Help needed with twins - things getting worse pg 22

[ZacsMumme]

Honey what hours are you getting sleep. Are you going to bed early and getting a chunk before 12? It seems they sleep best before midnight am I right?

Given their routine is changing ATM and your st and they have colds I think they're doing the best they can I mean T and Z certainly would have done what they did at this age with similar circumstances.

If your going to do a feed - and forgive me if we covered this I keep forgetting - could you feed both when you feed one ie feed both at 12.45/1 so that the other doesn't wake hungry an hour or two later.

(Hugs)

[babybarr]

Yes I'm going to bed early but can't always sleep. Hence why I had the other meds for night which I've now stopped.

I know you're right Sara just struggling yk? The sleeping one vomits if I feed them before they're ready.

[babybarr]

And this morning they slept 30mins and woke happy ish. So confused.

[Uglybethy]

Great napping for them both yesterday
I tend to agree with zm that given the colds and the changes you're making to their routine it was an understandable night of waking for them. I know that the first 6hours tend to be deep sleep and then they will have light sleep from 12-4am and then, if they can get there and aren't too hungry they should go back into a deep sleep around 4-5 until you wake them to start the day. That's what the books say anyway!
At this age I would be in bed by 8.30pm to get 4 hours before the mayhem started around midnight and occassionally I would take zzzzquil if I was too anxious to fall asleep (it's like an OTC sleep aid) which really helped me get four to five good hours in and that felt absolutely wonderful. But note it did make me feel groggy the next day. But it was good to recharge the batteries iykwim. Maybe worth talking to dr again about something for your sleep?
Fingers crossed they do another two hour nap this afternoon!

[4isstillnighttime]

Can your husband do all wakes until midnight or something? Then if you go to bed early with earplugs you will know you aren't going to be disturbed and maybe will sleep better? Or even a neighbour or something? If I was closer I would do it for you!

[babybarr]

Lily I'd love to see you with two sets of troublesome twins overnight! Bless you.

Mostly they don't wake before midnight. They're so clingy at mo and he's not great at settling them. I think they're clingy from me being away from them.

[4isstillnighttime]

Mine are clingy and I have never, ever left them! Don't beat yourself up, it's just because they love you!

That's what I mean though - your DH prob wouldn't have to get up and you could put your earplugs in and relaaaaaaaaaaaax.

Hopefully they'll be better soon and you can crack on with the ST. I need you to keep me strong, twin buddy!!!

Xxxxxxxxx

[babybarr]

I'm really thinking I'm going to try one nap. Basically I don't seem to have enough hours in the day for two and then they short nap if ut and take ages to settle at bt just not sure where to start esp with feeds as well.

[4isstillnighttime]

Could you do what UB does and have an early UT nap? Would they go down for it? And how many feeds are they having? I feel confident with feeds, mine are monsters! And how many meals?

[babybarr]

We did early ut nap today but still ended up with them having a late nap and they slept quite a while which meant they took forever tossettle at bt.

They're not good at going down if they're not tired enough. They have milk at 6.30ish 11.30ish 2.30ish and 6.15. Solids just 2 meals at 8am and 4.30pm

[4isstillnighttime]

Ok, why not do nap at 8:30 and 12:30 then? And cap pm nap so that they get 3hr in total?  Or if you want one nap have it at 11:30 straight after milk? Mine would honestly never tolerate that long awake though. or carry on with nap at 9 but just let them have 30 mins then 1 for 2nd nap - even if they sleep til 3 you will have a nice long A before bed. Could you make 11:30 feed at 12 so they are nice and full?

[babybarr]

They wouldn't go down at 8.30. Basically today I put them down at 9.15 and they napped 30mins. We went for a walk and they fell asleep in the buggy for about 10mins at 11am so I put them down at 1.45 and woke them at 3.15 (well j had just woken so I woke h) then bt became silly shenanigans for a 7pm bed.

I woke them yesterday after 30mins and they were truly miserable so a little reluctant to do that again.

[Uglybethy]

I loved that you managed to get the boys down again today after they did that cat nap in the buggy at 11am. Well done you!
You know, I know that you are leaning towards consolidating the two naps into one longer one but before you do that I just wondered if you'd think again? But please take any thoughts I share with a pinch of salt if you need to because you know the boys better than anyone and that is what this forum is for... To take what you might find useful and discard what you don't
Can we clarify what an under tired vs overtired nap actually is? I have always gone with the notion that an overtired nap is 30 mins and an under tired nap is 45 mins. Given this, I think that the boys might actually be having an overtired nap in the morning and that if you bought it significantly earlier (to 8.30/8.45) then it would lengthen to 45 mins. This would be much more restorative for them than 30 mins and I think they'd then consistently do a longer pm nap, which you could also bring earlier (as you wanted to do anyway) thus allowing plenty of awake time before bed, with them having had enough daytime sleep to avoid overtired and more frequent night wakings. I also think this might help extend the morning wake up times. And it would give you slightly more time in the middle of the day to run errands etc.
With feeds... Are they still taking full bottles four times a day? If so I would leave it as four but if the middle two are starting to reduce then that is what I would consolidate rather than the naps. So perhaps do wake up feed, one at 12.00 then bed time feed??
I sincerely hope you are in the middle of a deep sleep right now given that it's 1am over there, and that the rest of the night isn't too traumatic!

[4isstillnighttime]

We are going to try that UB - Laura, I'll be Guinea pig if you like and we'll test it on the girls first!!

[babybarr]

Sometimes 30mins can be ut for some babes. Also I moved nap originally to 9.30 cos it was thought 8.30 was allowing them to catch up on night sleep enforcing the ew. They don't do 45min naps only 40mins. Also I know I have to give them super long a time else they  short nap me. Also once my mum had them overnight. I told her to do a 9.30 nap she did it at 8.30 and the woke chatting after 30mins.

Well h was wide awake around 2am and j unsettled from midnight. Both boys awake at 5. Our best night recently was when they only slept an hr in the afternoon.