Going Crazy!

I've been looking around on this sight since my twins were born on April 3. I've been reading everyone's post and trying all different things. My girls just won't stop crying!!!!! They cry when they wake up. They cry after 5 minutes in the swing or bouncy. They cry when you change them. They cry when you hold them. The only time they don't cry is when they eat and for the few minutes they drift off after eating.
They do not nap well at all either. They may nap 15 or 20 minutes at a time and the crying starts all over again. Shouldn't they be able to eat stay up a little while (right now maybe 15 minutes without crying) and then take a nap for at least an hour or so???
If anyone else's twins are this age let me know what your days are like.
Thanks!!!!!!

 

Mine were like this at your babies age-it is tough! It seems like nothing made them happy and it was hard for me to even like being around them-we had about 5% happy 95% crying. It has gotten better (not sure why) but now we have 20% happy and 80% crying.
I hope you find something that helps soon. I am sure there will be great advice to come from these amazing moms on this forum!
My suggestion would be the vacuum cleaner-the noise always made mine stop crying so we could at least get through dinner.

 

My boys were just like this for about 10-12 weeks. Henry was way worse then Elliot. I remember my husband telling someone that unless Henry was sleeping or feeding he was crying. It was really true! Things got really good for us after 4 months. Better after 12 weeks.

They're a year today and let me tell you, it gets better and easier! Good Luck!

QUOTE(ld2008 @ Jun 25 2008, 05:43 PM) [snapback]845269[/snapback]
I've been looking around on this sight since my twins were born on April 3. I've been reading everyone's post and trying all different things. My girls just won't stop crying!!!!! They cry when they wake up. They cry after 5 minutes in the swing or bouncy. They cry when you change them. They cry when you hold them. The only time they don't cry is when they eat and for the few minutes they drift off after eating.
They do not nap well at all either. They may nap 15 or 20 minutes at a time and the crying starts all over again. Shouldn't they be able to eat stay up a little while (right now maybe 15 minutes without crying) and then take a nap for at least an hour or so???
If anyone else's twins are this age let me know what your days are like.
Thanks!!!!!!

 

You are in the thick of it right now. This is a very fussy time for babies because their nervous systems are immature and its hard for them to process everything... and very easy for them to get overstimulated. Do you swaddle? If you can, borrow "the Happiest Baby of the Block" dvd (from a friend, the library, etc). I didn't have time to read the book so the DVD was great. He suggests several ways to sooth babies including swaddling and shushing. I found using both of these things really helped my girls settle down and get the sleep they needed. At that age they weren't staying up very long. Basically they'd eat, pass out, wake up for a little while and eat again... lather rinse repeat! GL and hang in there. And if you can, take a break and get someone else to watch the babies while you go take a walk or drink a cup of coffee without crying in the background. :hug99:

 

QUOTE(ld2008 @ Jun 25 2008, 01:43 PM) [snapback]845269[/snapback]
I've been looking around on this sight since my twins were born on April 3. I've been reading everyone's post and trying all different things. My girls just won't stop crying!!!!! They cry when they wake up. They cry after 5 minutes in the swing or bouncy. They cry when you change them. They cry when you hold them. The only time they don't cry is when they eat and for the few minutes they drift off after eating.
They do not nap well at all either. They may nap 15 or 20 minutes at a time and the crying starts all over again. Shouldn't they be able to eat stay up a little while (right now maybe 15 minutes without crying) and then take a nap for at least an hour or so???
If anyone else's twins are this age let me know what your days are like.
Thanks!!!!!!


I had a very similar post as yours when mine were that age. I thought I was going to go insane. Everyone posted and said it will get easier and that this was somewhat normal. I honestly wanted to write back and say - easy for you to say - you are not in the living hexx. But, several months later, I agree with what they said. These things just happen and there is not much you can do. What I finally did with mine that was the worst was put her in the bathroom with the loudest fan, strapped down in her bouncy seat and just let her cry a few minutes while I pulled myself together. She was staying up from 6pm - 2am screaming every night. It did get better and even though she still sleeps in her bouncy seat that she is too big for, she is a perfect, calm baby.

