When does it get a little easier?

Bybo

Hi!

I'm at my wits end due to major lack of sleep and constantly doing something.  My boys are 9 weeks old.  They eat every 3 hours during the day and 4 at night.  I feel like I feed them all day long since one has reflux and I have to hold him up for a half hour and the other has bad gas/colic and after feedings he screams for an hour sometimes.

When does it get a little easier?  When do they get to the point where they're happier?  When will I ever find time to eat 3 meals a day and maybe get more than 2-3 hours sleep/night?  My friends with singletons say it gets easier at 3 months, but is it longer for multiples?

 

jlh123

For us, it was exactly 3 months where things got easier.  They STTN for the first time, it was inconsistent but one was usually doing it.  If one woke up it was only once.  They also started interacting more with us.  I just found that if they slept more, we slept more so things began to get easier and we actually were able to sit down and eat dinner at nights.  And I wasn't doing laundry anymore at 1am.  I felt like I was coming back to life.

So for us, 3 months seemed to be a magic mark and it was to the birthday of 3 months old.  By 4 months we got it really together and felt back to normal.

Bybo

Thank you!  This gives me some hope!!  3-4 months aren't too far away.  Right now, it seems like it'll never get better, they'll never sttn, I'll never see DH again and I'll be couped up all day in the house feeding these boys!

I can't wait to get it together and feel normal again  It's such an adjustment that even though I thought I was prepared for, I wasn't at all! 

kelliwill

It will get easier.  Honestly, we are at 5 months, and it has gotten progressively easier every month starting at 3 mos.  They will start to do better and you will start to feel better/more comfortable also.  I remember the days when I longed for a shower or even to brush my teeth and felt like I always had a baby on me because someone always needed to be held and they wouldn't even sit in seats or swings, or anything.  Mine startd sleeping better and longer at 3 mos. and now I can put them in swings and bouncy seats and have them play on their mats for some time also.  They sleep very well at night but we are still working to get our nap routine down, but we are getting there.  Hang in there!  Get help if you can, because it is hard....but you can do it and it does get easier!!!  Sending you hugs!!

jenn2929

I agree with pp's.  It's still hard,but not nearly as much so.  DS has reflux really badly as well.  If you don;t feel like it's under control soon, call a pediatric GI specialist.  It's the best thing we did.  They both started STTN in the past two weeks and that does make life so much easier.  As they start to interact with you more and give you some sort of feedback (smiles, etc..) it will get easier.  I have help and def need it.  I think that it is such a mental break to have someone come in and take over or help you out.  GL!

Temp159135562506975

that is a really rough time - mine were the worst from 6-8w old - when reflux started for Gray and my energy supply started to dwindle.

my guys started STTN at 8w and that helped a lot- but still takes probably until about 3mo for it to feel more "easy" lol.  They at least smile a lot by then so it's more fun

DESXF

Ok honestly, I did not think it would EVER get easier, but it does.  I even have a 3 year old, so you'd think I was used to it!  NOPE.

For us, it was right around 3 and a half months.  Noah started sleeping 5 hours at night, then he went to 8 hours and has been for almost a week now!!  Lily (who also has bad reflux) is waking around 1:30am, then I feed her at again at 5am with Noah.  They both go down at 8pm and are up for the day around 8am.

I too was completely exhausted.  For the first 3 months it was like I had them in their bouncy seats during the day and was just walking back and forth between them ALL.DAY.LONG.  They ate every 2 hours until they were 9 weeks old, and were both up every 3 hours a night.  I don't think I sat down for more than 3 or 4 mins at a time ever.  THere was a period of almost a month where the twins never left the house together because it was so much work/stress/fussing for all involved.  I was close to losing my mind.

BUT - It does get better.  I promise.  I can't say when, but for us, it was pretty close to that 3 month old mark.

For example: today we (me and the twins) went to a playdate at the park 35 mins away and walked with the stroller for a good hour, then we all went to Mc Donalds for lunch, I stopped by the grocery store on the way home, then came home and walked around the neighborhood, then filled the pool for my 3 year old and we all sat in the backyard for another 2 hours.  Ate dinner (a little late) at 7, then the twins were both out cold at 8pm.  Things are so much better lately

Hang in there, it won't be long!!

AlpacaBunny

First of all, ***BIG HUGS*** to you!  You are doing an amazing job, having two newborns is HARD work, but you are doing it!! 

It seemed like for us once they hit 10 pounds they started to sleep more.  that's when I felt like things got a little easier so I could sleep a little more than an hour at a time.  I breastfed both of them pretty much exclusively and when I look back I think I am crazy, because it was really hard for me and very stressful.  But once they slept like 6 hours at night I started to feel a little more in control.  My daughter also had bad reflux and the spitting up and screaming after feedings was hard.  She also did that overnight, sometimes from midnight until 5am.  It was awful.  I think for twins, or at least mine, they were smaller at birth, so it's almost like having a newborn for even longer than a singleton that is born full term.  It seemed like it really did take them that extra month that they were early to catch up and get on track.  I don't exactly remember when they hit 10 pounds, but I do think it was close to 3 months.  I went back to work just before they turned 4 months and that was when I know they were really sleeping all night long, like 8 hours.  Hang in there! 

lnle

this gives me hope...