Advice for Sleeping Through the Night

How much more sleep do you think they need? Are they taking naps during the day? If they are then I dont think your going to get them to sleep any longer. Honestly I think they are doing great getting that much sleep. My neice is 4 yrs old and she doesnt even sleep that long, I think its because she is a night hawk. My daughter on the other hand is 3 and loves to sleep, because she knows she cant function without it. I think they sleep longer as they get older. Just let your husband know they should be perfectly fine.

We have a set of BB twins plus three other children and your Triplets sound like they are sleeping pretty good through the night. Our twins are 3 now but about the age your babies are now it seems that it was around 10 hours for mine. You sound like you are doing great with getting them to sleep and as they grow and eat more "food" they will be able to sleep longer, just keep being consistent with bed. Good Luck! I will also pray for you and the financial strain, we had three in diapers for about 10 months, I can't imagine all the time.
A.

Hi L.!

As a mother of multiples to another, I promise you this will get better. My son took forver to eat during feedings when they were infants, which through off their schedule, but this is what we did.

I don't know the age but this is what we did. If they are still feeding in the middle of the night, the number one rule with multiples is if one eats, they all eat. Wake them up and get them fed so they can get back to sleep.

If they are older, you may want to experiement with different nap times. When mine were toddlers they took a morning and afternoon nap. So when they started not to sleep, I just took the morning nap away. If they are only taking one nap, I would keep it to two hours max. Maybe right after lunch. This way, when its time to sleep, they are tired!

Next, I would see what is going on while they are in daycare. If too much tv is on, they could possibly not be getting enough exercise to want to sleep. My kids were ready to sleep through the night, they slept a good 12 hours a night until they were about three, 7 pm - 7 am. (Although my daughter had a phase at the age of 2 when she would get up at 10:00 pm on the dot every night for about a year!!! It got to be hilareous...but I just put her right back to bed after some milk and rocking her a bit!)

Another thing that is not recommended by pediatricians, but is highly recommended by me and the lactation nurse that I talked to before I got to take the twins home! LOL My twins thrived on sleeping towards each other. They did until they were four, almost five. It is soothing to them, their bond is so great. (I wish it was this way during the day! LOL) They started out seprate, but they always ended up in the same position, in the same bed. Your triplets might do better like this too. Of course we still had seperate beds for them, but when they are toddlers, I put them in a queen size bed with rails for a little while to help them sleep.

Good luck! God bless you. Please remember, this too will pass. Although when you are the mother of multiples, simple problems always seem like they are bigger!

Take care~
Lee

P.S. Talk to your pediatritian and make sure they aren't having any gas on their tummies or allergies. And I always made sure that my babies went to bed with some milk if they were young toddlers, formula if they were infants. (Even though they say water is always better when they are toddlers...I did whatever worked.) Going with a full stomach helped them to relax and stay asleep longer. Let me know how it goes!

Hi. I have BG twins. Our two babies did not sleep through the night fully (would wake up once or twice and just be held and go back to sleep) until they were at 15 months. Misery!! And, with 3 babies I KNOW it is much harder. We had to stop going in every time we heard them - just let them fuss a little bit. Now, we never let them cry at all - I just couldn't. They eventually were okay with going back to sleep. I had to be careful with my son, little boys are more clingy and he loved to get in our bed. He was never ever in our bed, not even one time (unless sick) until 13 months! And, at 13 months or so if he woke up two hours early (4am or 5am) I would take him to our bed and see if he would go back to sleep. Within one night of doing that he would purposely wake up and want in our bed. Hard to break them of that! My daughter is much better about sleeping, but still would wake up sometimes. I would suggest just trying to push them to stay in bed. When you are exhausted the last thing you want to do is test them and then they all wake up! But, it doesn't take as long as you think - maybe a week. Also, do you give them bottles at night - don't! Do you give them a lot to eat before bedtime - that makes a difference too. Um...if you want to email me and let me know more exactly what you are doing I could maybe give more ideas of what to do/not do. ____@____.com
ALSO - are you a member of moms of multiples? With three, you must be! The listserv will really give you great ideas from moms who have triplets. Much different when more than one baby is in a room and you are trying to get a schedule down for them.

I myself think those are very well hours. I've seen cases where some children that age won't sleep more than 5 or 6... Are they really crabby during the day?

L.,
My daughter is 10 months, and the routine I use is to play with my daughter as much as possible, letting her walk/crawl around in the floor, bathe her , give her a bottle, read a book and once we have done that she is ready to fall asleep. I think shes just gotten used to the routine now.

Get the book No Cry Sleep Solution! It worked for me when my little guy was 5-6 months old he started sleeping 12 hours !!! It sounds like time to read it would be hard to find, you're a busy mommy and wife and teacher! I'd get the book and skip right to the chapter that deals with setting up healthy sleep habits. This book is a GOD SEND!

How old are they? How much do they weigh? Weight has more to do with sleeping through the night than age actually. When they hit about 13 Lbs. you should be in better shape. But 7.5-9 hours is a LONG time. what time do they go down and what time do they rise? Try and sleep when they do, even if that means going to bed at 7:30, you'll be up early enough to do the things you would have done the night before.