 

Emily, I completely understand. I was in that same situation! It has gotten better but we still have fussy babies. Of course they are now just starting the teething thing (at least that's what we think) so they've been fussy from that. However, it has gotten better than it was. My girls are now close to 3 1/2 months and just 2 weeks ago they started sleeping thru the night and their personalities are really coming out so there is alot more smiles and they try to talk - it's cute. I really felt like they were bored or something before and now they can start to do a little more.
Who knows.....

Hang in there hun!

White noise helps alot - like the vacuum cleaner. When my girls go to bed at night we turn on the ocean waves. I have a clock radio in their room that has nature sounds so this is what we play all night.

A tip for in the car when you are going somewhere - I go and visit my mom alot and she lives 45 min. away. Well, usually at least one of them would fuss. I started lowering their windows about an inch on each side in back by them and that sound that the wind makes going 65 mph hushes them right up every time. It's wonderful because I'm not stopping to put their pacifier back in their mouth - they can care less once I lower their windows!

 

The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD helped us so much!! We were able to find ways to soothe we never would have thought to do. I would recommend watching the DVD. I know we didn't have time to read very much at that age. This too shall pass :hug99: .

 

I'm all for bringing my children into the Chiropractor when they are fussy! I know not everyone goes to the Chiro., but it's just a suggestion. My Chiro is really gentle with his adjustments. And my babies are always better after they go. I have taken all my children in starting from being weeks old.

 

I second the chiropractor suggestion. It made a world of difference with our DD. She still is the fussier of the two
but the nonstop crying at night stopped after two visits!

-Beth

 

Could they have reflux issues? Mine were the exact same way, and it totally sucked! We have had to experiment a bit with different reflux meds, formulas, and my diet (BFing) but it all seems to be getting a little easier now that we have been on prevacid for the last month and a half. Seriously though....,ime acted the exact same way, it could be silent reflux. Do they hiccup a lot, sound hoarse when they cry? Mine had no problem eating but would scream the rest of the day.

I second the Happiest baby on the block. That gave us a little help when we thought we were losing our minds. Just following his steps helped a lot. Also see if swaddling and propping your babies up after eating for at least 30 minutes helps.

I think it would be worth a trip to the pedi to see. After I told mine about all of the crying at our 2 month checkup, he told me that it was not normal. There is a phase of normal fussiness but if it is for more than 3-4 hours a day you may have something else going on.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

 

sorry you are going through this - we went through it too. i think its just general newborn fussiness - which, believe it or not they will grow out of. we swaddled and bounced them in their bouncey chairs until they fell asleep - sometimes they slept for 10 minutes, sometimes for an hour (rarely) pop them in the stroller and take them for a very bumpy walk. it'll be over before you know it. and you'll be looking at your happy playful 4 month old babies and this will be a distant memory. good luck.

 

I hear you. It just finally started to get better for us and mine are 14 weeks. These are some of the things that worked for us and we tried just about everything.

Gripe water worked wonders for us. There is a brand called colic calm that works instantly. You have to order it directly from them off of the website and they even offer a money back guarantee if it doesn't work. Sounds great right--well the drawback is that its black in color and you have to make sure you have a bib on and your careful because it may die the clothes. I used colic calm when nothing else worked. For other times I would just use regular gripe water that you can get from the store.

I tried swaddling my boys but both of them got really mad and would try to kick and push their arms out. I even purchase a sound machine from amazon.com to help with sleeping/crying.

This is kind of funny. Baby lullaby Cd's did not work but this did. We have direct tv and they have a bunch of those XM stations. So one day I even put on music and started dancing/singing with them. It really worked but my back started hurting. I don't know why it worked but maybe the combination of rocking and me singing all that music I use to belt out when I was pregnant. I can only imagine what my neighbors thought if they saw me through the windows.

