will ask for some bottle feeding eyes on here for you as it's not really my forte.

[Jojogreeneyes]

Thanks for the reply!

drinks are as follows:

Milk 7am - 170ml each I offer more this is the most they drink
Water 12.30 with lunch
Milk 2.30pm about 100ml on average
Water 5.00pm with tea
Milk 6.30pm 240ml
Milk 12-2am ish - 180-200mls

I've tried giving them milk after their solids but they do not really want it and sometimes they won't have the 2.30pm one

Nap wise their morning nap is 1hr to 1.5 and the afternoon one us only 30-45 mins so I think they are about right there. The A time after the pm nap is probably too long at the moment as they seem to get a second wind and then won't go to sleep until about 8pm!

[Lolly]

Wow - that's a lot going on with one baby, let alone 2!

I think you really need to eliminate those night feeds - they don't need them at this age and *should* be taking all their calories in the day now. You should also find that if they are not waking for milk then they will sleep better.

To start with you need to decide on a time you will not feed before and just keep resettling until then. I found the best way to wean night feeds is to reduce the oz they get gradually then when they bottle gets to an oz or 2 you just offer water.

I think if I were you I would say if they wake before 2am you try to resettle back to sleep. Then if you decide to feed if they wake from 2am on the first night you offer the normal sized feed. The next night you reduce that bottle by 1oz and keep to that amount for 3 nights. Then you reduce by another oz and keep at that level for 3 nights and so on. Once they get to 1 or 2oz you just offer water. If you reduce gradually they get used to having less in their tummies and should start making it up in the daytime if they do need it. You only offer the bottle once in the night too - after that you need to keep trying to resettle until the morning.

We did this with my DD when she was 8.5 months (no dreamfeed) and it worked well. By the time she was down to 2oz she slept through one night so we just offered water and resettled after that. She wasn't impressed but we stuck to it and she only woke a night or 2 after that.

3 bottles is very age apropriate and that's what our routine was - wake up, about 2.30 pre nap and then bedtime.

What do you think?

Laura

[Jojogreeneyes]

I think that makes perfect sense although I will have to take one at a time in a separate room to do it combined with PUPD.

I'm thinking this way as my other half just thinks the answer to every whine is to feed them and then once he's fed one then he will try to settle once then he brings them straight into our bed. He does need to get some sleep though as he had to go to work but it does make it difficult.

Do you think I could do the reduced milk method along with PUPD? As I need to get them to sleep in their own cots for more than an hour at a time and the gradual withdrawal method doesn't seem to be working for us. I must be doing some thing wrong there.

The 2am cut off sounds good too I agree.

I will just need to get my mum to babysit in the days if she can so I can get some sleep while I do this as you are so right there is a lot going on with the boys and being so tired it makes it hard to fit everything in let alone getting out into the big wide world!

Thanks for your advice Lolly!

[Lolly]

I hope you can get you mum and DH on board, it will make things a bit easier for you.

You can certainly use PU/PD although at this age you need to not do the PU part! We did it with both kids, we had a sleepy phrase and just repeated that over and over (it's ok, you are just going to sleep/ lie down, it's time to sleep), if they stood up we (me ) were sitting on the floor next to the cot so it was a case of patting the mattress to get them to lie down. If they got very distressed I picked up briefly but it's better not to. I continued to shh my two and I would put a hand on them through the bars or stroke their face.

Good luck with DH!

Laura