Viewing 25 posts - 81 through 105 (of 105 total)
  • How do I stop our twin babies waking so early?
  • wheeler
    Free Member

    Just bang a **** in their gobs, it works for me.

    Ermm….

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Ten weeks old and you're getting a six hour block like that, blooming luxury!

    It isn't that that I am commenting on, I don't care about my sleep – it is the waking early and keeping each other awake that bothers us – as I have said, they immediately fall asleep when held by us so clearly want to sleep, but something is stopping them from doing so.

    And I don't see how putting them in another room will help the situation, other than letting us sleep, which is something I am not too bothered about.

    Have I said I am not bothered about my sleep and it is THEIR welfare I am concerned with yet?

    wheeler
    Free Member

    I don't think you should be too concerned that they're not getting enough sleep. It sounds like they're getting plenty and they won't be shy about grabbing a snooze if they need one (assuming you don't fit clockwork orange eye-matchsticks during the day).

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    Markie
    Free Member

    Could you try putting them in separate cots on opposite sides of the room? It may be (completely made up guess here!) enough to allow them to sleep through the others chatter?

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    No they can sleep all they like during the day – apparently it helps them sleep better at night if they sleep more during the day! It is when you try to keep them awake that they then are more restless. Or so we are told by the NCT girls…

    It just goes back the the situation that if we hold them, they will happily sleep more (a good two or three hours) but leave them and they look like they are stressed/wanting to sleep still but bouncing off each other.

    wheeler
    Free Member

    Perhaps if they're disturbing each other, it's time to give them space (if the possible comfort they provide each other is outweighed by the disturbance factor).

    aracer
    Free Member

    Don't know if it's already been said, as I've only really scanned all that, but do they normally go to sleep being held during/at the end of a feed? If so, that might be your problem – they wake up and they're not where they were when they went to sleep, which disturbs them. Supposedly (can't say I'm the world expert on this) you need to wake them up after a feed and let them go to sleep in their cot.

    Still think you're not doing too badly. Is a bit of a pain with our 2.5 year old, as he tends to wake the little one up in the morning, which means mum doesn't get a lie in even if I do take big one away straight away. Then again little one managed to wake up before 7 all on his own when I took big one away camping at the weekend.

    crikey
    Free Member

    Can't be arsed reading all the thread, but little children do wake up early and they also grow out of it, so you just have to suck it up I'm afraid.

    I've got three, and the two oldest don't surface til 12 oclock…

    wheeler
    Free Member

    It takes a brave person to wake a post-feed sleeping baby in order to put them to bed and hope they go back to sleep. I know you're supposed to but you're asking for trouble…

    wheeler
    Free Member

    I love the whole "can't be arsed to read everyone else's waffle but here's some of my own" 😉

    woffle
    Free Member

    For the first 8 weeks every dirty nappy was like that for us – sh*t seeping through vest and babygrow, out of the side of clothes, on their hands etc.

    Oh I remember those days so well:

    They're two and four now – thankfully both potty and toilet trained…

    aleigh
    Free Member

    My eldest is nearly 9 (and now I have a 4yr old too) and I've been woken up between 5 and 6am for this same amount of time……………..good luck!

    lister
    Full Member

    the poo explosion thing wouldn't happen with washable nappies but I think that's been discussed before… 😉

    your kids sound like they are having plenty of good sleep, they wouldn't wake up chatting and happy if they weren't. the crying bit is just their way of telling you that they are awake and they would like some attention NOW please.
    the only other thing i can offer is that these 'routines' kids develop are very changeable and it's more than likely that is a few weeks or months they'll sleep and wake at completely different times. my oldest is nearly 3 and only in the last few months has settled on a regular pattern of sleep. my 14month old is still ALL over the place 🙁

    Metasequoia
    Full Member

    We have 5 month old twins. They started with 11pm and a 5:30am feed, then we dropped the 11pm one and they now sleep through. The are now in the same room but separate cots, we moved them when the kept waking each other up, now they mostly ignore each other-not sure how long this will carry on!!

    One more thing they hate it when it's too warm, over about 21C -22C they don't sleep as well- just like me really. I'd also support everyone who said that routine around bed time is vital

    mogrim
    Full Member

    My one piece of advice (though I've not got twins, and my youngest is now 5) is to get them out of your room ASAP. The youngest was out at 6 weeks…

    Evie has a dummy which she sometimes likes, other times prefers not to have it. Izzi doesn't like them. And to be fair, I would rather neither uses one at all – Evie isn't allowed hers during the day.

    Any particular reason? It won't harm them, and they're a damn site easier to get rid of than a thumb sucking habit.

    monkeychild
    Free Member

    My little monkey is 2 weeks old tomorrow and he is a right randomer lol. He slept 6 hours between feeds the other night 😯 But generally he is 3-4 hours between feeds. Me and my Mrs are a bit surprised at how we are not totally knackered 😆
    As for dummies Ethan has one but he doesn't like it all the time.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    After all that….

    Fed them last night at 7.30pm and again at 9.30pm and they slept through till 4.30am.

    A quick feed and back down to sleep until 7.30am without a sound!