My did have reflux as well. Once prevacid started to kick in w/formula changes/Dr. Brown bottles every little bit made a small difference.

Good Luck and I remember many days just sitting by myself on the couch and crying. I have a few friends that have just had babies that were sleeping through the night right from the start and little angels--I use to bite my tongue when hearing about it....

 

My twins are about a week ahead of yours. My daughter used to be impossible too, nothing made her happy. It seemed like just a couple weeks ago she started to change and be more like her brother - where we could plop her down somewhere and she'd look around and be quiet instead of cry. The dr. mentioned they start to see better between 3-4 mos, which is one reason the general fussiness starts to subside.

I did notice the last few days her fussiness is starting to return. So I'm now trying to get them on a better nap schedule. It used to be I'd let them fall asleep wherever they were. Sometimes they'd just catnap throughout the day, and other times I worried they were sleeping too long. My natural instinct from early on was to try to keep them awake as long as possible, hoping that would make them sleep longer at night (I've tried everything with that, and am starting to think there's really nothing I can do. Any progress we've made probably has nothing to do with what I've done!). Now I'm thinking she is getting overtired and needs to sleep MORE during the day. I read babies around 4 months should be taking 2-3 naps a day for about 4-6 hours total. Mine aren't coming close to that! Now I'm trying to get a more formal nap schedule down and put them in their cribs, and am now finding THAT hard. I used to struggle keeping them awake, now I'm struggling getting them to go to sleep! But I hope they get used to the routine and it helps them be happier during the day and sleepier at night. We'll see...

The other thing that helps my daughter stay asleep is to put her in a kiddopotamus swaddle blanket with the velcro tabs. We need to strap her arms down as tight as possible, otherwise she'll wake herself up in 20 minutes. Problem now is recently she's been waking up at 5 am every morning HATING it! At least it gets her that far though. We also use a heartbeat sound machine in her crib. It seems to soothe her.

 

QUOTE(DeniseT @ Jun 26 2008, 09:41 AM) [snapback]846996[/snapback]
My twins are about a week ahead of yours. My daughter used to be impossible too, nothing made her happy. It seemed like just a couple weeks ago she started to change and be more like her brother - where we could plop her down somewhere and she'd look around and be quiet instead of cry. The dr. mentioned they start to see better between 3-4 mos, which is one reason the general fussiness starts to subside.

I did notice the last few days her fussiness is starting to return. So I'm now trying to get them on a better nap schedule. It used to be I'd let them fall asleep wherever they were. Sometimes they'd just catnap throughout the day, and other times I worried they were sleeping too long. My natural instinct from early on was to try to keep them awake as long as possible, hoping that would make them sleep longer at night (I've tried everything with that, and am starting to think there's really nothing I can do. Any progress we've made probably has nothing to do with what I've done!). Now I'm thinking she is getting overtired and needs to sleep MORE during the day. I read babies around 4 months should be taking 2-3 naps a day for about 4-6 hours total. Mine aren't coming close to that! Now I'm trying to get a more formal nap schedule down and put them in their cribs, and am now finding THAT hard. I used to struggle keeping them awake, now I'm struggling getting them to go to sleep! But I hope they get used to the routine and it helps them be happier during the day and sleepier at night. We'll see...

The other thing that helps my daughter stay asleep is to put her in a kiddopotamus swaddle blanket with the velcro tabs. We need to strap her arms down as tight as possible, otherwise she'll wake herself up in 20 minutes. Problem now is recently she's been waking up at 5 am every morning HATING it! At least it gets her that far though. We also use a heartbeat sound machine in her crib. It seems to soothe her.

Denise,
That's the same problem I'm having. I think they should nap better. Well rested babies makes happy ones right?? Yesterday I actually started putting them in their cribs for naps. Yesterday was a little rough. It took a lot of times back in the room to soothe. But they both went down this morning pretty easy. We were swaddling but they both seem not to like it any more. I just wrap their legs. I use music in the crib which I think must have just stopped since I hear someone crying.
Thanks for your advice and everyone else's too.