Emma
Addison
Yesterday morning Brian left to go out of town for work. Thankfully this is a short trip because sleep training did not go so well without my husband. I would say the hardest thing about being a mother of twins is not being able to soothe both babies at the same time. When I am alone with the girls during the day I try to stay ahead of them by feeding them a little bit before they want to eat. This seems to work really well, and I rarely have to deal with crying babies during the day.
Addison
Emma
Addison
Last night I continued the routine that Brian and I have been working on for a few weeks now. After the girls have their 5 or 6 PM bottle, we give them a bath, let them hang out while we have dinner, then we give them another bottle and put them to bed. This usually gets them to bed around 9 PM. I should have known better, but last night I was about one hour ahead of schedule since I tried to stay ahead of their feedings during the day (to avoid major crying). I fed the girls at 7:30 and 8:00 and tried to put them to bed. Well, Addison screamed the entire time I fed Emma. Emma did fine until I put them in their crib. By the time Addison finished her bottle she was exhausted from crying so she did okay when I put her down. Emma cried loudly off and on until 9:00. I decided to feed both of them again at 9:00. After that, they slept from about 10-2! I guess Emma was just having a rough night because at 2 AM she thought it was daytime and that we should play. She was wide awake, smiling, cooing, and grabbing the blanket. It took me a while to settle her down. Usually Addison has more trouble at night but I noticed that she is sucking her fist now when I go in the room. Maybe she is learning to calm herself down this way.
Addison working on pulling those toys!
So, I have decided that tonight I will not put them down so early. I am going to put them down closer to 9 PM or 10 PM and see how that goes. It seems like no matter what time we pick for bedtime we have to deal with some crying for that first hour. The rest of the night goes well. Brian will be home Friday and he has a day off on Monday! Life is so much easier when he is home. I don’t know how single moms do it!
It is very stressful when husbands aren't home to help! I hope tonight goes more smoothly. I love all of the pictures you put up. They are really showing more expression! So cute!!!
ReplyDeleteI know it must be stressful to be by yourself. It's also hard to not have an adult home to talk to! I went crazy over the summer for that reason alone. I'm not trying to tell you what to do (seriously, I'm not), but I have read that babies should go to bed early, like 7 pm and they'll sleep better. I don't know if you can start when they are this little, though. Anyway, I don't know why I am giving advice, my child didn't sleep through the night until he was 8 months old!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's so crazy that Dave and I have the exact same conversations about our twins. Every night..."Should we try for an earlier bed time? Should we top them off again?" So far we haven't found a consistent answer. One night it's bottles at 8:45 and they sleep great. Other nights, no such luck. They definitely won't go down (and stay down) earlier than 8:30 for us. During the day, when I'm by myself, I feed them at the same time...lay them in boppies with their heads elevated and a bottle in each hand. Not the easiest thing in the world, but it helps to avoid the impatient and hungry hollering. Keep us posted! Good luck!
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