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Multiples
shanaynerz
member
Sleep Training Question
shanaynerz
member
in Multiples
I assume some of you have read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins. I'm wondering how and when some of you BTDT MoMs implemented it. My twins are only 5 weeks old, so I'm just thinking ahead. I love scheduling and want to make sure I do it as soon as we can, but not too soon, if that makes sense. We've been doing OUBO pretty religiously and they tend to be good during the night, with 4 hour stretches at times. I got DD1 on a nap schedule by 4 months and we had her down to bed quickly by 3 months, then STTN by 8 months, so we've done it before, but it seems different with twins.
I guess I'm just looking to see what others did with their twins in regards to scheduling, and this book in particular. I like what the book has to say, but I'm confused about how to start them on a schedule with them so young! Hope this makes some sense and TIA! 
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Re: Sleep Training Question
I was not really able to implement OUBU until about 6 months. My girls were TERRIBLE sleepers and nappers. They were fine for the first month or so but around 4 months it all went to hell. At night, they were up every 90 minutes to 2 hours (and not the same 2 hour intervals, so I was basically up every single hour) and would scream their little heads off every time they woke up. Sometimes it would take me 40 minutes to get one back to sleep and then she'd only sleep for an hour. During the day they took four short 30 minute naps. With such short sleeping intervals during the day, I didn't feel comfortable waking one up if she'd only been asleep for 15 minutes. Finally at 6 months, when I was so sleep deprived that I bordered on psychotic, we did Ferber at night. It took about one week and was actually much easier than I had anticipated and totally saved all of our lives. After 1 week they were both more or less STTN except for one middle of the night feeding around midnight. At that point I started doing OUBU and since they were much better getting to sleep at night we were able to get them to go down at relatively the same time.
As far as daytime scheduling goes, we don't have a strict schedule. I usually follow their cues, but at around 6 months, I began to see a pattern. They would get tired after being awake for 2 hours during the day, and a bit longer towards evening. We started a loose 2-3-4 nap schedule. So, whenever they wake up in the morning, we take a nap 2 - 2 1/2 hours later, then they're up for about 3 hours before their next nap, and then they're up 4 -5 hours before bedtime. Sometimes if they take short naps, they'll get a 3rd short nap (20 min) in the afternoon.
One thing that helped us was that we did not put them down to sleep at the first sign of tiredness. I know every baby book I read told me to do this, and I tried and it didn't work for my girls. I would see them rub their eyes and would get them ready for a nap or their bedtime routine and they wouldn't sleep. They'd get wound up in their cribs, or one would sleep and the other wouldn't and then we were out of synch. So, what worked for me was to keep them up until they were exhausted. I mean, they are begging for sleep by the time I put them down. When I see them start to get tired, rubbing their eyes or yawning, I keep them busy for another half hour or so and then I start a bedtime routine or nap. Then they go right to sleep as soon as they are in the cribs. I also found that when I stretch their awake periods during the day this way, it also helped extend their naps, so they started taking longer naps, which made it much easier to do OUBU.
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