Life with twins 3

[GibberingGinger]

Like some sort of film sequel, or a royal dynasty, welcome to Life with twins III, a thread for general discussions and sharing experiences of having (or expecting) twins.

Luckily I got my flu jab so should be ok tho I have at least 1 of the other viruses she has! Swine flu is the most prevalent of this yrs flu but don't think I've heard of serious cases here. Def not expecting it at our hospital as they had to check current policies & infection control is a bit inconsistent ti say the least!

They've been saying 'days' to get home but now they say the only thing keeping her here is needing o2 but she's on a tiny bit atm. She had none last night & theyre gonna try again when she's settled. She's slept well but prob cos she's ill..... and when she's been unsettled I've co-slept. Reverted back to feeling like a naughty schoolgirl doing that in 'public' but it works and as our nurse pointed out, they can't actually stop us but just make sure we know its not recommended. Think it freaked her tho & had to keep checking.

Dp is trying so hard to bring me the right stuff but somehow managing to get it so wrong. No, thong knickers aren't what I want for slobbing. And when I say 'big knickers' that means my comfy granny undies, not my 'going out' tummy control ones that I haven't actually worn since before pg with boys.& nursing bra would be bit more useful than my normal one.& erm... might have passed you by but I'm not actually pg now so my maternity clothes aren't the most useful either. Tops that I can feed in rather than have to srip out of would be a good choice. It's not like I actually have many clothes to chose from so I can't see how he manages to get it so wrong.

Not seen much xnas toy action here but the wellies are going down a treat. Dd1 insists on wandering round the house with 1 welly from each pair together with his new fluffy Thomas tank pjs. Anything to encourage nappy wearing!!! They have some new heights of noise tonka trucks that they love and bubbles / bath toys. Ds1 was not interested in opening pressie (more interested in helping grandma video the occasion) but ds2 got right into that bit!

Dd has settled... best go have some kip while I can..

Oh, ALL lots of good wishes from us here at House of Foxtail. And hello to everyone - look, we've made it to the back end of 2011!

Lovely xmas here, littlies behaved themselves - a credit to my outstanding parenting AH HA HA - and were entertaining and adorable for the hordes of family bearing awful gifts.

I gots a question about naps today. Oh god, NAPS. Is 10 months too early to try dropping the morning nap and just going for one big one in the middle of the day, do you think? Both DTs furiously fighting the morning nap and / or the lunchtime one at the moment, so I'm thinking if i try and keep them up all morning they might go down by 12.30 for a mythical, wonderful 2 hours or so (then through till bath at 6, bed at 7)...

Hi everyone

ALL thinking of you, hope your DD is doing ok

I'm stressed and a little at the end of my tether regarding sleep- the last few nights in particular have been AWFUL. Even worse than usual, which is saying something. 7 months of crap sleep is getting to us now- I just don't know what to do, we have tried everything now. Going to have a glass of wine now and will post again when feeling less depressed

Hope everyone is ok and had a good Christmas

Foxtail I think we dropped morning naps at about 10m. Definitely helped with post-lunch ones. Do it! I remember a few lovely occasions where they actually fell asleep in their high chairs during lunch - one time I had popped next door to answer phone and when I came back they were both lolling into their fishfingers

Polka how vile re. the sleep. It can't go on forever although I know that's no help. What have you tried and what are the main issues?

ALL fingers crossed she can manage without the oxygen for increasing stretches, you must be desperate to get home. I had to smile at your description of DP's attempts to clothe you, mine would be worse just as bad.

Hi Lavita ! How are those gorgeous girls of yours?

Not much time but have been remiss in posting here. Getting set today to drive off tomorrow and feeling spectacularly ill-prepared.

ALL - so sorry to hear about C (and you!) - wishing you all a speedy recovery. And I feel your pain re. DP bringing you the wrong stuff... I had two months of that in hospital and it was like a constant reminder of being married to a nincompoop person who just doesn't get it.

Foxtail - I think 10 months is v early to drop the morning nap, but that's only in comparison to my two who were having two big naps until about 14 months. There's no way mine could have done it, but they're all so different and by god I would have tried it if I'd been struggling to get any decent break at all during the day One thing I do remember is that mine started fighting naps too at around this point, so I just put them down later for the first nap, and the second nap too, and had a few months of forgetting all about Auntie Gina. Then I slowly pushed that morning nap back a bit further and forgot about the second one. Mine struggled so hard to make it to 11.30/12pm without a sleep that for the first few weeks I had to take them out to the playground between 10-11am to keep their eyes open, then we'd come back and have a very quick lunch before sleep.

