babies not sleeping

Anyone have any advice on how to get babies to sleep.....especially at night. Our twins were bron at 36 1/2 weeks and are now one month old. They had jaundice early on so slept more often. For the last 2 weeks both babies do not fall asleep after most feedings - DD just stays awake and sometimes cries, DS cries unless he is being held or sitting in his car seat. It is starting to wear my husband and me out. He tries to let me slept to ensure good BFing but then he ends up being up all night. They will ususally fall asleep about an hour before they end up waking up hungry. We have tried supplimenting them with formula which we were told digests slower and would space our feedings (I know this isn't great for BFing but it seems BFing is going fine as they are gaining weight).

At this point there are times that our DD doesn't sleep for 1/2 the day and 1/2 the night. This doesn't seem normal as I have always heard babies sleep all the time.

Any thoughts?

We know it isn't that they are hungry since DD spits up when she gets too much BM or suppliment and DS won't go to the breast - only uses me as a human pacifer.

 

We have battled this as well, it is slowly getting better during the day but we still struggle at night, it seems that if the babies have had alot of activity or are overly tired they have a much harder time going to sleep. I don't have any advice, just a few hugs. Are you swaddling, that always helps my DD, my DS could take it or leave it.

 

I have had babies who at 5 weeks slept 8 hours and at 8 weeks slept 12 hours, so I know I am lucky.

We were very exact with daytime feedings. We fed them every 3 hours even if they were not awake. After each feeding we tried to keep them awake and after a bit of playtime, we would let them fall asleep. We ALWAYS woke them up when 3 hours had passed. We also worked hard to make sure they took full feedings.

We found that by doing this, we very quickly had babies who slept well at night. We did find though they needed to be in the dark at night. If we even leave a nightlight on they babble and stay awake, we turn the lights off and they get quiet and are asleep within 5 minutes.

Basically, we followed a basic outline of Babywise and it worked. Try it, it cannot hurt.

 

QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Oct 25 2007, 08:13 AM) [snapback]466558[/snapback]
I have had babies who at 5 weeks slept 8 hours and at 8 weeks slept 12 hours, so I know I am lucky.

We were very exact with daytime feedings. We fed them every 3 hours even if they were not awake. After each feeding we tried to keep them awake and after a bit of playtime, we would let them fall asleep. We ALWAYS woke them up when 3 hours had passed. We also worked hard to make sure they took full feedings.

We found that by doing this, we very quickly had babies who slept well at night. We did find though they needed to be in the dark at night. If we even leave a nightlight on they babble and stay awake, we turn the lights off and they get quiet and are asleep within 5 minutes.

Basically, we followed a basic outline of Babywise and it worked. Try it, it cannot hurt.




Amen to this! I had the same problem, my girls had their days and nights mixed up and we weren't getting any sleep! I think the main problem was that I wouldn't let them have waketime because I was so exhausted I just wanted them to go to sleep right after they ate. But it makes such a huge difference! I didn't start babywise until my girls were 6 wks, (wish I would have earlier) but after just a day or two they were sleeping more at night and I felt like I had part of my life back since they were on a schedule finally. I would definately reccomend trying it Good luck and just know that it will get better, try different things and see what works for you.

 

I also have used the babywise techniques and love them. My DD goes 9-10 hour and my DS goes 7-8 hours. The big thing that I think helped was eat, wake then sleep. IT helps to get their schedule down. Also don't interact with them at night. Feed, burp, change and back to bed. I am not saying it ways worked but at 2 mo my DD was going 7-8 hours. MY DD took longer but there is good advice with Babywise.

 

Looking up Babywise now - as my DD is starting to scream 1 1/2 hours into bedtime. Until DST they slept from 9:30 - 5:30a. Now it is a battle.

Good luck on getting sleep!