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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
sleepless 7 month old twins
Im a first time mom, my husband works out of state for at least six weeks at a time, and we have two amazing 7 month old girls. They are always so happy and content with life, and they seem to be right on track with their milestones. With that being said, they are right on time with this 'sleep separation anxiety' that they should be having. Well, first off, since their umbilical cords fell off, I've had a pretty smooth, quite night time routine which got them sleeping through the night by the time they were just over two months old, but all of a sudden, one of them will wake up at 11, it'll take me almost an hour for me to cuddle and rock her back to sleep. Ill go lay in my bed, and before I can even close my eyes the other will be awake and it starts all over. They will sleep for maybe 2 hrs if im lucky and usually the second round they both wake up screaming together. I know its just a stage and at some point this will pass, but I feel like Im failing, because Im having a hard time doing this alone. Its very hard to have such happy babies during the day, and hearing them hysterical at night. Im hoping someone has some insight for me to help in some way. Id love for my husband to be here, but its very expensive to have twins, and his jobs fits the bill for us. I just need something to help get me through this stage.
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Re: sleepless 7 month old twins
Do you have family or friends who can help you? Maybe not at night, but during the day so you can take a nap or rest at least?
I'm having the sleep separation anxiety issue with my daughter right now, but you have to deal with two! You are right about this being a phase, and it will not last forever. Hang in there!
Proud mother of two breech babies:)
Hi There,
Sleeping, or lack of, is so hard.
My daughter was a great sleeper (as in sttn) from about 2 weeks until 4 months. Then she started waking up in the middle of the night. Most of the time is was 1x a night. As of about 2 weeks ago it turned into every two hours.
Similar to your situation, the only difficulty she had was sleeping. I was very resistant to CIO as I didn't believe it would work for her and couldn't bear to hear her cry. But when the multiple wakings each night started, I decided I was ready to try anything (this was at 8 months old). It was hard but hand on heart, after 2 nights of CIO I put her down, awake, on the third night and she fell asleep - no tears - on her own. Since then she has pretty much slept straight through. I actually cried myself on the third night because I was so proud of her...lol.
I am not sure how this would work with twins but I think you should try it? I don't know if one would wake the other?
I used the Ferber method. My approach was once she was in bed for the night, I went in after 1 minute, stayed for 1 min - not picking her up. Then 5 min, stayed 1 minute, not picking her up. Then 10 min stayed 1 min not picking her up. And I repeated at 10 -15 minutes after that. Never going longer than 15 min.
A couple things:
1. When you go back in it actually makes the crying WORSE. But I would just say "i love you. I am right here. It is time for bed etc".
2. I only went in if she was crying....not if she was whimpering, or crawling around. Because I didn't want to make it worse (see #1) I would only go in I she was really crying. The idea is that they are trying to self soothe. So with her, whimpering, crawling around etc is all part of that.
3. You also must do this if they wake up in the middle of the night. This only happened for her on the first night....she fell asleep (with me going in at 1, 5 and 15) after about 30 minutes.
The first night after putting her down, this went on for about 1.5 hours. Second night less than 45 minutes. Third night she was asleep within 10 minutes. This also works for her naps now too. Before this training she would only nap if I was driving with her in the car, if she was in her stroller or if I held held her.
This has honestly changed our lives. She wakes up in the morning smiling from ear to ear rather than screaming for someone to get her.
Good luck with whatever you decide to try!
I also have 7 month old twins (boy/girl). Kudos for doing it yourself! My DH is great with our babies and I still get overwhelmed at times.
DD and DS started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. Right around 6 months DD started waking up at 3 a.m. every night. At first we resisted feeding her (didn't want her to get into the habit), but that seemed to be the only way to get her back to sleep. We talked to the pediatrician at their 6 month check up and he suggested CIO. I was reluctant but decided to at least try it for a night. The first night when DD woke at 3 I went in right away and stuck her Nuk in and told her I loved her but it was time to sleep. I checked on her in intervals that got increasingly longer. I never picked her up but I would slide her back to the center of the crib if she had worked her way up to the corner. The first night she cried for 34 minutes, the second night was about 20 minutes. The third night she was back to sleeping through the night. DD and DS share a nursery and DS slept through her crying.
We thought the problem was solved until last week when they both started waking in the middle of the night. We tried CIO again but they both cried well beyond 30 minutes and I couldn't listen to them anymore so I fed them. I thought DD was waking because she is trying to crawl but it was unlike DS to wake.
Last Friday I decided to try increasing their solids at dinner time to see if it would make a difference. They were sharing a 4 oz. container or veggies with 2-3 tablespoons of barley. Friday night they each got their own container of veggies with 2 tablespoons of barley. Friday night they both slept through the night. Since Friday we have been giving them each their own container for dinner and haven't had any problems with them waking. They get their solids at 5:30 and bedtime bottle around 6:45 (9.5 oz for DS and 8.5 oz for DD). I was worried increasing the solids would decrease the amount of formula but neither is having a problem finishing all their bottles. They get 40-45 oz. of formula a day plus two solid meals.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
Thank you for posting your advice, it was heard and very much appreciated. I read this this morning, and funny enough, last night I increased their oatmeal intake 5:30pm at dinner time, then as usual they had their bath, then their bedtime bottle,and THEY SLEPT FROM 7 UNTIL 5AM : ....... I had every intention of using CIO, but I never had to. I will use it in nights to come if they begin waking through the night again, I'm just thrilled this morning that not only did my pumpkins get a well needed nights sleep, but so did their mom: again thank you a million times over for your insight!