So much to do, feeling so bloated. Weighed myself this morning and am now 18lb heavier than my lightest weight last summer :( tarti - want to join me in some NY low-carbing???

Polka - sorry missed your post. Do come back and write about the problems, maybe one of us will have had to deal with something similar. Big hug, cliche I know but it does and WILL get better. We all ran out of steam at about this point, as you say you get to the point where the reserves you've been relying on for energy get completely depleted.

Thanks for nap thoughts. Tried a middle way today - doing morning nap later, keeping it to 30 mins max so it's shorter. Both then went down at 1pm after dinner with only a lot little bit of shouting (er, them, not me!).Trying to work out whether DS doesn't need the sleep or is refusing to sleep in his cot during the day, suspect it's a bit of both.

Polka, what's the deal with the nights? My DD is 10 months tomorrow and was up 8 or 9 times last night (usual is 5 or 6 times, so that was quite a bad one). We get by on so little sleep it's not even funny any more. Both go down without a fight by 7pm, DS sleeps right through without fail (my hero), DD wakes time and time again, without fail. We hold her hand and shush her back to sleep, no picking up, no talking, sometimes a dummy. Sigh. Keep telling yourself it's just a phase, it's just a phase...

In-laws over for new years day lunch tomorrow. (Grits teeth, bites tongue, girds loins in readiness). Wish me luck.

Safe driving, Lottie!

Polka apologies if I've made you feel worse by saying mine still does it at 10 months! That wasn't my intention. I can't stand it when people merrily say to me "Oh, my baby didn't sleep a wink till he was two" - oh, really? Thanks, that makes me want to kill myself.

Hi everyone, and thank you so much for the support

Where to start... in a nutshell, my DD seems to hate sleep- she fights it by screaming, arching her back, throwing herself about- just about anything to try and stop herself. It is truly a nightmare every night getting her to bed. For the past week we have tried to leave her crying, going in to soothe in her cot and timing it. She just gets very hysterical, very quickly and will not calm down until we pick her up (which doesn't take long admittedly- we just can't leave her in such a state. She has dropped her morning nap and is starting to sometimes fight sleep in the day, when she is clearly tired. On a good day she will have a 2 hour lunch time nap, but only when tucked up in her pushchair

We've tried changing bedtime routines/nap and feeding times over the past few months to see if it makes a difference to no avail. My DS is much better, but still has his moments and he wakes a couple of times for food and sometimes cries to be held, or for his dummy if he can't find it. I just feel they are getting worse, when all along I've been thinking it will get better...!

Hello, can I join you all?

I have 14+4 week old twin girls (and a two year old ds!) and I'm just about getting my head round it all now I've emerged from the chaos of the first few months!

Foxtail - at your reaction to those idiotic well-meaning people telling you about the lack of sleep going on and on and on...

It DOES get better, it does. Looking back though, I remember just battling on waiting to get to the magic 6 month mark, thinking that at that point my life would start to come back to normal. Mine didn't, we had terrible sleep probs with them from 5-7 months, no idea why really, but it forced us to get serious about how we dealt with it. But from that point on, things did massively improve and we are lucky now in that we often get entirely unbroken nights. Often though I am up at least once with one of them, but it's for a matter of one or two minutes and I barely break out of a deep sleep to deal with it.

It doesn't always feel like it (didn't for me today; had a terrible day of feeling like a 24/7 drudge) but having twins is fab and I do feel blessed. Happy New Year to you all. :)

PS: Sorry BB3 - welcome! and congrats on your girls.

Thanks for all of your good wishes. We're home now & dd seems so much brighter. Probably helped in that she'd only just started smiling when she got v ill so we've obviously not seen much of that this week.... until the last 24 hours or so when she has been very smiley!

Glad to hear dp isn't the only one who can't get it right. I do feel for him cos I know he tried so very, very hard & I'm not ungrateful really. He was stupidly pleased that he'd learned from previous failings and remembered my crocs & toothbrush and brought sensible PJs unlike the time he brought satin PJs after I'd had a laparoscopy and was too sore to keep hoiking myself up the bed every time I slipped down. I did only just get my hairbrush today though. Just as well I have long hair & had plenty of time to use my fingers to detangle....

