Help! Days and Nights out of Control

Hello,

My twinfants are 10 weeks old (but were born at 36 weeks). Dalia is 10 pounds and Jonah is 13 pounds (he's built like a linebacker!) and Jonah has started to sleep a 4 to 5 hour stretch some nights. Dalia is still up every 3 hours...but these are on good nights. Also both babies have colic, so usually they are crying from about 7pm until midnight.

On a good day/night, they are up at 7, and eat every 3 hours or so until the colic time at 7pm...at which point we struggle to get them to eat or to figure out how to get them to stop crying. They usually calm down by 11:30 or so, and go to sleep. Then there is one feeding for Jonah at around 3:30/4 and two feedings for Dalia before they both get back up at 7. However, it doesn't always work this way, and I don't really pay attention to when things happen during the day, I just feed them when they wake up and act hungry. But this means that I never know when to expect anything, and it is all very out of control. Last night they were both up, at the same time, every hour - and only ate 1 ounce each time. I am thinking that I need to start introducing more of a schedule in our lives during the day, but am not sure how. I have read the Healthy Sleep Happy Baby books but implimenting it is much more difficult. How do I start a schedule with infants? I can't force feedings or withold them! Can I? And other than a bath, what kinds of things could I schedule so they know what time it is, etc?

Help? Thanks!

 

Scheduling the feedings was the best thing I did. I also tried to do other things at the same time each day. With the twins it was easy because the other kids had a daily flow that sort of set the stage for them. I would withhold feedings, but I worked very hard to get them to take a good feeding in 30 min and then not eat again til the 3 hr mark. We also started at 7 am. So they were done eating by 7:30 (even if they'd only taken a portion of what they normally would). Then I did whatever I could to get them to 10. If they were hysterical and no amount of soothing, changing scenery, etc helped, I'd feed them a bit early but then try to get to the next feeding at 1 on time. If they just can't make the three hours consistently (went through that with my second) then still have a schedule just closer together. I fed him every 2 hrs during the day for 2 days. Then I fed him every 2.5 hours for a week. When he was doing well with that I moved him to 2 hrs 45 min for a day then 3 hrs the next. That way you still have the schedule you crave but are meeting their needs as well. I hth!

 

i always fed them on a 3 hour schedule until they were 8 months old. it was the only way i could get anything done or feel like i had any control over anything. i never withheld feedings though, so if someone seemed really hungry i would start a little early but they both always ate at the same time. once you do it for a few days they will get used to the routine and will naturally be hungry when mealtime rolls around so you won't feel like you are force feeding them.

aside from bathing, i used music to cue them in on what was about to happen. whenever naptime was coming up, i would put on the lullabys so they would relate that to the change from activity to rest. i you want to start them on a nap schedule i suggest starting with the first nap of the day. that is the easiest one to predict and after you get that one down you can start working on the second then third naps... good luck, it's hard but you can do it!

 

We kept a notebook to record feedings and ounces. Then at the end of the day I could add up the ounces and see how often they ate. Then I would try and get into a routine from that the next day. At 8 weeks we were eating at least every 3 hours, if not every 2.5. I fed on demand, but they did fall into a pattern eventually. They were still waking every 2-3 hours at night so I think to me what yours are doing sounds normal.

Can you get them to bed any earlier or does the colic delay their bedtime? How about some white noise/vacuum noise for their room?

I bet once they get over the colic they will soothe more easily in the evening and you can get into a routine then of bath, books, bottle, bed...Or something to that effect.

:hug:

 

my twins aren't born yet, but I'm lurking here for when they are But just wanted to add something I learned with my singleton. She would also have her "colic" episodes from 7-12ish. We had no idea what to do!! Just the screaming and then the waking hourly or more. Once I put her to nap at 6:30 desperate to avoid the crying and she slept until 9:30 and woke up. I took her out of bed (not smart) and she screamed until ... well a REALLY long time. So the next few days I changed her nap times and put her to bed at 6:45 and she slept until 10 at which point I nursed her and put her back to bed. And that was a life changing moment for us!! She wanted to be in bed, but by the time we tried bed it was too late. she was overstimulated and didn't sleep well! and 7pm was her bed time until she was around 18 months. hth

 

We followed the EASY routine (Eat, Activity, Sleep, You) from the Baby Whisperer book. We started trying it from the time we brought them home from the hospital. It took several weeks but they got it. We also started following HSHHC when they were 7.5 weeks old and it worked really well for our boys--putting them down at the first sign of drowsy cues, not keeping them up longer than 1.5 hrs at a time, etc.

 

Have you read Baby Wise? At first it seems really harsh and strict to alot of people however I know people who have used it and it really helped them. I had this idea in my head that putting them on the same schedule wasn't fair bc if they had been singletons they could have been on thier own schedule ect. In retrospect I realize A)they don't realize or care B) Having a sane mom is really one of the most important things right now! The writer of HSHHC wrote Healthy sleep habits happy twins. It does have some more hints for twins but is pretty similar to HSHHC. A book amazon just told me about (I love that feature) is called Chaos to Calm - it looks like it could be pretty helpful and comes with a CD of charts and schedules to print out. It may be worth looking at. Good luck!