Sleep and EASY support for twins and multiples

[*Kara*]

Things are a hot mess here!  I know that the girls need to move to 2 naps a day because bedtime is becoming a bit of a circus act at best!  I get CN refusals too.. so we need to tweak the whole day cause they still only take a 40 min AM nap and that will not work for a 2-nap day!

So now we are:
 
3-5am - NF and back to sleep ASAP - still random so I know they do need it
7am - wake up, bottle depends on night feed time but is typically around 830am
930am - nap 40-45 mins
1030 - solids (just starting so it's not much)
1215/1230 - bottle and nap
3pm wake from nap
330pm bottle
515pm - CN
6pm - wake up and hang out while I finish cleaning up the kitchen and get toddler ready for bed
7pm bottle and bed... but as I type this I am listening to some growling from Charlotte - it's 8pm.  She has dozed off a few times but keeps waking because she simply isn't ready for bed...

Help?! 

They are 6 months, but 5 adjusted... I think they need an increase in their first A time to get that nap longer - yes?

[babybarr]

Haven't got much time so in a word yes! Push to 10 if you can and see what happens. Don't do the catnap at all and do early bed if poss?

[kayra]

If you want to keep that catnap you could try it earlier, say 4:45?
If you want to go to 2 naps they need to be able to handle 3hr a time really, do you think they can make that jump?

[jessmum46]

Just reading along with my mod hat on but Kara you could even try just sticking with the short am nap, long lunchtime nap, drop the CN and do bed at 6/6.15 for a bit then slowly push out?  Not a typical EASY routine but works for many others x

[*Kara*]

The catnap is refused if we try any sooner than 2 - 2.5 hrs of A time so can't pull it forward since the girls just won't have it! 

As for bedtime before 7pm, can't really.  DH gets home around 530pm so once we all eat, I have to get DD1 off to bed with story etc for 7pm.  It's quite the rush between 615 - 7pm around here!  DH is in charge of the twins during that time.  Also, feed times are not flexible with these two.. they won't take a top up feed and will scream the house down if I try to do a smaller feed to pull that bedtime feed earlier.

I do think they could get very close to a 3 hr A time for sure... there are times that they have managed 3.5 hrs (obviously not on purpose!)...

I went out and about today as we have been housebound for days (horrid snow/weather here now)... so they took a short morning nap at 915am (after a rough night!), woke at 10am... we ran a quick errand and I fed them at 1145... loaded the kids up and off we went!  They ended up having two shorter 40 min naps this afternoon and then one again around 530 (woke them at 550)... into bed at 715 and they have been so much better tonight - I had to resettle once because someone lost her soother but that's it!  Clearly, they need to be more tired for bedtime!

[DorothyGale]

We're having similar problems here - my boys have been impossible to put to bed for the past three nights. We had a great routine of bath, book, bed and they had been sleeping from 7 pm until around midnight (sometimes later) and then straight back to bed with no problems. Now, they either go to bed but are awake again an hour later, or just refuse to go down in the first place (they take turns). Last night we resorted to taking them both out for a walk at 9 pm, and they finally went down after that.

I don't know what is going on. During the day, they barely make it to 2 hours of awake time, and they are still feeding every 3.5 hours instead of 4, and draining their bottles. They're 6 months old on Feb 16th, but closer to 5 months adjusted.

They are also waking up at 6 am, where before they were waking between 7 and 7:30.

Could this be a growth spurt? They are driving me crazy.

[kayra]

Dorothy 3.5hr between feeds sounds fine to me, we didn't get well established on 4hrs till at least 7 mths, it really depends on how much a time they can do and how well they're napping. Could you be I a wonderweek, that tends to mess sleep. If they're draining the bottle you could add another ounce maybe? What was their a time to bed? Waking soon after bed is often a sign of ot rather than ut if I'm not mistaken.

Kara, if you think they can handle is push their a times out then, I've always been so scared of it but when we were an absolute mess I went to set naps for a while, really pushing them out and eventually it sorted things out. We aren't on set naps as such not, but even if they ew they don't go down earlier than 10 and even if they sort nap they don't do down before 2, bt 7ish.

