Twins crying all evening - any advice?!

[jen80]

Would love any advice on coping with twins who cry all evening!!!
My id twin boys are 8 weeks old. They are very unsettled between 7pm and 11.30pm.
I really want them to sleep in their cots in the evening - I'm so tired at the end of the day that I just want a couple of hours to eat my tea and see my husband! Selfish maybe! But they cry even more if in their cots.
They sometimes settle if held all evening, sometimes not.
I am breastfeeding, except for top up formula feed at 6pm and full formula feed at 11.30pm.
I also have a 3 year old.
They settle and sleep really well in the night.
Help! Any advice?
They are crying now.....

I'm sure it's nothing you haven't already thought of, but separating them for a while might allow you to get one of them settled and then work on the other one... It's got to be worth persisting with: as you say, you need some time in the evening and they WILL get used to their cots eventually.
It goes against most of the advice I was given (bad habits etc), but I ended up letting them fall asleep (swaddled) on our bed before putting them in cots. They seemed to find it easier to drift off on the bed.
Do you have a bedtime routine for them? DO they share a cot or have their own?

it's normal for breastfed babies to want to cluster feed in the evening. it helps them stock up for a slightly longer bit of sleep (hopefully) when they go to bed
obvioously i realise you have this x2 and it's clearly taking it's toll. but i just wanted you to know that it's absolutely normal behaviour

i don't think any of my children were going and settling in their cots at 8 weeks old. far easier to have them downstairs
perhaps you could have a moses basket downstairs to put them in and then just take them up when you go to bed?

what you need is your husband to bring you tea/coffee/wine/snacks while you sit and feed the babies on the sofa and watch a film together

Oh Jen80, I could have written this post 3 months ago. I really sympathise. I have 19week old twin boys and a 2 yr 9 m daughter. I think about 8 weeks is really the hardest. But things do get better, Really they do. At 19 weeks mine are getting better by the day.

It sounds to me like you are doing brilliantly! Honestly. Everything you have written sounds exactly what I would have done. I originally thought thought it was only breast fed babies that screamed all evening but mine are formula fed and they screamed all evening too! I think part of it is coming to terms and accept the fact that some babies scream all evening, and once you know there is not much you can do about it and they will grow out of it in a couple of weeks. Not much help at the moment thought!

At 8 weeks we were feeding 3 hourly in the day, and then come evening we were feeding 2 hourly, and then starting their bedtime routine at about 11pm. And even then we had no evening - they screamed unless someone was holding them, or pacing the floor with them. Our bedtime routine is bath, feed, bed (in their cots) with a musical light projector. Imagine setting about bathing twins at 11pm at night - I must have been crazy! I don't think the bath is essential, but something to distinguish the final feed is good. Even if its washing their face or something. A really strong routine. And I swear by musical projector things. They seem to work with all children I know. Slowly over a couple of weeks we shifted the bedtime routine forward, 15 minutes every day. My boys now go to bed at 7.30! It's bliss having an evening back.

Remember, take ANY offers of help possible. And there is nothing wrong holding a baby on one hand and a glass of wine in the other!

Thank you everyone. I will try your suggestions.
I think I've just got them settled, but not asleep! but it's taken 4 feeds in the last 4 hours (2 breast, 2 formula).
In the evening they share a cot in the nursery (where they also often nap in the day) and in the night they sleep in seperate moses baskets next to our bed.
Growth spurt at 6 weeks (still ongoing!!) seemed to make them really unsettled and feeding 2 hourly although thankfully seems to be getting closer to 3 hourly now in the day / night.
I think they have now doubled their birth weights of 4lb15oz and 6lb4oz, maybe they will start to go longer now they're getting bigger.
They seem to want to feed every hour and a half in the evenings.
Glad to hear other people are in the same boat and that it will get easier.
Our first baby - a huge 9lb er seemed much easier!
Oh...I hear crying...better go and get a glass of wine! I need one of those hats that holds a drink and has a straw!! can drink while holding 2 then!