Are twins experiencing Leap 1

[Qazu]

I am a first time mum to non-identical twin boys who are 7 weeks and 5 days. They arrived 3 weeks early so their adjusted age is 4 weeks and 5 days. During the day the boys feed and sleep okay. But the last feed of the evening, which we always start at 7:30pm, has become a nightmare for the last two weeks. They won’t settle, are incredibly fussy, cry when they’re feeding. It ends up taking a good 3-4 hours for them to finish their milk and go to sleep. Also the longer it takes them to settle, they become overtired. From what I have read so far, I am wondering if they are experiencing Leap 1, but would be grateful for others thoughts, advice and guidance.

It sounds more like Witching Hour which is also called Purple Crying these days

purplecrying.info/what-is-the-period-of-purple-crying.php

www.pediatricsleepcoach.com/post/witching-hour

I really feel for you having two to contend with. My DS would start screaming from bang on 5pm onwards. I used to wear him in the sling outside as that seemed to calm him a little, but that’s not so easy with two

Do you mean the leaps as per wonder weeks? I wouldn’t set too much store by that - there is no scientific backing for the theory underpinning it, and I think it can make it stressful for parents anticipating the ‘leaps’ or chalking everything up to them when there might be another issue.

It could be the witching hour, or something related to their feeding - are they on the right teat size etc?

They’re at the prime age for fussy evenings, so most likely you just need to hang in there until they grow out of it

I wouldn't focus too much on wonder weeks leaps either. I know some people who swore by them but all it made me do was look at the calendar and start dreading the "stormy" weeks - and more often than not the behaviour didn't even match up. All that dread for nothing. Didn't even reload the app with subsequent children.

What you're describing does sound like witching hour and is fairly common around their age. I think by that time of night they are overtired but unfortunately fight the sleep. It's easy to say but it really does pass and hopefully soon will be a distant memory.

Get as much help as you can and a bedtime routine does help. Even if you don't stick to the timings, try to do bath, dim lights, milk, stories or songs, and then bed. It must be harder with twins but I promise it's worth it in the long run.

I have NId twins too, sounds like cluster feeding. It doesn't last long but it's a killer! Xxx