no sleep - please help!

omalley

I am on the verge of tears I am so tired.  We were started to see that our boys were sleeping for longer stretches but I feel like the past few night they have reverted back to 1 month olds!

I started back to work 2 weeks ago and I must admit that we have no sleeping schedule (or any schedule for that matter) for them and I know that is rule #1.  I bought Healthy Sleep Habits but it came last week and I haven't been able to even open it.  The second I get home the feedings/laundry/bathtime etc are non-stop and I try to lay down at 9:00ish when we put them down b/c sometimes that is my only sleep until they wake up at 12:00 am.  And then we are up most of the night with either marathon feedings every few hours or fussiness/screaming crying.

We want to try to put a game plan together this weekend b/c this cannot continue.  We have a nanny come to the house so we can tell her what the schedule should be - right now we are all just winging it.

Any advice would be appreciated or tips that helped you at this stage.  And misery loves company ;-)

AlisaS

They are normal babies. You are not supposed to be sleeping right now.

omalley

AlisaS:

They are normal babies. You are not supposed to be sleeping right now.

I know my babies are normal.  But I also know/have heard that routine is important and we are failing at that right now.  And feel lost about what to do.

s.s.girl

I'm sorry and I feel your pain we're not getting a whole lot of sleep here either. I don't really have any advice for you since we're still trying to figure it out ourselves. We did start a nighttime routine yesterday to see if that helps them sleep a little more between feedings since they seem to have their nights and days mixed up. Good luck to you and hang in there.?

meldoo2002

I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child Twins and it was ok.  It gives some decent information about getting children on a schedule, but then I read The Baby Book and agree with his philosophy of attachment parenting more so I'm not doing the sleep training right now.  Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding?  When you say marathon feedings can DH help you out at all.  We each take 1 baby in the middle of the night.  Luckily DH's usually STTN, but at least I know I don't have to deal with both.  I pump so I'm up anyway.  The Healthy Sleep book was a very easy read.  I'm sure you'll find that once you open it.

sfitz0711

My twinsies are not here yet, but I just wanted to send some ecouragement your way!  You can do it!

omalley

meldoo2002:

I Are you breastfeeding or bottle feeding?  When you say marathon feedings can DH help you out at all.  We each take 1 baby in the middle of the night.  Luckily DH's usually STTN, but at least I know I don't have to deal with both.  

We are formula feeding and we did start that plan (each taking a baby) last week.  And funny, DH always takes the easier baby too.  My little guy will not go back to sleep after feedings and will scream even when I am holding him - then after awhile he will sleep in my arms.  If I try to lay him down he wakes and screams so I find myself holding him until the next feeding and I am not getting sleep when that happens.

I know I cannot rush them but I want to at least learn a smarter approach and what to tell the nanny for the days.  Thanks for the advice - I will open that book this weekend.

jenn_darrin1515

I am with you - last week our babies ate at 10pm and then went down til 4am and then down again from about 5-9...I was so hopeful it would continue, but we are right back again to feeding every three hours day and night...so tired..we started a routine last night with bath, bottle, bed...we'll see if that helps...good luck!

SportsLover

My babies were like this until they turned 4 months.  Untill then, I just fed on demand.  However, I did learn to feed them at the same time.  Can you stretch them to 4 hours at night?  Maybe your nanny can feed them every 3 during the day (so they fill up) and then they'll stretch to 4 at night?

Anther thing I suggest, which others may not agree on is finding what they like to sleep in/on at night.  One of my twins wanted to sleep in the swing and the other preferred the bouncy seat.  I didn't care because they slept better and longer in them and honestly, sleep was more important to me at that time.  They transitioned easily to cribs around 4 months.

Hang in there.  It will get better!  BTW - I'm going to PM you.  I live close to you in PA!

beefsbride

It is so hard I know!  I returned to work FT at 8 weeks and my DH was traveling all.the.time on week-long overnight trips.  I was maybe getting 2 hours of sleep at night (on a good night).  My twins came home from the NICU around 3 weeks and they were on a 3 hour feeding schedule (they have always been FF).  We kept that up once they were home.  Regardless of how they ate at night, during the day we started their schedule/routine at 8am and they would eat at 8 - 11 - 2 - 5 - 8 - 11 and we tried to feed on demand overnight (but normally they would still eat every 3 - 4 hours until they reached 4 mo and around 12 lbs).   We also started our bedtime routine at 8pm around 8 weeks (they may not have *stayed down* from 8 - 11, but we at least wanted to set a "set" bedtime early on).   And inevitably one would be awake for 2 - 3 hours between night feedings and then the other one would be awake the other half of the night.  NOT fun.  My two didn't really fall into a good nap / daytime routine until they were closer to 4 - 6 mo, but they stayed on that every 3 hour eating schedule until they were close to 8 mo (when we were then able to stretch to 4 hours during the day).  At 8 weeks we tried to do the EASY method from the baby whisperer -- eat, activity, sleep, you time.  Although my two were more like ESAY, but still it helped us establish a routine.  The other thing we tried to do as they got older was make sure they were never up for more than 2 hours at a time -- that seemed to be the magic number.  But I don't think we started that until closer to 4 months.

Hang in there!  It is so hard at this stage but you will survive!!