Hi everyone
Thanks in advance for your help. I'm getting near the end of my tether with this. I'm a new convert to BW so apologies if I mess up any of the abbreviations etc! I started reading this forum about a month ago and naps have improved but our nights are still grim and I need help!!
I have non identical twin girls, Z and C. C had awful reflux when she was tiny but is now off all her medicines and doing well. They are breastfed, doing well with solids and no teeth yet. C has just started crawling.
I'm not even sure where to start with our sleep problems! Here is our usual EASY
Wake up 5am. Mess around in cots til 5:30. Lights on at 6am
E croissant, fruit, yoghurt
A rolling, crawling (v grumpy and tired, I make them stay up til 9)
E bf at 8
S at 9 til 10:30 (usually need resettle after 30 mins)
E bf 10:30
A playgroup etc
E 12:30 lunch (sandwiches, fruit)
S 2 til 3:30 (again, a struggle to keep them up this long and usually need resettling after 30 mins, which sometimes doesn't work....)
E bf 3:30
A play at home, go to swings if not raining
Occ catnap from C if in the buggy - never more than 20 mins, always ends by 5:15
E supper - meat, fish, veg, rice pudding
Bath, bf, bed by 7
Bedtime is a screaming nightmare of overtired mess but if we go any earlier they wake up earlier, which kills me. C has a teddy which she loathes. She used to have a dummy but would knock it out and wake up for it every hour so I took it away and she initially slept much better. Z has a dummy and a lovey, and sucks her thumb. They settle brilliantly with shh pat but will wake if patting stops so I just shh in their ears and they scream themselves to sleep. Last night I tried leaving the room and going back in every minute to kiss and stroke heads, didn't make much difference to the screaming duration and made me feel awful!
C wakes every night at 9 and I shh her back to sleep. She then wakes at about 11:30 and I feed her, straight back to sleep. Z wakes at 2:30 and I feed her. C wakes at 3 and the last 3 nights has screamed for an hour. Pupd winds her up so last night I sshed for an hour til back to sleep. Both awake at 5, bf in the hope they will go Back to sleep. They won't.
Where do I start? Ideally i would like them to get up at 6 or 6:30, and go to bed at 7 or 7:30. I feel they don't really need all the night feeds but don't know how. They are both tired and grumpy all day but if they have shorter A periods they don't nap. We are all miserable....please help!!