Sleeping Problems for My Twins

Hi,

I don't have twins, but i have 3 kids of my own, and I am definently a "cry it out" mom.

I think you can probably do both at the same time, just be caring about it. When you first put them down, give them all the HUGS AND KISSES and also give them a favorite stuffed animaL. Tell them that they are big girls now and that you love them. They might cry for a little while, but more than likely they will snuggle up with their favorite item and go to sleep.

When they wake up in the middle of the night, go in and lay them back down and just rub there backs for a few minutes and tell them that you love them and it's time to go back to sleep. they will usually calm down pretty quickly.

I hope some of this helps.

Good luck,
C.

Do them both at the same time if you want. They don't think you are neglecting them. It's hard to let them cry it out...I think that is the single most difficult thing to do. Maybe put a fan in there for some white noise. I know this ALWAYS does the trick for my 2 yo nephew.

It's ok to still rock them, they aren't even two yet. You start by rocking them less and less, not just all at once.

I think the rocking promotes confident kids because they feel accepted. So important.

Our twins are almost 6 so I've been there. We made bedtime into a set time and kept them on schedule in that we bathed them, dressed them, read them a book on the floor in their room, then said, OK, bedtime! Each got put in their crib and one, baby A, would loose her mind, but baby B, would fall fast asleep. I will say that at 18 mo we did put them in toddler beds which was interesting and proved to be more work, but again, we took about 7-10 days of strict scheduling and to bed they went. Now, when they turned 2 we put them in separate rooms b/c baby A still had a hard time going to sleep and baby B was getting woken up, which sounds perhaps like what you're going through right now.

Also, Is there any way you can do an earlier nap so they'll be more tired?

Hi, I am the proud mother of 2 1/2 year old triplet girls. The first thing I would do is to stop rocking them to sleep and let them put themselves to sleep in their bed. The way I did it with my girls is I would give hugs and kisses after reading them a bedtime story (or page of story as it sometimes turned out to be), then I would put them in their crib and tell them it was night-night time and they needed to go to sleep. Then I sat down in the middle of their room where they could all see me but the could not reach out and touch me. They all cried the first night for about 30 minutes, then the second night it lasted about 10-15 minutes, the third night it lasted about 5 minutes, and the fourth night they just layed down and went to sleep. Over the next 2 weeks after that I slowly moved closer to the door and away from them. Initially they always looked for me but then they stopped and would just go to sleep. Not every night is picture perfect but I feel that my bedtime routine has worked very well for us especially considering that I have triplets. Sometimes the girls wake-up in the middle of the night and talk just like yours do, and all I do is go into their room and whisper to them that it is not time to wake-up and they need to go back to sleep and usually that is the last I hear out of them but occasionally I have to tell them more than one time. Initially, you may have to sit by their bed until you get them use to going to sleep on their own. I picked up these ideas from the Super Nanny book and then changed it to fit our family style and life. I hope this helps out. I look forward to bedtime now because of the special time I have with my girls but also because I have time to do other things in the evening like take a moment to myself and watch TV or read a book. I really hope this will help you.

I have 4 year old twins and a 2 1/2 year old. I would recommend working on the night waking first. Then you can wean them off of rocking them to sleep. Some parents do not like to allow their children to cry-it-out. In my opinion, at 21 months (with the exception of sickness) it is the way to go. If you are a cold-turkey kind of person, I would tell them before they go to sleep that they must stay in their beds until it is morning and Mommy will come get them in the morning. If they are cryers, when they wake up it may be meltdown time but it will pass. If you are not comfortable going cold-turkey, still tell them before they go to sleep that they have to stay in their beds and nighttime is not playtime. When they wake up at night go back in, lay them down, and pat their backs/bottoms until they fall asleep. You really need to do whatever you feel comfortable with and whatever will benefit your children the most. Good Luck!

With my daughter we didn't go cold-turkey because it was too h*** o* me. She started out co-sleeping and then after we transitioned to the crib I would rock her to sleep. I eased out of it over a week. Each night rock them a little less so that they are still awake but super sleepy. Go less and less until you establish a new routine. They won't like it, but they will learn the new schedule. It is so hard to hear them cry, but if you can't sleep at night you are no good during the day. Do they have a baby doll or bear to cuddle with? That really helped us, but we were very careful to rotate out different babies so that she was never attatched to only one.

IMHO rocking them to sleep is the number one problem. They are definately old enough to have learned how to fall asleep on their own. It will be heart wrenching the first few days to listen to them scream and cry, but it will stop. Just put them both in their beds, hug and kiss them and tell them goodnight. Children are more intelligent than we give them credit for. They know that you will come in and get them in the middle of the night and that's why they will continue to scream and cry. Once they realize that you are not coming, they will settle down. I truly sympathize with you being the mother of 4 now adult children, but once you get through it, you will be so glad that you sucked it up and did it for the good of the entire family.