Twin nightmare - waking at 4.30am-5am every day....

[walkinginaWILKIEwonderland]

Am posting this on behalf of sis:

Have DTD's. They are nearly 2.

For the past six months they have been waking at between 4.30-5am. They have one daytime nap of between 1-2hrs at 12.30pm. They go to bed at 7.30pm. NOTHING makes a difference, they always wake this early.

My DH and I have separated them into different rooms, prob is if one wakes up first, they cry and wake the other up. They are still shattered when they wake at this time but WILL NOT go back to sleep.

I feel tired, fuzzy, sick and constantly have a headache. It is putting a strain on me and DH because we are both exhausted. We don't like asking people to have the DTs becuase it isn't fair to expect people to get up so early.

Any tips gratefully recieved. I am at the end of my tether!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

have you tried putting them to bed earlier? 7.30 pm is late if they have a nap at 12 ish but have been up since 5 ish

if they wake at the same time each morning you can try wake to sleep - you wake them one hour before their usual wake up and then leave them to settle back to sleep

you need to do it for 3 nights

the baby whisperer recommends it - i did it with my DS when he went through a phase of waking at 5.00 am

Yes, they used to nap at 9.30pm for a couple of hours and go to bed at 6.30pm. We moved it all back to see if it made a difference but it didn't.

Wake to sleep is interesting although I would be frightened of them not going back off.

ahem 9.30am

Oh, sympathies!
I think the thing wiht twins is, you end up giving in to them jsut to stop them waking each other up, and have got into an awful routine now.

The only thing I would think is that 1-2 hours is too long a nap at this age. I'm pretty sure mine had stopped napping before then.
Have you tried letting them cry themselves back to sleep?
Are they waking because they are thirsty? - with my older two they used to wake for water then go back to sleep.

I find with mine too, now they are that bit older unless they get plenty of exercise during the day they jsut don't sleep well. They need lots of physical activity such as parks and swimming.

also, if people are prepared to have them, and know they are early birds then let them! YOu need all the breaks and help you can get with twins.

tell your sis to come and join us on the d'ya threads. Some company to scream at might help if all else fails!

it sound wrong - waking a sleeping baby but it seemed to crack my DS's habit

your sleep is already disturbed so at least with wake to sleep you are controlling the waking, not waiting for it to happen

you don't fully wake them - just enough to rouse them to just awake - stroke their cheek, ruffle their hair and then leave them to re-settle

if you can get hold of the BW book it has the full instructions in it

Have tried leaving them to cry - A in particular but she screamed solidly for an hour until she was sick. It didn't make ANY difference.

Can't offer any advice I'm afraid, only my sympathies!
Mine are 15 months now and dd is exactly the same

can't really help as my dts are 8 mths but I do know the fear of one being awake and given into them so they don't wake the other - I don't do it now (those lovely ladies on the multiple thread talk sense - through the wine and cake )

Ooh, I used to hate that!!! Made me feel quite sick because I knew there was no way I would get any more sleep that night/morning with the alarm set for 6.20 anyway!

Interesting thought about wake to sleep, I've never tried that but it does sound good. By 4.30am/5am they have had quite a long sleep and therefore its hard to fall back over but an hour earlier might make all the difference. Worth a go, you're going to be up anyway.

I had one DT who slept through and one who didn't. I separated them (not always possible) and did controlled crying. It did work to some extent but she never did sleep properly until she was nearly 3 and I stood outside her door all night returning her to bed everytime she got up. One night of pain for everyone, for heaven sent sleep ever since.

Do keep a check on the lunchtime nap, keep it on the light side. I could only let my children nap for an hour to an hour and a half maximum (if they really needed it).

Just keep repeating and repeating. They do easily learn a habit and they do easily learn to break it.

Tell her to join us, we can guide her through.......

Lots of love to her, no sleep is just soul destroying xxx.

Just to say thank you for the hints and tips. Have emailed a link to this thread and to the multiples thread to her. She isn't particularly technical with the internet but have told her I think it would be a great benefit to use MN.

In the meantime, I will keep posting for her.

She has bought the BW book off ebay.

What’s a BW book please?