Shifting Sleep Schedule

Here are a few things that worked with my children.
If you bathe them in the morning then stop and bathe them at night.
After you bathe them, spend some time rubbing them down with lotion, and giving them a really good message.
This will relax them tremendously.
Don't play with them before bed.
If they are still taking a bottle, warm it at night a little.
Point being is to really get them completely relaxed before they go to bed.
Try and keep the room dark, as this time of year the sun is rising earlier.
Good Luck.

I don't really have advice but I do have sympathy. My kids have never been ones to sleep in. I hear of lots of other moms who have kids that sleep consistently until 9 or 10 AM but not mine. Sleeping in to them is 7 or 7:30 AM and that is only in the winter. When they were babies they would follow the sun and wake at 5:30 AM. Now they are 4 and 5 years old and I am lucky if I can sleep until 7 AM because they are usually up by 6:30. I've tried lots of things like keeping them up later, limiting naps, blacking out windows, etc. but I found it just made them ornery and sleep deprived because they still woke up at the same early time no matter what. I've learned to just enjoy it. We get an earlier start on the day which is great when you are trying to run errands in the super hot summer weather. We also use 6-7:30 AM as our family time and go bigger on the breakfast and time with daddy then instead of at dinner time. In the end I'm glad my kids wake up earlier. It is easier to get to school on time later on. And I really believe that getting up early and going to bed early helps us to stay healthier. "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man (or woman or baby) healthy, wealthy and wise." Good luck.

Try holding off their breakfast for 15min a day until you get to 7am. It may be that their bellies are just used to being filled at that time.

I am with you on this. I also have 10 month old twins that wake up between 5:30 and 6:00. Sometimes my little girl is earlier. But I am jealous because mine don't go down until 9:00 or 9:30. It used to be 8:00, but they have been crying if I put them to bed that early now. I have three other children that I want to give attention to and so it's hard to not have the evening time for them. Plus as you know the utter exhaustion. I am going to be reading your responses to get ideas as well. Good Luck!

I'm sure you've heard this before, but I would just count my blessings and consider the sleep schedule a smashing success! My 10 month old is asleep by 7p and wakes every morning at 3a for a bottle, then sleeps again until 6a -- like clockwork, every day. We're working on helping him make it through the night, but he's just not quite ready. In the past year I haven't had more than a handful of nights when I got more than 5 hours of sleep in a row -- usually 3-4 each night. I would pay large sums of money to have my son sleeping 12 hours straight! You've done a great job with your twins -- and I know you need that rest more than I do to keep up with the two of them during the day :0) Hang in there!

I have not had more that 20 full nights of sleep in the last 6 years due to my children's waking. I say don't look a gift horse in the mouth and get to bed so you can get up with them, whenever they rise.

Hi,
The only sleep book I've read is Healthy Sleep Habits Healthy Child. He says their biological clocks have them sleeping from 6pm to 8pm and waking between 6-7 am. I know it's super early but, that's the way it is. The books suggests to have family time in the morning instead of at night. So, dad could wake up a little earlier to have family time in the am instead of the pm.
M.

Start putting them down later by only 10-15 minutes at a time. Go a few days between each new later bedtime and see if that helps. Maybe also move their naps a little later, so they stay up a little later.

This time of year most kids even older ones are up with the sun. Since the sun rises earlier therefore they will wake earlier.
Make sure the room is dark and cool. 68 degrees is ideal sleeping temp. If they cannot see the sun through the windows they may be more likely to sleep in. Also a few hours before bedtime get them active, if crawling or walking for toys, tickling or whatever to burn off some steam and have them be really tired at bedtime. Maybe they are taking too long of a nap during the day????

yep, i get that. now is the time to do it. shift the time for bed slowly by 15 minutes every two days. Then stick with that 7 pm. That means you may need a sitter or don't go out if you will be gone longer then 7 for a couple of weeks. then work on the morning. I found that the more they slept, them more they slept. Keeping them awake, they got up earlier and earlier. so once you get 7 pm as a routine for their bodies, the other may happe. Other wise, i did a reverse crying it out for morning time until 7 am for one of my kids. I would let her cry for 15 minutes. then made it longer and longer until it was 6 am. hen 6:30 and lastly, it magically went to 7 am. She is now four and gets up around 6:30 but just crawls in bed for a cuddle time...so that works. My son just pops up at 7 am on the nose most mornings at age 2.5 years (he was the easy one).

Just be grateful that you have 10 month old twins who sleep for 12 hours in a row! Keep them active until 7pm or so, and see if their wake up time shifts a little over time. If not, (at the risk of repeating myself) just be grateful, very grateful, that you have 10 month old twins who sleep for 12 hours in a row...

T.

Congratulations on getting your twins to sleep 12 hours at night! That is quite a feat and one that I know you worked hard on. I remember the days of sleep training well. We have 12 month old twins and for 4-5 months, they were sleeping 7-6 and then they would play in their cribs until 6:45. Some nights it was a struggle to get them to make it to 7 as they were sleepy by 6. Now that they are walking and a little older, they are sleeping 7-5:30. From what I've read, they start needing less sleep at night by age one and just before they start walking, they also start changing their sleep habits. Some things you can't make happen, but what we appreciate is that they have learned to play in their cribs when they wake up early. We put a cloth book in their cribs and a stuffed animal. See if you can get them to stay in their cribs a little longer each morning and soon you will block out their screeches and squeals in the morning and get to sleep in a little more. You can also try in the evening to push their sleep time later and later. Although, when we have tried that, they still get up at the same time every morning. I would enjoy the 12 hours that you have, maybe you can go to bed a little earlier, too. Soon, it will change again and you may have children that sleep later and then you will be able to as well. In the meantime, if you find anything that works, LET ME KNOW!!! Best of luck!