Looking for suggestions

My twins are a month old today and since they have been home from the NICU, they eat around every 3-4 hours. During the day, they will nap for a solid 3 hours sometimes more. However at night from about 9 until around 2 or 3 am they wake up every hour or so. Sometimes they want to eat, sometimes they want to just be held. We are not getting any sleep because of this. We try to wake them up more often during the day but it still has happened the past several nights. We rock them to sleep after a feed and with in an hour htey are back up. Sometimes they wake up the instant we lay them down. Any suggestions? This is the hardest part to deal with because we get NO SLEEP at night because of it.

 

Are you swaddling them nice and tight before you put them down to sleep? That was a big help when they were really litte. They also used to like to sleep really close to one another in the PackNPlay or crib.

When they are this young, it's all about survival mode. It'll get better. Just keep trying different things to see what works best with your little ones.

 

We did all the following:

during the day:
Very loud, bright lights, lots of activity during and like you said woke them after 3 hours.

during the night:
swaddled them, placed them side by side in a boppy pillow on the PnP
played a sound machine under their PnP with ocean sounds
kept the lights off
made things very business like (no talking etc).
gave pacifiers if needed

Best of luck!!!!

 

My boys also got bundled and they spent the first four months sleeping in their chairs or in their swing. They also liked to wake up as soon as I put them down so I would warm up a receiving blanket in the microwave for 20 sec and place it underneath them. This seemed to help sometimes. If you have any family that can come over and take some shifts so you can sleep that also worked really well for us. Best of luck

 

Ditto the tight swaddle, low lights, paci's at night. Some people even use swings, bouncy seats or carseats to get some sleep. Personally we didn't need that but you gotta do whatever works!

During the day I wouldn't let them sleep the whole 3 hrs in the afternoon if you can help it. Don't swaddle them during the day, and let them nap in the living room (or main part of the house) with you. Don't keep things silent for them. It sounds like they may have their days/nights mixed up and that makes it very difficult for the parents!

 

I agree with Danielle.
My twins had their days and nights mixed up when they first came home from the hospital...it was rough!
We kept our curtains wide open so the living room was bright and sunny, had the pack and play & swings downstairs for when they did need a nap and we kept up our daytime routine (did not try to be quiet). When it was time for "bed" is when we did the low lights, kept things quiet, put them in their crib to sleep. It took a couple of weeks but eventually it worked out. Good luck!

 

I know what you're talking about. Because my babies were premies and therefore needed to gain weight, we had to feed them whenever they requested day and night every 3 hours or so. We didn't have a full good night sleep until they were 4 months old :lazy:.

Good luck! :hug:

 

They might not take to swings yet but it may be worth a shot. You are not going to do any permanent damage this young - they will still crib sleep down the line. Mine were doing the 3 hour nap at that age as extension to their bedtime, so if you can catch up sleep during that time and forget the housework. Also, BIG believer in the swaddle. At this age because they did not sleep well flat, I swaddled them tight and slept them in those vibrating papasan chairs in the crib so their heads were elevated - for us it made a huge difference as their little systems were pretty sensitive. Of course they still woke for feedings every 2.5 - 3 hours but they did not wake every hour. Hopefully they will find their rhythm in a few days - it takes them this long to work all of this out - good luck to you!