Hi
My twin boys are now 14 weeks and I've been trying to get them into a routine from 2 weeks old. Their bedtime routine seems to be sorted and they have a bath at 6 then a feed then sleep to 11pm when we wake them up, feed them and put them back to bed.
One of the twins then always wakes up at 3am loudly grunting and kicking, small whining but not really crying. He sounds congested but never is during the day and I can't see any congestion. We've tried leaving him but he just doesn't go back to sleep at all and continues the grunting and moving around every 10 mins so we end up picking him up and putting him on his stomach which sometimes works, sometimes ends up in crying. The other twin wakes up and cries on and off from 5.30 to 7 when we get them both up.
I think although I'd like them to sleep through from 11-7 I'm getting some sleep so I'm not going to moan about this bit too much. My main issue is the daytime naps and feeding.
They have always been on formula and were drinking 180ml every feed quite happily. Now for the last 3 weeks they have 30-50ml then screw their faces up, arch their backs and then I battle to give them more until we get to about 100ml. They grab the bottle into their mouths as if hungry but as soon as it's in they cry and won't drink. They're both doing it and I have no idea why. They just won't feed properly, even at 7am after no food all night they're just not bothered about food. They do cry a lot now in the day and they didn't used to so I presume they are actually hungry? I've tried winding them, waiting longer for feeds, baby gaviscon in case it's reflux (they do throw up quite a lot more than they used to but not projectile) but they both just cry for the bottle and then spit it out, close their mouths and cry to have it taken away! I'm exhausted from 2 hour feeding sessions and then listening to them both crying all day! I've been to the doctor twice but both times they won't do anything unless they have lost a lot of weight or have a temperature! Any suggestions on what it could be?
The last question I have is about naps in the day. They go down at 8.30 for 40 minutes and 3.30pm for 40 minutes but I'm trying to get them to have a longer midday nap. They just won't! I put them down at 11.30ish and they do 40 minutes and then wake up and just cry. I've tried 3 weeks of controlled crying to see if they will just go back to sleep for another 40 minutes but they won't. They just end up crying the whole time and then being tired all afternoon!
Any advice? Do babies need that lunchtime nap or shall I just let them have the 40 mins and give up?
Help!
willow x