ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

hi ladies!! this question has a few parts. thank you for reading it all-it's so long!!

i'm really struggling with bedtime and naps. dc are 7 months old. i have one great sleeper (dd) and one not-so-great (ds).

no matter how hard i try they will not nap at the same time. i will put both in their cribs at the same time everyday and one will cry and scream until i have to take he or she out before the other wakes up. i try to let them both stay in their room whether they sleep or not just to get them in routine of naptime, but i always end up having to take one out. and then usually by the next nap it's the opposite baby. which means there never is a downtime when both babies are sleeping, so i can shower, pay bills, clean, whatever!!

and bedtime is the worst, ds will constantly wake up and want to be nursed back to sleep. if i try to let him cry a little to try to self regulate, he usually wakes up dd and then i just end up nursing both back to sleep.

sometimes one can sleep while the other is crying but sometimes not. i never know. how did you handle one crying while other is sleeping?

second question-can you give me a rough estimate of your schedule when your twins were 7 mos. with naps and food. currently they eat (solids) at 8am and 5pm and nurse every 3 or so hours. i would like to introduce a 3rd meal, but i don't know when to do it without interfering with naps. they wake at 6:30 and nurse for the evening before bed at 6:30 pm.

thanks so much for reading and any advice you can offer. i am so sleep deprived and not accomplishing a lot of what i want to accomplish and i feel really stressed.

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

Lisa,

I have no help to offer as I am in the same boat!!!!! DD is my rock-star sleep and DS is making life miserable!!!!!

I send you lots of and when you get the answer...please share......


But, can they nap in different rooms? Maybe that would help!

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

napping is not easy. I recommend the book "Healthy sleeping habits, healthy (or happy) baby" It was fanastic and helped alot with sleeping with naps and overnight.
It teaches you a lot, trust me. I know a lot of twim mamas on here have read it. perhaps they need more food for night time.

Feeding schedule.
They were eating three meals.
4-bottles during the day
breakfast fruit and cereal
lunch meat and veggies or fruit or yogurt
dinner veggies and meat

Good luck, hang in there

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

Posted by burberrygirl

napping is not easy. I recommend the book "Healthy sleeping habits, healthy (or happy) baby" It was fanastic and helped alot with sleeping with naps and overnight.
It teaches you a lot, trust me. I know a lot of twim mamas on here have read it. perhaps they need more food for night time.

Feeding schedule.
They were eating three meals.
4-bottles during the day
breakfast fruit and cereal
lunch meat and veggies or fruit or yogurt
dinner veggies and meat

Good luck, hang in there

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

Lisa I really feel for you! DDs only napped for 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour in the afternoon (give or take) until they were 9 months old. Now when they look tired I ask them if they want to go see Pooh (in their crib) and they get up and walk to the gate that leads to their room. So there is hope!!!!

I don't think you are doing anything "wrong" - I just think that they are two different babies who want to nap at two different times. Are they tired when they go down for a nap? Can you try to tire the heck out of them to get them to sleep at the same time?

As for the feeding schedule at 7 months, I think we did:
Bottle
Nap
Breakfast (cereal and fruit) & a bottle
Yogurt for lunch & a bottle
Nap
Dinner was a meat and a veggie & a bottle
Bottle

Good luck!!!

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

I cannot help--I have the same problem---noone naps at the same time ever....
not easy.
if I run the vaccuum I sometimes can get them to nap together...although one alot shorter then the other.
so we run the vacuum........
ALOT

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

I agree with burberrygirl and FireIslandLove.

We are very lucky here, so far with naps ( think my kids napped longer than most) and bedtime but I have had a couple of weeks where they were on opposite schedules one day I climbed the stairs about 28 times, so I feel for you

As far as schedules, at month 7 this is what it was:

6:00 bottle

7:00 breakfast- cereal/fruit

8:00 nap- I have a ritual where I read the same book to them before they go down, "The Napping House". A triplet mommy gave me that idea.

9:15-9:45 wake

9:30-9:45 bottle

11:30- lunch- yogurt based w/ vegetables

Noon- read the book and nap

1:45 wake and bottle

4:15-4:30 dinner- Same as Super Baby Food diet- hard boiled egg yolk/tofu, two vegs

5:00- baths

5:30- bottle, read books

6:00 bed

My DS is a better sleeper than DD. Often she wakes at 4am and doesn't go back down but we won't get her until at least 5:30 and that's only when she's getting crazy.

I recommend the book as well. It made a lot of sense and it turns out my DS was giving me signs very early on.

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

We forced them on the same schedule, LOL.

We had to for our own sanity, but my children have always been good with being on a schedule.

At 7 months old they would have a bottle at 8, eat at 9 sleep at 10 - 11. Botlle and food at 12ish. Sleep from 2 - 4, then dinner and bottle at 6ish, and then bottle at 8 before bed. I cna't remeber exactly but there might have been another bottle in the day time around but I can't remember.

Do you do a bedtime routine with them that is the same each night?

Re: ok all you btdt twin mamas-i need help!!

Message edited 1/3/2008 12:21:25 PM.