Twins 5 Month Sleep Training

I mentioned a while back that we have hired a sleep consultant to help us out over the next little while.  I know it is still early for sleep training, but most moms I have spoken to have babies who either sleep the night (without feeds), or only nurse once by this point.  Our boys were still getting up 3 times a night to eat!  I think it was just the pattern they were used to, and not that they were necessarily hungry.  However, the sleep deprivation reached a new low and I was ready to move on.

I heard of this consultant from a few other twin moms in the area, who found great success with her.  The support is great, because it is ongoing for as long as you need, and we only paid $200!  I think that is totally worth it to help twins (and us) achieve a healthy sleep life.

The first thing she did was have us fill out a questionnaire about their current sleep/eat/play patterns, as well as a bunch of questions about their health and personalities.  Then she drafted up an awesome sleep plan for us.  It was encouraging because it was pretty close to what we were doing, but provided something to work towards.  We decided we would try to start implementing the changes with the hope of having the plan in place by the time they reach 4 months adjusted age (which is tomorrow!).

So, for those who are interested, here is the plan we currently have (and some notes on how it is going).

7am - Wake up time for the boys.  If they are not awake we go in and turn on the lights and wake them up.  If they are up early, we try to leave them in their cribs till this time (usually they wake up talking and not necessarily crying).  I then stagger feed them for the morning and have playtime till the nap.

9am - Nap #1.  This is supposed to be at least an hour nap.  We are having troubles transitioning the boys past the first sleep cycle of 45 minutes, so they often wake up after 40 minutes and we leave them fussing till the hour is up (we put in soothers, pat their backs, rub their tummies).  Once they are up, we feed again and then play.

12pm - Nap #2.  This nap should last between 1-2 hours, though we aim for the two hour mark so that they can last longer through the afternoon.  Usually one of them wakes up early from this one too.  We can often get RJ back to sleep with his soother and a blanket, but MJ is having issues falling asleep after waking up, so sometimes we pull him out and bring him to the bed in our room and help him resettle.  We aren't supposed to be doing this, as they are supposed to learn to sleep through each others' cries/fussing, and we aren't supposed to take them out early, but we also want RJ to learn to sleep himself, and so it is a toss up.  We are currently working with the consultant on how to handle this.  Once they are up, we feed again, and then have playtime.

3-4pm - Nap #3. Depending on the afternoon, this is when we schedule the 3rd nap.  It is only supposed to be 30-60 minutes, but often the other naps are shorter, and I feel like the boys can't quite make it to bedtime if this nap is not long enough.  So we have resorted to going for a walk or a drive.  Once they are in motion, they sleep much better and longer.  Or, sometimes they go down at 3 or 3:30 and if they only sleep for half an hour, we will take them for a walk after so that they can continue to rest till close to 5pm.  This may not be the right thing to do, but by this time I am tired and just need a break!  All the things I read say that if they are not sleeping well, put them to bed early, but we just can't do bedtime earlier than 6:30/7:00.  It is tough enough as it is.  Anyways, more on that later.  Once they are up, we do a top-up feed and then play until bedtime.  We try to start the bedtime routine around 7 and have them tucked in between 7:30/8:00 (unless they have had a bad nap day and we bump it earlier).  It's just hard with DH getting home from work, trying to get dinner in order and cleaned up, and then get them ready for bed while they are becoming fussy.  This is, by far, one of the most draining times of the day.  Fortunately, our boys go down to bed very well so far!  I hope this doesn't change as they get older...

11:30pm/12:00am - Night feed #1. We are supposed to wake them up but we usually wait till the first one wakes up, feed them, then wake the second one up. 

3:30am/4:00 - Night feed #2.  Same thing... feed one, then the other.  They are supposed to go right back down, but we've been having troubles settling RJ after this feed.  He is usually up for an hour at least. This is a frustrating time so we are working on what to do with him here. 

7am - Start all over again.

It really is a manageable schedule, if it works.  Both the babies have periods where they won't settle and if one if up, they throw the whole schedule off.  It's a work in progress.  Since we started doing scheduled naps, most days have been so much easier.  I have had time to eat lunch, to sip tea, and actually get things done!  Now, if we get the nights in order so I can sleep, I will be even happier!  The hard part is getting up to pump so that hubby can do the night feed.  I'm not sure how to get around that one.  If I go to bed at 9, and don't pump before getting up for the 3:30 feed, I am way too engorged and choke the babies and make them scream, lol.  So I usually pump before bed at 9, then get up again around 1, then get up for the feed at 3:30, and then try to sleep another hour or two after the feed before they are up.  That is still a broken up sleep night and I am pretty exhausted still.  But there is hope! 

As you may have guessed if you've read my blog much, I am a schedule kind of girl!  I would have loved to be more flexible, feeding on demand, etc. with babies... but with twins, that is pretty much impossible. So it actually helps me be less anxious knowing that there is a schedule in place and having a framework to work from and towards.  We aren't doing any cry-it-out yet (not till 6 months, at least), but really just working to implement healthy sleep habits for the boys.  All in all, it is going very well and I hope the next few months bring much more success!