Daytime sleeping environment..... advice...

janabelle3

Hi all- So we have been home with our twins for about three days now , and we want to do the right thing by associating darkness with sleepy time....    We have been turning on the the lights and watching tv with noise during the day while they nap... and making it dark at night to associate sleepy time. But they sleep all day anyways.. What routine did you follow for this?? Thanks !!  I know this has been asked a million times but I'm asking again..  Thanks in advance-

amanda31H

We did just what you described.  It takes a few weeks though for them to get their days and nights straight- at least it did for our girls.  They sleep so much at this age anyway that you're not going to notice a big difference between day and night.

I'm not clear on what you're asking regarding a routine for day/night other than what you just mentioned.  You're on the right track- it takes time though!

Rangergal9

The first couple of weeks all they did was sleep so just keep doing what your doing and eventually they'll figure it out.  My girls still sleep a lot during the day, but I still always open the curtains, turn on the tv, etc..

MrsLnt

We did pretty much what you are doing.  They would nap in their bouncy seats, right next to the TV during the day.  They were unimpressed by Maury and didn't wake up!

After about a week home, we transitioned to one nap a day in the cribs, just so I could get a little rest (I use Angelcare monitors and feel like I can take a nap if they are in their cribs, as opposed to them being in bouncy seats and constantly checking if they are breathing - I'm neurotic!).  Last week, though, after some really bad naps in the bouncy seats, we went to all naps in cribs.  As their sleep cycled, they'd wake up and be unable to get back to sleep from the goings on in the living room.  

When they sleep in their cribs during the day, I leave their lamp on, the door is more open than at night and I'm in and out of their room putting away laundry and just peeking in on them. 

I think our kids are weird because they came home from the hospital on a pretty consistent 3.5 hour schedule and fell into a routine pretty easily.  They don't always wake up at the 3.5 hour mark but I will wake them up to eat, just to keep up the routine. 

I also make a huge production of the morning.  When I go to get them before their first bottle of the day, I put on the overhead light and say "Good Morning, babies!" and chatter about how it's a beautiful day and did they sleep well last night.

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i never worried about lights or noise when the babies napped during the day - I didn't want to have to tip toe around during naps - and with an older child + 2 dogs, this house is never quiet.... they napped just fine- for the first 4-5 months or so they napped in the livingroom in the swing or bouncy seat, or on the couch laying together while i sat next to them (sometimes propped up on the boppy pillows, too, on their bellies, when they were fussy this seemed to help... again, with me right there for safety).

around 5-6mo i started bringing them to their cribs for naps - and they did fine in there, too.  I do pull down the shades and turn off the lights- but it's never that dark in there on a sunny day- we don't have black out shades or anything... and they do fine.

They STTN at 8 weeks, too.... we followed Babywise from day 1 with them and it worked great (with our singleton, too).

 

leviandlandensmom

We do the same. We have them nap in their swings or bouncy seats out in the living room where it's pretty noisy and bright and at night they are in our room where it's dark and relatively quiet. My house is NEVER quiet during the day!

janabelle3

Thanks soooooo much you guys for sharing!!!!  So appreciate it...............

I think we may try putting them in cribs for some naps actually, they need to get used to going in there. Since we came home we have been having them nap in their bouncy seats, boppy pillows, and pack and play.

We'll see what happens! 

jamie217

I didn't start putting them in their cribs until their naps were predictable (around 9-10 wks).  Alot of times they woke up on the way up and didn't want to go back down, so I started swaddling them for naps until they got used to napping in their cribs and that helped alot.

I think that's it's great that your starting them in their cribs early.  Both my SILs told me to do this and it is a big help because they sleep better and I can get stuff done without worrying about disrupting them.