Help with sleep training

[strugglingsinner1]

Mo/di twins are 6 months now and still sleep in their double bassinet in our room. We are ready for them to be in their room, we have 2 cribs. I’d love for them to sleep throughout the night, especially since the nursery is across the house and I’m not trying to run around all night.

So how do I sleep train them?
Together or one at a time?
Ferber method?
What was something that worked for you!

Here’s the current schedule:

Wake up between 7-8
feed, play, nap between 11-1 for 45-2 hr, feed, play, nap between 4-6
feed, play bed time between 8-9
2 wakes at night once at 2-3am and around 5!

They eat about 4 oz of formula, purées, or rice oatmeal each feed
Night time they eat about 8 oz of formula

Please help a fellow multiple, restless mom

 

[faye58]

@strugglingsinner1 I joined a Facebook group Twins Triplets and Quads: Safe Sleep Training and learning for multiples.

I recommend joining and reading their guide. I’ll be curious to see what the other parents recommend here. We are 6 weeks adjusted so too early to sleep train but it’s in the future for us for sure.

 

[nathie]

@faye58 This group is the answer. Saved our lives.

 

[jandolphrohnson]

@faye58 Their guides have been SUPER helpful. We use the basic parameters their example schedules give and it’s been really successful.

 

[darren81]

@faye58 I joined the group, but where do I find the guides?

 

[faye58]

@darren81 You have to hunt a little but on desktop I think there’s literally a tab called guides. It’s more of like a page that has a ton of posts on it. There’s an outline to see what section you want to read/hunt for.

 

[darren81]

@faye58 Thanks so much!

 

[strugglingsinner1]

@faye58 Thank you for this, I spent hours on the guides and now I’m cringing at my previous schedule lol sleep training started tonight!

 

[maylicia]

@strugglingsinner1 We hired night nannies with sleep training certifications. It’s expensive but worth it.

 

[lostandinsecure]

@strugglingsinner1 So, your current schedule seems way more awake time than most 6 month olds could tolerate, so I would start there. The Facebook group another commenter recommended is a good start, although I personally find they recommend a little more sleep time than a lot of babies need. R/sleeptrain is a good resource too.

If you can be a bit more specific about your schedule currently, I can probably help a little there. For example, what did yesterday look like? And how normal is that for them?

 

[strugglingsinner1]

@lostandinsecure They don’t nap well I try to stimulate them to the point where they’re tired so they can nap more, but they refuse to nap. I just resort to the 3 naps a day, whatever minutes or hours they decide. And sometimes they’re so tired and want to nap but they won’t, it’s been rough. Not sure if that’s a developmental phase or what.

I’ll look at r/sleeptrain thank you!

And everyday is pretty much the same… except on days they take baths I might get a longer stretch of sleep throughout the night, but not always. And anytime I feel like they had a great night, I’d repeat whatever I think I did differently like longer tummy time before bed or whatever (if I can remember- mom brain’s in full affect).

 

[lostandinsecure]

@strugglingsinner1 It sounds like they are overtired - an overtired baby will fight a nap like no other.

Some 6 month olds are on 2 naps, but many are still on 3 naps until closer to 8 months. A 2 nap schedule would start at 2.5/3/3.5 or 3/3/3 with numbers being hours awake and / being naps. Usually you want 3 hours total naps. For 3 naps, a maximum is usually 2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5-3 and you want 2 longer naps (60-90 minutes) plus a cat nap (30 minutes).

 

[strugglingsinner1]

@lostandinsecure When they actually nap, it’s usually not for too long. Sometimes they just fight it entirely, so I’ll skip it and that’s when they’re overly tired and fighting it. It’s been rough lol like idk if I’m supposed to just let them “cry it out” for naps or what and maybe them not napping like they’re supposed to is why Im having wake periods at night. I’ll look into that subreddit and page someone else recommended. FTM so this is learning curve

 

[lostandinsecure]

@strugglingsinner1 Overtired babies wake early from naps and are grumpy about it.

First thing that will be recommended is sorting out your schedule - sleep training is next to impossible if your schedule is not appropriate.

The facebook group has some great guides that will back up what I'm saying. Good luck!

 

[strugglingsinner1]

@lostandinsecure I do have a strict schedule with them, it’s not perfect but wake times and night sleep times are the same, it’s just in between that’s more or less up to them between the hours I’ve mentioned. I’ll look into guides and see, but they are self soothers and sleep independently so I’ve got that going. I’m just wondering how to go about night time methods of sleep training, so they sleep all night, especially in a new area-like their cribs. I’ll put them down for naps in their cribs occasionally, but like I’ve mentioned, they don’t always nap for too long. And even in the mornings when there’s been minimal stimulation, do they rarely sleep for too long. I think I just have light nappers, some days they’re naps are great but for the most part it’s less than 1-2 hours. Didn’t know overtired babies wake early from naps, so I’ll definitely limit their activities and see if that makes any difference. Thanks for your input!!

 

[lostandinsecure]

@strugglingsinner1 Also, night weaning and sleep training aren't the same. So getting a good schedule should help good sleep, but they may still wake to eat. To fix that, assuming you have been given the go ahead by your pediatrician, then you would need to night wean, which is a different strategy.

 

[strugglingsinner1]

@lostandinsecure Do you recommend night weaning first then sleep training?

 

[strugglingsinner1]

Also, when sleep training, should I specifically start at night or can I start with nap time in their cribs?

 

[lostandinsecure]

@strugglingsinner1 Sleep training first, because for some, they don't need to night wean, and for others it makes night weaning lots easier. Lots of babies still keep a "snooze feed" until they are closer to 10-12 months though, else they want to start the day super early. Its often like 4-5am.

Always start at night, because sleep pressure is the highest. Personally, I would recommend getting naps in any way you can for a few days until your nights are starting to improve - an overtired baby can make it harder. The facebook group recommends to start with night and then continue with naps the next day. But the general consensus on the subreddit is that can make babies super overtired and knowing that baby is getting some good sleep in the day (not allowing them to sleep the whole day away though) can make things easier on everyone involved.

 

[overcoming1]

@strugglingsinner1 At 6 months old, my twins barely napped 30-40 minutes and not at the same time. The little buggers slept in shifts. One woke up, the other one went down. So I never got a rest. It was rough. Some babies go through a regression at that age. Yours sound overtired.