Here's the deal...we have a solid bedtime routine of dinner, play time while we clean up, baths, bottles and bed. They go to sleep like rockstars. That's not the issue, nor has it ever been. The issue is waking up!
We hit solid patches of sleep from 7:30ish-6ish and I think 'yes! They got it!', but it's followed by a period of wake ups at 12, 3 and 5! Ahhh!!! It always seems to be a reason for waking up. We had the great hand-foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2013 so they were both a mess and took a few days to get back into a solid sleep routine. Fine, I get it. Next up, molars so we have random wake ups. Those pop through and we're on a good routine again. We attempt a vacay in the mountains for a weekend and the babies are forced to share a room (how the heck do people have babies in the same room?!). Ella is having allergies (so we think) and is up screaming, thus waking up her brother. What we thought were allergies is actually a cold and now they both are congested and waking up. Seriously?!
I had a break down at 3:30 this week and said 'let them scream.' This is ridiculous. Ella was up at 12 crying and needed a paci. She was throwing a fit again at 3:30, but a paci/comfort wouldn't cut it. She wanted a bottle. No freaking way. They DO NOT need a bottle at 3:30 in the freaking morning at 14 months. So we let her cry. Of course she woke up her brother, who was then wanting a bottle and refusing to go back to sleep. Again, how in the heck does room sharing work? Ours are down the hall from one another and have sound machines but still manage to wake each other up!
We let them cry, but it didn't stop. There were breaks, but finally at about 4:15 we broke down and fed them a bottle so they would just go back to sleep!
I know sickness and teeth happen and sleep will get interrupted, but it seems like we have too many patches of waking up throughout the night.
I thought once we went down to one nap a day it would help. Maybe they just weren't tired enough at night? Well, we are on a solid one nap a day schedule and it hasn't made a bit of difference.
I feel like everyone else's babies sleep like little angels for 12 hours straight and ours are the only ones who go through periods of shitty sleep. Please tell me I'm not alone here... Does anyone else have this problem??
I don't know if they should still be getting up around 4-5 to eat, but they do. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. We've tried several things to get them to sleep, including letting them cry. They will cry and cry and wake up the other, so it is just easiest to feed them. They eat a ton of food during the day. Some meals I think they eat more then we do. They are great at eating, so I don't know how I could cram in any more calories.
They are on the skinny side, so maybe they just have fast metabolisms and can't make it 11-12 hours without eating? Maybe they are just awful sleepers and I am destined to walk around with bags under my eyes? Maybe we're doing something completely wrong?
When I get a solid night of sleep I find taking care of our Duo to be much more pleasant and easier. When I have a few nights of waking up every 2-3 hours (especially when its a night I worked and didn't get to bed until 12 to begin with), I turn into a horrible cranky mom and wife. I just need some damn sleep.
So, what's the answer? Sleep in the basement for a few nights and let them scream their heads off? Keep trucking along and hope the periods of solid sleep take over the crap nights? I don't know if there is something we can do or if this is who they are. I just want to sleep.
9 comments:
I would love to hear others comments and suggestions about this! Our twins do share a room. Our daughter can sleep through brother screaming his head off. I think she inherited my lovingness to sleep :) Needless, she usually sleeps through the night. Brother tends to wake up like clockwork around midnight and need 1-2 ounces, sometimes only half an ounce. We've let him cry it out and eventually he wakes sister up. They are 11 months old today.
How do people who's twins share a room do it? We give them the bottle. Get the kid out of the room ASAP and then give him a bottle. It sucks but it works and it gets us all back to sleep quicker and we all get more quality sleep. And yes, my kids are sleep trained. I swear!!! I mean, they were sleep trained for like 2 months. What happened??? Teething, viruses, growth spurts, etc... oh who the fuck knows why. I'm over it. That's all I know. If the kid wakes up and he's just "grousing" (what we call the complainy cries) then we leave him in there. If he's screaming bloody murder and sounds like someone is torturing him, I swoop him and get him out, hopefully before the other one wakes up (about 50% of the time the other one wakes up too if I wait too long!) I am pretty convinced these random wake-ups are not here to stay because they still will sleep straight through the night, but really randomly! There's no consistency and it drives me mad. So you're not alone. Now go watch this video and have a good laugh -- http://youtu.be/uFQfylQ2Jgg
You are not alone; yours is the third blog I've read today alone where the babies (ages 7 months to 2 years) are having sleep issues. So if it's true that "misery loves company," that should bring some comfort.
Our almost-22-month-old twin sons share a room, and honestly, with the layout of our house, I don't think it would matter if they didn't. The lighter-sleeping twin would still be awakened by his brother's crying, and the sounder-sleeping twin would still sleep through his brother's wake-ups.
Good luck. I know the days are so much harder when you haven't had a full night of uninterrupted sleep.
The sleep deprivation is a little concerning for me not gonna lie! :) Such cuties though!!
Our boys share a room and often sleep through the other's wake ups. Things we've tried that have worked- keep the rooms a little warmer, space heater style if neccesary-- this helped a TON. We keep our house the same temp year round, but for whatever reason they needed a little more heat this fall. Baby Vicks on their chest/feet for congestion, but we also find it to just be calming. Lovies- ours are little blankies with a stuffed animal head made from super snuggly fabrics. And last but not least TWO WubbaNub pacifiers per bed. So much easier to find for themselves! Also, changing up the light it the room- darker/lighter?!? Annnnnd there is the seperation anxiety- comes on about this time. They just want to make sure you are still around! Good luck mama!!!
I don't know how others do it with the same room either. Ours are separated, although right next door. We have noise machines and humidifiers on lately.
I don't have any words of advice unfortunately. I guess we are really lucky to have some good sleepers. And now that I said that, they won't be. Gah
I *really* hope you get some sleep, as taking care of twin toddlers while sleep-deprived isn't something I would wish upon anyone!
Girl, you are NOT alone.. Oh god. The good sleep rarely happens in this household!! My twin boys share a room, and lets just say they have learned tough love. Thankfully we have one good sleeper who could sleep through a meteorite crashing through our house, but I'm convinced my other one is a bad enough sleeper to make up for the other one. He is always up non-stop! He is my terrible napper, up early, up all night kid. Ugh, I feel you.. By far the HARDEST thing about parenthood!
Oh hey, guess who had one great sleeper wake at 2AM screaming last night?
*SIGH*
You just described the sleeping pattern at our house to a tee. Like Jules, I finally just started giving the bottle to H when he wakes up. He outgrew needing a bottle at night at 6 months. I thought we were done, but certain wake ups I just know he is not going back to sleep without something! Maybe b/c they are burning more calories throughout the day now that they are more mobile? It is so frustrating when we have several bad nights in the row. Just when I think I need to do something drastic to make H sleep better at night then he sleeps pretty much all night long without fussing. Even his best nights he wakes up 2-3 times and needs me to run in and give him a pacifier before he is wide awake though!
We have done CIO at 4:30 am, but only after I was up with him for an hour or more and at my wits end. In these cases he is exhausted just can't seem to fall asleep (we rocked, put him in our bed, lay on the floor of his room with him, bottle, tylenol you name it). On these situations he does finally fall asleep within 10 minutes of putting him back in his crib. I feel for you!
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