[*Kara*]

Dorothy - they may go 4 hrs between feeds if they are full... draining bottles means you need to increase what you are offering.. you always want baby to stop with a bit left so that you know they are full and not just stopping because the milk ran out     Mine have been 4 hrly for feeds since 8 days old (born at 35+2)...

We are having mixed success with 2 naps... I had planned a 3 nap day today but they have just woken from a lovely 95 min AM nap with no resettles by me!  We just might be able to do 2 naps with an earlier bedtime!

[brittanyalice]

Just wondering how many of you put your twins down for naps in separate rooms? but at night are in the same room. Right now the duo are 4mo old but were born a month early. I have found that for naps they wake each other up but at night its not a problem.

[kayra]

We don't usually, but I do find that they are more likely to wake eachother up from naps than at night time. I guess it just doesn't happen often enough to make us make them nap in different rooms, I'll on,y do it (and haven't for a while) if I'm putting one down later and time wise it seems likely that any sound could wake the sleeping one or the sleeping one has had a bad day and I can't risk any disturbance whatsoever, if that makes sense? If one wakes early I'll try a quick resettle and if it's not happening try to get them out the room asap, I have learnt the hard way-and kicked myself hard-that if I try to resettle too long the sleeping one is likely to be disturbed.
Sorry that was a bit long winded

How is everyone? We're ok, they're moving all over the house, dd still doing her commando crawl, lots of pulling up to standing too. They don't interract with eachother that much but do seem to like being around eachother and will definitely play better if together. But ds will often go off to roam which then sets dd off to although normally I think she'd be happy to just sit and play.

[*Kara*]

We are good here... pushing through to two naps has been rough at times but we are getting there!  Still up once a night for a feed between 3-430 typically but still back to sleep easily unless they wake after 5/530am as they have then been sleeping 10-10.5 hrs. 
 
We are struggling with nap #1 though... I have been recording sleep times hoping to see something jump off the page to help solve this one but no - nothing sticks out!  They act tired about 2-2.5 hrs after waking... will go down fairly well after this long... but nap 45 mins without fail.  If I keep them up to 2 hrs 45 or 3 hrs, they are really tough to get settled (no chance of self-settling if up this long) and often wake after 45 mins and are crabby!  Clearly need to sleep longer.. won't be APd back to sleep either... but just to keep me interested, they will randomly take a 2 hr nap!  They take turns and it's totally random!

[kayra]

So frustrating isn't it? And its not like you could get them down at 2.35 or 2.40 minutes on the dot either to see if those I between times would work. Hope they do a good 2nd nap at least.
We've all got colds so that's lots of fun they need to sleep and rest to get better but of course they can't sleep well. Nights haven't been too bad but naps are hit and miss. It's frustrating when the first nap of the day is short both because that's my tiny bit of me time when ds1 is at school and because it brings the whole day forward I can't apop them back to sleep either, even if they will miraculously sleep in my arms they don't stay asleep when back in their bed. Feeling rather fed up, with longer A times now just a 30minute break just doesn't feel like a break!

[lnh430]

Hi ladies! I'm new to the board, but not new to using BW. I used it with my singleton who is 3 now and still a great sleeper. Now I need help with my newborn twins. I have 7.5 week B/G twins (born at 36 weeks 3 days), about 4 weeks adjusted. I have them synchronized on a 3 hour schedule. We're still waking at 2:30-3am and then 5:30am. So, ready for them to sleep a longer stretch!

My question is - How do you do the 4S Wind Down with twins? Particularly the sitting quietly for 5 minutes. My boy is big already at 11lbs. so I can no longer hold them both and lay them down in the crib smoothly without jostling them too much. I found this really helped my older one and want to be sure I'm providing a good wind down. Right now it's not happening. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[kayra]

Hi welcome and congratulations! Could you stagger them by a few minutes? Have one in the bouncy chair or sthg while you put the first one down?
I didn't even attempt sycnronise till a couple of months ago, so no btdt advice for when they're that small I'm afraid!
Xx

[babybarr]

Same here with synchro. Good luck!

Kayra 30mins here was always ut despite me assuming ot!