hope for those that have bad sleepers

Hi everyone,

I haven't been on the boards in a while but I wanted to write b/c I had been on the verge of calling a sleep specialist for my twins. It's been 20 months with no sleep and I didn't know what to do! Well I just bit the bullet and did it myself. I had a meltdown on Sat b/c I was sick of them waking 2 and 3 times a night still and I realized that I had to take away the sippy cups cold turkey to stop them from waking up all the time. We were so sick of not sleeping I was at the end of my rope. I did it Sat night and it was HORRIBLE, 3 1/2 hours of screaming and crying and stamping feet in the crib. I think it was much like getting rid of a binky to them. Well I stuck to my guns and just kept going in and laying them down with their babies, I used that as their new fun thing to bring to bed with them and after a long exhuasting night it worked. We have had a week of solid nights of NO wake ups, 12 hours of sleep and I am in awe that I was able to do it. I am giving you all hope if you haven't been sleeping that it does work. Figure out your bad habits and cut them out NOW. I swear I knew I was doing things wrong and I had to change them and did, bottom line.

I realized that I was causing the bad habits and letting them control me and I thought to myself, who is the parent here???My husband works nights and couldn't believe I did it all by myself while he was at work but I thought if I do'nt do it now they are going to be 3 or 4 pulling this stuff! not to mention when they potty train they are going to be even harder b/c they were waking with soaking diapers.

I will tell you that I am truly NOT a fan of letting them cry but I kept going in there and rubbing their back and eventually they got it.

Here's hope to all of you if yours are still giving you trouble, sorry so long!!!

Kate

 

WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Way to go mom! I can truly empathize with you. I didn't get a full night of sleep until my boys were 3 years old.

 

I can so empathize with you, my girls get up 2-3 times each a night. It is horrible. I need some sleep. I know eventually I am going to have to do what you did. Except for my girls it is the breast that they want. I am so happy for you! Way to go Mamma!

 

Kato,
That's great. Can you give more detail? My twins are 20 months and still wake multiple times at night. One sleeps with me all night, the other part of the night, but they wake up numerous times to nurse. What was the improvement each night. Were they out of cribs already?

Thanks,
Stacy

 

QUOTE(stacyann_1 @ Aug 26 2007, 06:45 PM) [snapback]381081[/snapback]
Kato,
That's great. Can you give more detail? My twins are 20 months and still wake multiple times at night. One sleeps with me all night, the other part of the night, but they wake up numerous times to nurse. What was the improvement each night. Were they out of cribs already?

Thanks,
Stacy



Hi Stacy-

Well for me it was the addiction to the sippy cup- they were needing that to get back to sleep as opposed to yours which sounds like you have them in the bed so that might be what they are used to to get to sleep....you might try weaning them from your breast first and then work on the sleep thing. I don't know if the two correlate b/c I didn't bf my twins. I didn't take them out of their cribs though...they are still in those. I just turned a switch in my head that I would go in their and soothe but I would NOT under any circumstances give them the sippy again in their crib. it was a HORRIBLE habit that I wish I never started to begin with but as I mentioned before they were addicted to that much like some kids are with the binky, breast, bed, whatever it might be. You can PM me for more info...hope that helped!

Kate