    So then, to bring parity back to my hectic world, the microwave blew up this morning spewing acrid smoke out through the house so my wife is now taking them to her mum's so she can spend the day washing and cleaning the house and I am sat here looking for a new one (we need it as we have a microwave steriliser) whilst stinking of smoke and all I can taste is fried microwave element in my mouth/throat.

    Ohh joys!

    TheLittlestHobo
    Free Member

    yamyamblade had it very early on in this thread. That routine has worked on two of my kids and both have slept regular 7pm to 6.30-7am nights since 6wks old.

    My observations over the years have been

    1)People that claim their kids wont sleep are the ones who have little to no willpower. My brother has always claimed his kids wont sleep and let them into his bed etc. We had them for 2 nights and after 1hr on the first night they were sound asleep and within 30mins second night. My dad had them for a week and he got exactly the same results as i did. Strangely when the kids went back to their parents they didnt sleep through. My dad said he was spitting feathers at how quickly they ruined his hard work.

    2) Best piece of advice i got with the first was to get a routine sorted. You think bathing two kids every night is a hastle, this is nothing compared to kids who have not given you a good nights sleep and they are now 5-6yrs old. Bath time is fun and i dare say a good bonding time. Our midwife actually suggested i have a bath every night with my kids as a way of getting the routine going. We hated bathing our kids in baby baths so i got to have bonding time in the bath after work and it became fun. My oldest is 6 and i can't think of many days that i have missed his or his sisters bathtime.

    3) If they arent hungry or dirty then they get absolutely no attention whatsoever in bed. Not a hug or a stroke. Straighten them up, cover them up and out. Unless they are causing themselves harm, let them cry so that they realise that crying does not automatically result in cuddles in bed. If they go for more than 15mins, go in, straighten them up and get out.

    Tango-Man
    Free Member

    Sorry, hijacking hubbies logon!

    We have 2 kids, one girl almost 3 and the other, a boy, 8 months.
    Our daughter always has been great at sleeping, has done 7 – 7 most nights from 6 weeks old. Our son has never been great at sleeping but now does 7 – 6 every night. Tips I have picked up are
    1) get into a routine now, more for you than them and eventually it will pay off.
    2) Gina Ford has no children
    3) health visitors will give some good advice but be confident in your own parenting skills, if you think your babies will settle better in their own room at 4 weeks old then move them, you are the parent. Our daughter was in her own room at 6 weeks, our son was moved at 4 weeks!
    4) if they settle when held by you then its a comfort thing. Get a blanket/toy/burp cloth or similar and sleep with it, wear it, keep it close to you for a few days then give it to your baby. It will smell of you and should help sleep better.

    I was told babies don't know the difference between day and night until at least 6 months so don't expect miracles. You could try controlled crying (leave to cry for a minute then go back for a short period, then leave again for a slightly longer period etc etc) but seems a bit harsh with very young babies

    Mrs Tango Man

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    It will smell of you and should help sleep better.

    We started sleeping with two soft toys about 2 weeks ago and plan on using them as comforters once 'scented'. 🙂

    Anyway – lots of good advice here thanks, we will try what we can and see where we go from here. 🙂

    TrailerPark
    Free Member

    Sounds like they are doing fine, their sleeping patterns will change over time, i would't worry. My boy was never much of a sleeper and even now at 2 his sleeping pattern changes from day to day. Now he can get out of bed i have even less contol over his sleeping "not tired, no bed" even when he's exhausted. I check on him an hour later, pick him up off the floor and tuck him back in bed. None of it has done his development any harm, i wish i was half as bright as he is.
    Just hang in there.
    Wait a minute, how have you got time to be on here with 10week old twins?

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Wait a minute, how have you got time to be on here with 10week old twins?

    Work…

    😉

    (Just had two weeks off – you can see my visits to STW went down considerably in that time 🙂 )

    therealhoops
    Free Member

    have you tried growbags? not the soil kind but the stretchy swaddling blanket. It stops their arms moving which because they can't fully control yet is probably waking them up. DON'T get into a routine of them only falling asleep in your arms.

    akira
    Full Member

    Grobags are very good, think sometimes the problem can be they sleep easier when being held so they cry and then you pick them up, so then they get used to being picked up before falling asleep.
    One of our 6 month twins goes to sleep very easily, the other takes a while but we have got in the habit of trying to let him settle himself and it's slowly working.
    They don't learn behaviour until twelve weeks so not a big problem now but if they get into the habit of only sleeping when being held you're in for some long nights, does get easier though.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    One of our 6 month twins goes to sleep very easily, the other takes a while but we have got in the habit of trying to let him settle himself and it's slowly working.
    They don't learn behaviour until twelve weeks so not a big problem now but if they get into the habit of only sleeping when being held you're in for some long nights, does get easier though.

    Just the same as ours – Evie can take an hour to go down, Izzi is minutes. But then again, Evie will then sleep through the night whereas Izzi normally wakes for a feed.

    We are trying our best to leave them when they wake and not pick them up. The odd thing is, when they do their early morning thing, they can be up at 5am and make noise until, say, 6am, but then go back off to sleep until we wake them at 7.30am.

    13 weeks today.:-)

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