Still no sleep 10 months on.......

[twinnies26]

I'm just wondering how do you resettle you twins back to sleep at night??

I nursed my DTs for 7 and a half months and always nursed them back to sleep if they woke, i know some people say a bad habit but it worked for us, we all got sleep (and i didn't mind as they were and still are excellent about settling themselves to bed at 7pm)

Now 10 months in it's like having two new borns again and all i seem to manage is two hours sleep at a time and i'm exhausted!! My girls have no soothers so no magic fix so to speak.

Dt2 has got a deep relationship with her comfort blanket and will happily go back to sleep once she has re found it and snuggles back into it, so she doesn't cause too much hassle most of the time.

Dt1 is sleeping worse than ever and has developed a complete obsession for me and is only happy now in our bed stroking and licking my cheek at times. I have tried everything to get her to re settle in cot but to no avail and i'm exhausted fighting with her and usually as soon as i get her back to sleep Dt2 wakes up. They keep waking each other up and now i think myself and DH will go back to separate rooms with a baby each - just seems such a step backwards 10months in :(

What sleep training do you/did you do with your twins? Anyone try the PU:PD baby whisperer technique with two?? I am imagining it might kill me with two babies surely i would be up all night.Anyone survive it? controlled crying is not something i want to do really.....co sleeping seems the way for an easy life but every time i pick up a baby book i feel like a complete failure as it is telling me i'm basically doing a bad job/the wrong thing.I just would love to have them sleeping better by September... and yes i know babies are not meant to sleep, but i am finding it so hard again and the thought of being back in full time work in September with no sleep is sending me into a panic

i just had hoped that by now it would be a bit easier.....

Turned into an essay - so just wondering what do you do with your twins?

[Mandy21]

Do you feed them if they wake up? If so, I would suggest just offering water and you'll probably find that they wont bother waking up again if that is all that is on offer.

I think you have to be tough in order for them to sleep through - although at 10 months in my opinion (and I stress its only my opinion - not what all the books say) they're still quite little. We waited until they were 12 months - we had 1 twin that was quite a good sleeper and one twin that wasn't. At 12 months, we separated them into different rooms and did controlled crying with DT1. It was hard for the for the first night and I didn't get much sleep but it was easier the second night and she slept through the 3rd night. We put them both back in the same room on night 4.

In all honesty, you've allowed bad habits to form (don't get me wrong, I had a fair few of my own!!) so you've got to help them un-learn those habits. I wouldn't co-sleep, or feed at night any more, I think when we were trying to get them to learn to settle in their own cots we had a few nights where we slept on mattresses at the side of their cots - thinking that they'd be getting used to being in their own rooms, wouldn't see beds there for us, but we'd still be there to stroke them etc if they woke up.

Good luck!

[twinnies26]

Hi Mandy,

Thanks for the reply - we don't feed them when they wake, they wolf down three huge meals a day so they are def not hungry!

I know we have some bad habits re bed and it's quite funny as we started out really well. Their daytime routine has always been by the book and they have had a great daily rhythm since their 3rd month, I think we just got so tired about 2 months ago and it all went pear shaped.

I had a good chat with DH, he ( even though he's brilliant with them) has been so tired that i have done night duty alone for so long so thing s have slipped! So i'm hoping with more help now that things will improve for us all.

I will sleep on a mattress tonight with DT1 and see how we go!I think we will have to go down the controlled crying route at some stage. We did better last night, both babies were in their cots the whole night - but i was exhausted today!

I'm sure in time we'll get the hang of it!! :)

Thanks for the advise :)

[PrincessScrumpy]

Sounds like you need sleep training - twins have been good sleepers for us but my eldest single baby was horrendous so we did the leaving her for 5 mins/confort her/leave for 10 mins/comfort her/15mins/ comfort/20mins/comfort and continue for 20mins at a time (never leave crying for longer than 20 mins.

To be honest, I think we only got to the 1st 20min period once and dd had always fallen asleep at a stage or 2 before we got to that. I hated it but after about 5 days she was sleeping and now at 4 yo she still sleeps well.

good luck - initial exhaustion will be worth it as you get the best sleep ever very soon :)

[rednellie]

twinnies, it sounds like you've got a case of the 9 month sleep regression. I'm all researched up on this as my two are doing the 4 month sleep regression and apparently there's another potential one at 9 months. Not sure if you're two were early, but it's still the right time so might make sense. There's lots on mn and the net in general about the reasons behind it.

That would explain why old systems are failing and one twin has gone back to newborn habits. My DD did this at 9 months and that was when I stopped all night feeds and put DH on solo night duty. We only did it that way for one week, but we found that she just wasn't as bothered waking in the night if she only got DH's attention ( for DH, but it worked to our advantage!). Now, that's not so doable with twins, I realise, but getting him back involved might help, especially if he deals with your DT1 and not your DT2.

Having said all that, I now look back on my time with DD and feel guilty for stopping her night feeds so 'early'! Ahahah, how time plays tricks on you - I've already forgotten how I desperate I was then for sleep. So I know how you feel.

[twinnies26]

Hi Princess we took the plunge and did just that and everything seems to have improved :)

Red hope you are well apart from the sleep deprivation, not been on the other thread in a while! Heard about 9 month regression - hoping now that we're officially 10months it might improve more long term ?!

Well we decided to go for a bit of controlled crying - with a baby each in separate rooms and i'm happy to say that after four awful nights DT1 put up quite a fight the first night, we have now had 3 nights with 7 hours sleep :) :) noone has woken - i can't quite believe it! DH took DT1 and that seems to have settled her down alot (like you Red she seems bored with DH already )

Here's hoping this is the start of some better sleep patterns! ..... still not totally convinced it will stay this way but at least 3 nights sleep has given us a boost of energy!

[rednellie]

Hey twinnies, that's great news. Keep at it and don't cave! I'm sure this is the start of some good sleeping for you all. Ha ha, thank god for boring old DH's eh?

[twinnies26]

Hey Red , my mumsnet visits seem to be getting more and more infrequent at the moment - good news is that we got them to both sleep for 9 night s in a row!!! Then DT1 got a bit funny again and howled for a night - we then found our first tooth - they're 10 months now so it's about time! :)

I really hope we have turned a corner - fingers crossed!

hope all your gang are well and keeping you on your toes! :)