Sleep Training Twins

[Twinmumessex]

Hello

I have 8 month old twins (6.5 months corrected) They have always been quite good sleepers overnight. They would feed at approx 10.30pm and 2.30am and go back to sleep right after. Both have always been early risers (5am) at which point I would take them to bed with me for the last couple of hours before getting up.

In the last month they have dropped the 2am feed but are still wide awake at this time anyway! I try giving them milk and/or water which they don’t take (1oz milk max) but I can’t get them back to sleep without taking them to bed with me. I’m now pretty much fully co-sleeping and worrying that this is contributing to them waking i.e. they are waking for cuddles rather than to eat. I don’t understand how to break this cycle. I naively thought by 8months they would be close to sleeping through but we haven’t had a single night in which we have all woken up in our own beds. I’m not sure if I am asking too much and should continue as-is (co-sleep is better than no-sleep) and they will naturally sleep through themselves eventually or if it’s possible to do some training to get them to stay in their own beds.

We’ve been advised to put a hand on their chest and pat / ‘shhhh’ them back to sleep which is so hard for one person to do on two babies especially at a knackering 3am (this DOES work at the earlier feeds when only one is awake but they are both just soooo awake at 2am!). Also been advised to cry it out which I don’t see how that works with two - surely they just keep each other awake crying?

Has anyone sleep trained twins successfully and can offer some advice and tips. At this point I feel like I’m going to still have them in my bed past 3am every night for the rest of my days!

Thank you

I sleep trained mine - they were a bit older though (11 months, 10 corrected). They slept ok til about 2/3 am, but after that one or the other was constantly waking, and like you, we’d dropped the night feeds, so we either sat in the room next to the cot much of the night (and felt like zombies the next day) or brought them into our bed where they slept marginally better but we didn’t (still zombies). It was horrendous.

Anyway, with the help of a really good HV we did controlled crying. Like you, I was a bit uncertain as I thought they’d wake each other up, but oddly, they didn’t much. Starting from bedtime and then for all other wake ups, we would time the crying for two minutes, then four, then eight, then 16, then back to two again, going in just for a brief pat and reassure, 30 seconds for so of shushing but no talk or picking up, and then leaving again. To my amazement, it actually worked; the worst was over in about a week, and from 10 days they were sleeping through 7-6.30/7. (They’d been up for the day from about 4 before that.) They we’re also so much happier during the day, and we felt like new people. They’re 2.5 now and still love their sleep.

It’s not for everyone, I know, and I do think in your shoes I’d wait a couple of months before trying, given their adjusted age. But I just wanted to reassure you that if you do go want to go down that route it can work with twins!

Whatever you do, good luck. Sleep deprivation is horrific, and twins just make it that bit harder

This is so helpful, thank you very much! I know controlled crying provokes a strong reaction in many people but I’m trying to be open minded (I know people that it’s worked amazingly for and their children are fine!!). I do think they may be a bit too young to begin now but then I’ve had worries about leaving it too late so I’m pleased to hear that it can work for 10/11 month olds.
Last night they both slept through till 5am which has never happened before so maybe we’ve turned a corner (I won’t hold my breath! 😂)

If you haven’t got one/two, I totally recommend Euan the dream sheep. It has 4 different sounds, a lullaby, a random tumble dryer sound, a heart beat and a faster heart beat. I had them initially in a cot next to me, but moved them in to their own beds once they outgrew it because I don’t have space for anything bigger in my room (we have the angel baby monitors just in case). I did do some controlled crying, but always used the sheep and occasionally a dummy and they’re now sleeping through the night at 14 weeks (11 weeks corrected). It’s been nearly two weeks now, so I’m aware it’s very early days, but before that they’d slept from 10-4.30am for a couple of weeks, so I’m hopeful it will continue.

I’m sick to death of hearing the bloody lullaby from the sheep though 😂