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Multiples
MoM FAIL
Ugh. I can't seem to stop myself from getting frustrated at nap time. It seems like once a week I fall apart, and every time I vow to keep it together the next time, and then just repeat the same thing.
Today's scenario:
M falls asleep nursing. Put her down. Start rocking N, 10 minutes later she goes down. Great, right? Fix lunch. Before I can sit down (20 mins after I put her down) M is crying. Nurse, eyes wide open. Bounce, eyes wide open. Bottle, eyes wide open. Rock, eyes wide open. GO TO SLEEP!! (that is me semi-screaming). By the way, M also skipped her mid-morning nap. Bounce like a maniac, shush way too loud and fast, put down in swing knowing she will never drift off on her own.
Naomi is crying. Leave Maya, go get Naomi, already at a boiling point. Rinse and repeat the above described. N goes back down, go to get M and start over. An hour and a half later, I got to eat.
I thought that I would magically always be patient and kind when I became a mom, but that plan is a big, fat FAIL. Ugh, I feel like crap.
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Re: MoM FAIL
When I feel like I'm reaching my limit, I walk away for a couple minutes. I wouldn't let them CIO or anything when they were that young, but I'd put them in their cribs or swings and step outside on the back porch for 2-3 minutes. Long enough to take some deep breaths, and remind myself that they were just babies and weren't trying to make me mad on purpose, and that me being upset would only make things worse. Then I was able to go back in with a clear head and deal with the situation.
Also, my kids would only nap if the room was completely dark (blackout curtains if you don't have any!) and if it was not completely silent. I left the radio on for them (and still do), but white noise machines are good too.
If it seems that you're getting irrationally upset a lot (like more than a couple times a week), you might want to look into talking to a counselor. It could be symptoms of PPD.
Good luck, and remember that it won't last forever.
ETA - I just realized that they're practically 6 months old. That's about the time we started doing a very modified Ferber at bed time because getting them to sleep was a 2-4 hour nightmare. So scratch what I said above about not letting the CIO at that age I guess.
Thanks for the concern. I don't think it's anything more than some occasional, garden-variety frustration. They're 6 months old, and trust me, if I let them CIO then I wouldn't be running back and forth like a crazy person rocking and nursing them back to sleep!
I'm just hoping to hear that other people get frustrated, too. It's just hard trying to meet the needs of two in a calm way, day in day out...
XXY: Thank you, thank you!!!
They SO have radar!!! It's uncanny!
Add "then when trying to nurse her back down, she bit me" to this, and you have naptime at my house yesterday. DH was home, so I ended up giving K to him to snuggle down. Deeeeep breaths.
Oh man, those days are the worst. It sounds bad, but after becoming a mom I realized why they have to have all those Shaken Baby commercials.
Hang in there.
I can feel your tension, and remember those days. I had a similar experience at that age. We actually had sleep regression where Audrey would only stay asleep when being held. Could hardly get her to sleep 10 or 20 min in her crib, and would cry when I put her down most of the time. Same at night. It was at this age we let them (mostly Audrey) CIO. She went from 10min naps to 45+min naps. She became a much less fussy, and happier baby almost immediately. Won't say it was easy, but we had success quickly.
Not saying CIO is what YOU should do... but maybe time to check out what ST methods you are comfortable with.