I feel for you Polka, we've had similar issues, esp with ds2. He was more likely to wind himself to hysteria too and has, until v recently, needed specific, but varying on a day-to-day basis methods of reassurance to get off to sleep. I did daytime naps in the buggy for a long time & it is bliss now knowing they will nap in their cots.

& can't comment on the naps much either Foxtail. I didn't really drop any naps til the boys started nursery at 15months then it was just easier to do the long lunchtime nap like they did there. Although we now seem to have picked up a morning nap since I've been in hospital with dd. Apparently the boys have needed a nap by 10am.......... Think I've nagged enough from afar this week. Undoing that can wait til dp is back at work

Good luck for your drive tomorrow Lottie! I'll be thinking of you!

Hi and welcome BB3!

Happy New Year everyone!

Oh, so very pleased for you that Cora is better ALL. Here's to more smiles!

Welcome BB3

Thinking of you tomorrow Lottie.

Happy New year to all of you. I can hardly keep my eyes open x x x

Happy New Year everyone!

Fantastic news ALL, a great start to the New Year!

Safe journey Lottie hope it goes well

Hi BB3 and welcome!

Thanks for the welcome ladies - very impressed that some of you made midnight I barely made 10 o'clock! I'm going to try and go back and read up on the thread today so I can get to know you all xx

Happy New Year Ladies!

Been away too long, catch up....Welcome BB3

Boys still haven't crawled but pretty sure A is about to, going to call dentist and drs on Wednesday to arrange their first dental check up and ask Dr about flu jabs for all my lot.
We've managed to get through this holiday with only a few sniffles, I however have still remained well :D

Did anyone watch the fireworks display in London last night? It was epic, and the music remix was brill :)

My DD has been very unsettled lately, she's adamant that she's goes to bed when I go and is generally getting a bit big for her boots to be honest
I suppose I better get the 7pm bed time back...

Well goodnight, hope everyone's well?

Ah, January 2. Please be better than January 1. Lunch with in-laws not improved by DD being up at least every hour the night before and DS deciding to tantrum his way through his entire lunchtime "sleep". DD repeated up-every-hour performance last night also. Oh wow, I'm tired. MIL narrowly avoided a punch in the face (from me) when she brought out that old chestnut "why don't you sleep when they sleep". Seriously, like in 10 months I haven't thought of giving that a whirl. I was a model of restraint, I was.

Hi, BB3! If you tell me yours are lovely and great sleepers I'll probably start crying softly into my branflakes...

Taking the xmas tree down today - stupidly big, shedding, real one it is. That'll be a satisfying fight!

Oh God Foxtail I feel your pain, I really do.
I am having MAJOR problems with their lunchtime naps. No idea why. They've always slept in their cots for this one, we've definitely had our ups and downs over it but for months and months they've slept fairly reliably for 2 hours, sometimes more, without too much trouble going down. For about three weeks though they've got worse and worse, yesterday they didn't nap at all. I check them every 15 mins or so (often they've done a poo) - sometimes they are crying/tantruming but a lot of the time they're just giggling and shrieking at each other and larking about. I'm at the end of my tether - surely they can't be ready to drop naps altogether at 19 months???

foxtail it is so bloody hard surviving on such little sleep isn't it?! Welll done though for not punching the MIL We've had so many nights recently of both being up a crazy amount of times, except last night where DD actually fell asleep at 7.30pm with very little fuss, woke for a feed around 11ish then slept through! A one off I'm sure, but very pleased with her (she used to always be this good when younger- sob!) DS of course had a more difficult night but brought him into our bed about 3 and he slept well from then.

Just wondered when you all stopped feeding in the night/what time your last feed is? I know they shouldn't need milk in the night at 7 months but I'm finding it impossible not to?

Uh oh Foxtail. Helpful comments (not) are just whst you need (not) when things are rough. I hope you had a better day today & have a better night tonight. & hope you got a decent nap break today Tarti. I'm sure it must be a blip & that they can't be ready to give up naps??

We only very recently (7weeks perhaps??) stopped milk through the night and ours are 20months! There is definitely a pressure to stop feeds when they shouldn't need it but I could never see an easy way of doing it especially since dp was never on board

We managed to have the most unsuccessful family outing ever today. Were going to go for a welly walk. But boys fell asleep in car. So thought we'd go further afield / let them sleep & go watch some aeroplanes. But web info was wrong & place we were going to park up at was closed. So, back to original welly walk place. Ds2 just wanted to be carried.... meant ds1 also needed a carry. Back in the buggy. Wellies and socks discarded numerous times and it was freezing cold, cue more crying. We went back to the car & all 3 cried at some point on the way home (tho ds1 didn't actually stop). `Twas lovely. I think the boys are a bit under the weather and a bit anxious about being left - they're v clingy with dp at the moment since I was evil and abandoned them last week.

