Bedtime

So because handling twins is a whole different ballgame I thought I ask the twin mommies. I have recently started work again so naturally the routine is a little out. We get home around 5h30 and kiss and cuddle for an hour or so and then after having to burp endlessly (cause our nanny doesn't seem to get it right) they go back in their little chairs (they have already been bathed) and fall asleep in front of the tv? Is this really bad? Should I be 'forcing' 'the getting to sleep on their own' issue? As you know, you can't exactly let them niggle as they wake each other up! Help please, I'm worried after reading all the other sleep threads!

HI Ams

I know different things work for different people. Just be careful not to create problems for yourself later on - ultimately you want to teach your baies to fall asleep in their beds by themselves. I was fortunate in the NICU got my babies into a good routine upfront whereby they were put back to sleep immediately after their feed. I continued this when they came home so they go down quite nicely now.

Have you tried putting them to bed with a dummy or a toy of some sort to comfort them? I normally get home from work at about 5pm, play till 5.30 and then bath followed by bottle and then put them in their cots around 6.30pm with dummies and cuddly toys. They fall asleelp almost immediately.

Hi there
I agree with Wendy, you may have trouble later on. Mine eat their supper at 5pm, then bath at 6pm and then they have their bottles and bed at 6:30pm. They fall asleep without any problems. My nanny wanted to bath them too, but I insist in doing it myself, firstly because I want to have that contact with them, and secondly because it forms part of their bed time routine. They are so used to it now that once I take them out of the bath they are sommer suddenly tired and start moaning for their bottles and their beds!

Good luck!

I agree with the other moms. My daughter is a dream my son a different story. Wade is much better about the sleep thing and starts getting tired around 6. So then its bath and bottle and down to sleep. He niggles a bit as he tends to fight his sleep. He normally sleeps through but has on some occasions woken up. Normally its cause his dummy has fallen out. Mine sleep from 7pm and wake up between 5 - 6am onwards for their morning feed.

oh yes, I was allowing them to watch TV but no more. No tv at all. I rather let them listen to nursery rhymes, etc now.

Hi there

I have done exactly the same as you. My girls never fall asleep on their own at night in their cots and I miss them so much that I want to spend quality time with them when we get home. We get home at 5:30 feed and bath them and if they are not tired yet then they play infront of the tv with us but the last few weeks they play so much at daycare that at 7 they are sleeping so we sorted the problem of the tv.

I also don't want to force them to sleep if they are not tired and in the process irritate myself and get angry and fight with them so I rather let them play until they are tired and then we don't have a fight to go to bed and sleep.

You need to see what is the best for you and what will work for you. Good luck

Some of the other ladies seem to have done what I can't manage. Kian suffered badly from colic and reflux and so could not be left on his own he used to do most of his sleeping in my arms let alone putting him to sleep. So for now I bounce them to sleep, it works well and only takes 5 min and I get to cuddle them. Now that they are getting older I am noticing that they are starting to go to sleep on thier own if they are tired enough. I think I will start sleep training at 9 months when they can understand a little.

my biggest problem at the moment is they are waking for food at night. I put dummies in and they end up screaming 5 min later. The are on solids 3 times a day I don't know how to get them to eat more during the day. I am thinking of introducing a 4th meal!

Last night Kwoke 3 times for food and C 4 times and of course both at different times. and to think C was sleeping through from 10pm till 5:30am???

Hey, my girls get their "dinner" around 4:30 and then they play a bit until bath time. followed by the bottle and go down at 7:30.
They do watch 7e laan with me - dont know if thats good or bad.....

They go down very easily once they had their bottle. Except for the last couple of nights when Nica is battling with her teething gums and struggle to fall asleep. But once they fall asleep they are fine.

Kerry - i am thinking - how much milk do you give before they go down. I give my girls dinner with milk around 4:30 and then at 7 they get milk again. Maybe try that. My girls get 175 ml of milk before they go to sleep and 100ml with their dinner... so more than enough to help them through the night.

the peadiatrician told me that the last night time feed should be dropped around 9 months, so from now until then i will gradually move the dinner slightly later and then hopefully they wont need that feeding anymore.

Good luck sweetie

Hi!
I think I need help with the bedtime routine! I have tried waking them during the day every 3 hours but they are stubborn & won't feed properly unless they have woken up on their own. They then only take a little & wake up an hour later hungry so i've given up waking them unless it's been 4 hours. The early evening is a disaster!!! My husband & I usually end up eating dinner @ 9pm! They usually feed between 5&6pm but then will not settle & end up wanting more milk @ 7 or 8pm. We've tried dummies but they scream when they fall out! We have tried lala CD but have to sit with them for ages before they settle! Then when we put them in their beds they start crying again after 10min. We try leaving them but they wake each other up & get so worked up it takes ages to settle them again! Once they are asleep @ 8.30-9pm, they sleep until 1/2am, feed & then sleep again until 5/6am. So, the night isn't too bad but we are getting desperate in the early eve! I'm sure it's our own fault but we will try anything now! Advice please!

Early evening is tough, try moving the 5/6pm feed earlier and start a bedtime routine. With a bath and quiet music and dim lights. But it will take them a while to get the idea. I have started putting mine to sleep in differnt rooms till the are settled and then it does not matter if they niggle. Then I move them into thier own beds a little later.

But remember all babies are different so if yours won't play along with you don't despair. Just keep trying something new till you find something that works for you.

How old are your LO's? do they need to start solids?? Oops no not at 9 weeks. I am afraid they will still be very hungry then but the trick is to not let them get too tired so if you have to rock them to sleep at 6/6:30 you must do it.

Hi ladies

I let them watch a little tv during the day, but I think they're more interested in their toys at this stage although they do stare occasionally aswell.

As for their evening routine my two little ones would scream every evening when being bathed - was not enjoyable so i changed to mornings - was fine, but thought they needed to get into the evening routine so changed back to evenings about 1.5 months ago and all is good now. yay.

I also play it by ear, depends on how tired they are. Usually dinner around 4, bath around 5 and have their bottles around 6:00/6:30. Lately we put them in their cot at about 7 with their dummy and toy to love, dim lights and occasionally play classical music. They fall asleep very well like that.

If we top them up with a bottle before we go to bed, we all sleep untill about 4:00 / 4:30 , maybe 5 - all depends. if we don't top up, we end up doing a 2 ish night feed, then all wake at about 4:30.

I like your idea Page with moving their dinner a later when they're a bit older to get them through the night.

That seems to work for me at the mo.