Sleep training w/ multiples - how, when?

growbeangrow · February 2013

I'm not sleep training my twins for a little while but I am reading up on it. So, how did you do it? I want all the details - the age, the process, what worked/didn't work etc.

Thanks!

Jen0204 · February 2013

This is a very personal decision. We first tried around 8 months and did 2 nights of the Ferber method (going in at increasing intervals) for about a half hour both nights. This was just with DD1 and we put her in the PNP in our room so she wouldn't wake up her sister. She screamed and screamed and got worse each time we went in. Both nights I put a stop to it at 30 minutes, and wouldn't do it after 2 nights. It felt wrong and like she wasn't ready.

A few weeks later we tried again. We kept both girls in their room and did the extinction method (not going in at all) to help with getting them to go down easier because they were falling asleep in our arms and then waking up when we put them to bed. They cried for about 5 minutes for 2 nights and then didn't cry anymore. This also caused them to go from waking up 3-4 times a night to just once for a bottle.

At 9.5 months our pediatrician said to wean the nighttime bottle, which we did over the course of 5 days. Now if they wake up and fuss we don't go in unless it sounds like something is wrong.

macchiatto · February 2013

We followed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We followed some of his basic advice on drowsy cues and schedule and good sleep hygiene starting when the boys were 7.5w old. Literally immediately they fell into a really good and consistent nap schedule (before that naps were short and unpredictable and all over the place). They then started STTN at 4.5m. We followed the HSHHC advice as much as was relevant for us, including some extinction for waking way too early or occasionally in the middle of the night; we learned to distinguish the different type of cries and knew when to go in. For us though extinction never involved letting them cry more than about 20 minutes or so, maybe 30 minutes once or twice. Our boys tended to get more worked up and take much longer to go in if we tried the "check and console" method so extinction worked better for us and like he says in his book, for us it led to less crying overall.

violaplayer · February 2013

This is such a hard question to answer because it really depends on what works for your kids and for your family. And it depends on if they were early/where they are in physical development. A lot of sleep advice includes not starting until they are at least 6 months old but that really pertains more to born at 40w babies.

We also did a modified HSHHC. It worked better for Jimmy than for Ethan. Ethan needed more a modified Ferber approach. We didn't separate them for any of it, since they have to share a room and will for the foreseeable future.

karo112 · February 2013

I loved Babywise. Worked wonders.

BabyCarryingVessel · February 2013

Agree with PP that this is going to be different for everybody and depends on when the babies are ready. I didn't follow HSHHC to a T, but I did start doing some of the principles around 3 months. We follow EASY, so they eat, have some sort of activity, then sleep. While they're playing, as soon as someone rubs her eyes or yawns, I scoop her up and put her down in the pack n play. She may cry for one minute, but most times they are out very quickly. IMO naps were very easy but STTN is a different monster. I also think this varies with each kid.

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Sleep training w/ multiples - how, when?

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