Polka I stopped feeding them during the night between 3 and 4 months I think - but I did a 'dream feed' type thing at 10.30 so they weren't actually going that long. They continued to wake up at 4ish for a few nights but settled with a cuddle and very soon stopped waking so obviously didn't need feeding really. However they started the day painfully early (and still do) so it's a trade off! Depends what you prefer - some people don't get on at all with waking them up to feed late in the evening, whereas I was prepared to do that if it meant I could sleep through the dead of night. I so hated that feeling of going to bed and not knowing whether I would be woken in four hours, half an hour, or what.
Oh ALL most of our day trips seem to end up like yours. Often with a quarrel between me and DH into the bargain . Roll on summer, so much easier...

On that note, it feels like the real start of the new year today: DH back at work and girls in nursery, my last day of holiday. Have left all my work until today, which seemed like such a good idea at the time, not so great now...
Have taken down all the Christmas things and made my annual vow that I will get a fake tree next year (which I never do). Sitting room looks bare, but kind of in a good way. What I should be doing is a huge clean and also sorting through clothes to get rid of things. Not to mention the pile of marking. Somebody needs to confiscate my laptop!

Lottie have you survived? Yes let's low carb together again, I need boot camp

Hi ladies

Sorry in advance for the me post I promise I will catch up on the thread ASAP but ds was admitted to hospital yesterday with bronchial infection and has struggled to regulate his oxygen levels - anyway he's on steroids and oxygen but unlikely to be discharged until Thursday. I'm staying with him but am worried about my milk supply without regular feeds with girls and just expressing. Will it be ok? Should I express as I would feed (every 3-4 hours) or wait til I'm fuller?

Last night was my first night away from girls and I wasn't at all prepared for it

foxtail quickly just to make you feel better - no they dont sleep well. At 15 weeks I'm lucky I'm they'll have a 20 minute nap in the day! And NEVER at the same time!!!

Oh, BB3 that's rough. Hope he gets better soon. There's a lot of stuff like that going on this winter, luckily we live out of town and mix with virtually no one...

Tarti I'm with you on night feeds - we dropped dead-of-night as early as we could and woke them for a dream feed at 10.30 (then breakfast milk at 7am). Kept dream feed going for DD till she was about 8 months, dropped DS sooner because he was enormous (still is!) and fantastic at sleeping through without it. Dropping dead-of-night milk and then dream feed for DD made no difference to her sleeping - it's always been awful so we had nothing to lose there, really! Her growth has slowed since we dropped late bottle though, so Polka maybe bear that in mind if you've a teeny weeny one??

YES a plastic tree must surely be the way forward - everyone, trust me on this if nothing else. My house is full of thousands of tiny spiky needles now... yes, it smells woody and nice but next year it's a plastic one and a pine air freshener for me (DH will go mental though).

DD only woke 5 (oh jesus) times between 7 and 7 last night, so we're feeling much refreshed and miles better. Tarti we have seized the day and stopped DS's morning nap altogether, and he's much better for it.

BB3 hope your little one is doing well and gets better soon

Bit of a nightmare night with DS waking every hour screaming, was very unsettled. Two pretty good nights for DD though as she again went to bed with little fuss (have been frantically trying to figure out what we have done differently in the day and continue with this!!) Husband is off work on holiday from work thank goodness until next week so that has been a huge help in the day. Had wanted to go out somewhere nice this week with the twins but the weather is just awful, very miserable- so having a big tidy up instead (we know how to have fun in this house!)

I'm going to have to speak to my helath visitor regarding the feeding in the night- even with an 11ish feed my DS still wants another in the early hours. I have tried not giving it to him but he won't sleep or keep waking ALOT until he gets it and will not settle. He is doing well on solids and seems to be getting enough in the day (he is a big lad- not chubby but long and chunky!) but he really fights his milk in the day (will take it very easily at night though) so that's something to look at. My DD on the other hand is smaller (4 pounds lighter at last weigh in) and although doing ok on solids doesn't eat as much as DS but will want more milk in the day.