Author Topic: 20 week old twins waking CONSTANTLY until 4am.. HELPPPPP  (Read 8721 times)

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Offline eeleahm

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20 week old twins waking CONSTANTLY until 4am.. HELPPPPP
« on: January 05, 2020, 00:07:47 am »
Just transitioned our 4.5 month old twins to the 4hour routine, which they did very well at. Current routine is as follows:

E 7:30
A
S 9:30-11 or 11:30
E: 11 or 11:30
A
S 1:30- 3
E 1:30
A
S 5-5:30 or 5:45
E 5:45
A bath 7:15
E 7:45 (1/2 feed before bed)
S 8

Then the fun begins. They wake up like a game of "wack-a-mole" until 4 am. 9:30pm, 11pm (DF that they usually wake up for), 1, 3, 4... then quiet until 7:30am. We are desperate for sleep. Usually we end up feeding them 50-100ml at the 1 am and 3 am mark to shut them up ... so they are technically getting the DF at 11 and then again at 1ish, 3ish... sometimes one more time in there too. I know we could be creating habits... you know when you are so tired and the screaming from TWO babies is so much, we cave and give them some bottle or I feed them back to sleep. Although I can't imagine at their age they need all these night feedings.

They are not on solids yet. They also eat around 3-4oz a feed during the day and I'm wondering if maybe they are not eating enough??? They each get one breast and topped up with formula (60-120ml). It's been 4 weeks of this crazy nighttime business... so could be 4 month regression lingering??? Any insight is greatly appreciated!!! <3

Offline deb

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Re: 20 week old twins waking CONSTANTLY until 4am.. HELPPPPP
« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2020, 14:22:35 pm »
I notice you're giving them a half-feed before bed? I'd try topping them up in the hours before bed if you can, see if the extra calories make a difference.

Offline eeleahm

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Re: 20 week old twins waking CONSTANTLY until 4am.. HELPPPPP
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2020, 02:21:02 am »
they take as much as they want at the other feeds. they feed on me first and then we top up with formula until they push the bottles out.. so we feed after the catnap and then give them a bit beofre bed so their tummies are full. sometimes they take a full feed both times! sometimes not.. i find their appetites are all over the place!

Offline deb

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Re: 20 week old twins waking CONSTANTLY until 4am.. HELPPPPP
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2020, 15:14:47 pm »
Hmm...what happens if you feed them when they wake at 9:30PM? Do they sleep thru?

They might soon be ready to transition away from the 3 nap/catnap too, in which case you could try 3 feeds spaced 2 hours apart and put them down earlier, see what that does. Babies do nap transitions at vastly different times though, so you have to make your own judgement call there. I want to say we were doing 3 90-minute naps around that age but as we pushed A times a bit longer, which you can try in maybe 10-15-minute increments, that last nap got pushed so late as to be useless except for making DD under-tired by our usual bedtime.

Also, who's going in for nightwakings? When I started sending in DH instead of me (the one who smelled like milk!), he'd pop in a binky and she'd go back to sleep more readily; if she smelled me, she expected a boob! LOL Non-nursing parent might be the better choice to try to break the cycle?