My six week old twins need to be held up fall asleep. My question is, after feeding, how do I manage alone to burp each and then get them down to sleep? I feel helpless. When I am burping one, the other starts crying do I never can get one down successfully to start working on the other! Help! Also, they seem to be waking every hour. I hope it is a growth spurt and will soon change because I am exhausted . Thanks for any advice you can offer.
I take it you're dealing with reflux too??? Bc of this I wont tandem feed unless I absolutely have to bc I have to keeo them upright for 30 minutes after they eat. Some recommended the bouncy seats but that doesn't work at least for adalynn right after a feeding. Its more time consuming to have them spaced out a bit but its the only way that really works for me unless I have another set of hands around.
I am not sure about reflux. I think they just seem to have trouble falling asleep on their own. What do you do if you are holding one upright and the other is wailing ?? Thank you so much for replying!
Typically I can go over to the crib or swing (if its the swing I sit on the floor) and offer their pacifier and rub their hand or arm, usually will calm them down. Are you tandem feeding right now or have them staggered? How much are they eating at each feeding? Both Adalynn and Jackson have reflux, adalynn worse than Jackson so I've got to hold her up for 20-30 min after her feedings so she doesn't spit everything up. We went through horrible feeding of them screaming, gas, constipation, etc, had to change formulas and bottles, finally on nutramigen and Playtex ventaire bottles, they typically ate every 4 but the last couple of days its been every 3 hrs, I think its a growth spurt. Adalynn is my jealous one (even at 7 weeks) and there are times she'll be partially asleep and I'll out her in her crib or swing and she'll be fine but the minute I pick up her brother she starts wailing .... I hate to say it but sometimes you just have to let them cry ... There's a difference between throwing a fit cry and there's something wrong cry .... With adalynn when she's throwing a fit wuth doesn't last long and typically my touch of my hand on her and her pacifier will calm her down. Its hard, trust me I know and its hard not to feel like an inadequate mom when you cant helo both at the same time, but know that youre not! When DH went back to work it took all of us some adjustment time bc they were used to always being rocked to sleep and being held ... Cant exactly always do this on your own. It took about a week and I got them on a staggered routine and thats helped tremendously for me. And when it gets really bad with the crying I call someone to come help
It sounds to me like you have three different things going on: issue 1 - they only fall asleep if you are holding them they need to learn to self sooth. the best way to teach this is to try to put them down in their cribs (or where ever they are sleeping) when they are drowsy but awake. In the beginning you will need to time it carefully.. when they are almost sleep. Later you can put them down when they are calm but not as drowsy. It might help to concentrate on one baby first. I picked the easier of the two and got her going down better first. issue 2 - waking every hour this is more complicated and could be a number of things. it could be discomfort if they have acid reflux or another medical problem. however if they both are doing it, i would guess it is related to issue 1. they do not know how to self sooth. when they are in the stage of light sleep they awake easily and then can not return to sleep with out your assistance. Hopefully as you work on issue 1 this will also improve. In the mean time, try going in immediately to sooth them. use the least amount needed to get them back to sleep. In the beginning you might need to hold/rock them but work to decrease what they need, so eventually you only have to pat or rub them, with the goal that they will do it on their own. issue 3 - difficulty burping i wish i had an easy fix for you. I remember feeling completely overwhelmed at so many feedings. I found if i started feeding one (baby A) a little earlier than the other than i could prop feed the second (B) while i burped A. then burp B and prop feed A. and repeat. sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't. If feeding is extremely difficult it is possible one or both have acid reflux and you should talk with your doctor. My son would cry through every feeding and it did not improve until we got him on meds. I used boppies and kept them 'sitting up' for 30 minutes after feeding. To be honest, at 6 weeks I spent a lot of time in a reclined position on the couch with them laying on my chest and i would jiggle them to sleep. And then i was stuck there! It wasn't until mine were 4 months that i realized we had a problem and they could not sleep alone! I recommend Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child but Marc Weissbluth. this is the book that helped me fix the problem and my kids are now great sleepers! (side note - I never did CIO) Couple things.. just information and thoughts. -Sleep begets sleep. so a well rested baby will fall asleep easier and stay asleep longer. at 6 weeks they should be going back to sleep within 2 hours of waking (one hour is better!!). Your two are over tired! work hard to get them back to sleep within one hour of waking! -Do you have anyone you can ask to come by once a day and help with one feeding? I had a retired friend who did this for me when DS had his issues with acid reflux. It is amazing what a little break will do! The chance to feed only one baby.. aahhh! you would be surprised how many people would consider it a treat to come hold a baby! -Six Weeks Peak - All babies are most fussy, cry the most, and most wakeful at six weeks of age. (Marc Weissbluth) So you are at the worst.. it will get better. -Remember,crying does not hurt them.. even though it tears at your soul. they are OKAY. you are doing the best you can. (and i can tell by your post, you ARE doing a GOOD job!) Hang in there!
Thanks for this - mine turn 6 weeks on Tuesday and they have been more fussy, etc the past few days - this might be part of it!
My babies were falling asleep upright on me at 6 weeks. They're 12 weeks now and things are changing slowly. I figured unless I had anything more pressing I'd just hold them upright and burp them together if possible. Do they have alot of trouble with wind? If they're screaming and wriggling that's difficult. On those occasions I hold them in the moby wrap together and dance around, or bounce one in the bouncinette with my foot while I held the other, or lay one on her tummy across my knees while I jiggle and pat the other's bottom... if they weren't too uncomfortable I'd just sit and hold them and let them sleep - they're only little for such a short time and having babies asleep on me is something I really like and will really miss! At 6 weeks they're still very little. I wouldn't sweat it just yet, plenty of time for things to fall into place. If the waking every hour has just started I would say growth spurt for sure. It's so busy with two, just hang in there, it will get easier. It's only just now falling into place for me, I remember what it was like to be stuck under babies and not even able to go to the toilet or get food a few weeks ago!!!
It's 6 weeks after the EDD. So if you have preemies, you're in for a bit of a longer haul unfortunately.
6 weeks was the worst time to parent my kids, to date. I about lost my mind. Reflux was tough, BF growth spurts, screaming, screaming, screaming babies everywhere. I agree that Moby'ing a baby and dancing a bit works well, 6 weeks is when we introduced the swing as they liked to jiggle a bit and so it's where they slept for a long while. I cut out dairy so that my milk would be dairy free and that helped a ton, too.
I second (or third) the moby wrap! My DS took many of his afternoon naps in the wrap while i held DD with one hand (also sleeping) and did things like clean the kitchen. DD hated to be wrapped but if both your LOs like to be wrapped you might check out the u-tube videos on double slings and wraps.
