Hi sorry this is going to be long! My twin girls are 8 months (7 months corrected). At around 6 months we put them in their own room together because they no longer needed milk during the night and I was waking up at every little noise and going slowly round the bend (DH is a much deeper sleeper). For about 2 weeks things really improved, DT2 even slept through til 5am a few times. However, both DTs then got bronchiolitis plus there was the disrupted routine of Christmas and since then things have been getting worse and worse.
We have a strong bedtime routine that we complete without fail with bedtime at 7pm - tea, bath, bottle, bed. They normally go down really well and can self-settle some nights others they need shushing or dummy but rarely takes longer than 15 minutes to get them off. They will then sleep really soundly for about 4 to 5 hours, then it all goes downhill. Both wake really frequently throughout the night, at least hourly. We don't pick them up out of the cot except for a dirty nappy (this is rare). We settle them with dummy, cuddly toy, shushing, hand on their chest. If lucky they go back to sleep straight away, on a bad night one/both of them could be wide awake for over an hour, as well as waking frequently for the rest of the night :(
DH and I have started taking it in turns sleeping in their room just so the other can get some sleep, but I don't know if this is unhelpful in the long term? They definitely know we are there and i know this limits their self-settling because we will comfort them immediately to prevent the other DT from being woken.We have tried these things with no effect:
- dream feed at 11ish
- white noise
-calpol in case of teething (neither have any teeth yet)
- waiting longer before comforting them - but this sometimes results in the other twin being woken up.
They are both good eaters, they have 3 solid meals per day plus 4 x 7oz bottles. They are daytime cat nappers though, we usually get 3 half an hour naps either in car/pram or being rocked in car seats.
Does anyone have any advice for helping them to sleep better? We're not adverse to sleep training but not sure which method would be best. Also not sure if dummy is helpful or part of the problem, they cant put it back in their mouths by themselves yet and sometimes will just play with it/throw it out of their cots.I don't expect them to sleep through but with both of them waking so frequently I feel like we have to do something as DH and i are both so so tired and at the point of not enjoying their babyhood :( Thanks for reading.