How do you get them both to sleep at the same time?

I'm really struggling with getting my boys to sleep. The only way I can get them to sleep right now is if they're swaddled, have their pacifiers, and are in their bouncers. But it takes at least 45 minutes to an hour of bouncing and then one of them usually wakes up as soon as I stop bouncing. Then they end up getting fussy because it's taking so long to fall asleep and they're overtired. This used to only be a problem during the day because my husband was home at night and we could each take a baby and rock them or walk around until they fell asleep. But we just changed our approach to night time duty - now we split the night in half and he's in charge of both babies for the first half of the night, and I'm in charge for the second half of the night. That way... each of us is guaranteed a few uninterrupted hours of sleep each night. So I'm wondering how everyone gets their twins to sleep at the same time when you're by yourself. They don't like their swings at all, they cry as soon as I put them in it (it's the Fisher Price Papasan that has the side to side option - they still don't like it!). I know once they get older we can put them in their cribs and let them cry a little bit, but they're only 7 wks old, so that won't work right now! Any suggestions?

Carrie

 

We had the papasan swing and if it is the same, it has a front to back option as well. But on to the larger matter at hand...I am not the best to answer this ? because both of my girls still get rocked to sleep, BUT if dh isn't at home, I would always just keep one (the more content, less demanding one) busy with bouncing and get the more demanding one to sleep first, then switch. Kind of stagger them.

DH & I did the shifts too and it was the only way both of us could function and work the next day, but we both got them to sleep initially and then would start the shift thing.
Sorry I wasn't much help!
GL

 

We have 2 swings that swing side to side. I just bought the 2nd once I figured out that it works for our 2! I put both in when drowsy and they are out! Good luck!

 

When mine were that young...swings. Today, I pick the one that is most tired, give them their bottle, put them down when they are finished. Then do the next one.

 

Our swings worked miracles at getting them to sleep at the same time!

Good luck to you!

 

QUOTE(noahandjacobsmom @ Jun 25 2007, 05:39 PM) [snapback]306819[/snapback]
When mine were that young...swings. Today, I pick the one that is most tired, give them their bottle, put them down when they are finished. Then do the next one.


Same here except we breastfeed. Cole tends to sleep a little longer than Jacob so I try to put him down first so they wake at similar times. Now that they're older & are better at self-soothing to sleep we still do the same thing except occasionally I'll feed them both & then put them down...just depends on the day I guess.

 

At that age, it was hit or miss. But my girls loved the cradle swings rocking side to side.

 

At that age what I did was put one in a swing and I would rock the other one. Once the one I was rocking fell asleep I put her in her cib and grabbed the other one from the swing. 9 time out of 10 she was already sleeping but every once in awhile I had to rock her for a couple minutes.

 

The first month they were home they usually napped in their swings. After that, I would rock them both to sleep at the same time and lay them down together....

 

I know this sounds awful, but I really can't remember. We had swings and bouncy chairs.... they fell asleep on their bottles a lot. I think we could also put them in a swaddle and rock them a bit... they were certainly easier than they are now. Mine were born at 33+3 so they were early and slept a lot.

Now... I take them for a stroller walk in the morning for their morning nap. Stroller or car ride for their afternoon nap. And when my husband and I can't get them down at night, we put them in the car.

We know that some 'people' don't approve and think we should train them to fall asleep on their own, but those 'people' don't have twins (mostly) and don't know how hard it is to get both fussy, overtired, babies down on your own. We do whatever works and figure we'll deal with whatever issues we have later.

best of luck.

 

I agree...swing those babies!! ha (And, it will not mess up their sleeping habits) Mine slept in their swings a lot and they easily transitioned to their cribs. Good luck - hang in there

jen

 

Yep, swings here as well. We used swings in fact until they were a little over 5 months old. Now they nap in their cribs.

I was alone with my nuggets all day right from the start, and believe me, you get into survival mode in a real hurry. I nursed the boys and they would typically get sleepy afterwards, and in the swings they would go, with a blanket and the music playing. They took to the swings right away, though. Otherwise, if it wasn't after-nursing-sleepy time, I would just watch the clock and their play behavior, when it had been about an hour and a half or less since they had woken up from the last nap, and they would start to fuss and cry, I knew they were getting tired and would plunk them in the swings and out they'd go. Now, sometimes they would only nap for like 20 minutes or so ... but it was still something. It's hard to "schedule" babies that age, you just kind of have to go with the flow. But I made sure from the start that if one baby woke up, so did the other one, that way they kept on the same falling-asleep and nursing schedules. Same with the middle of the night feedings, when one would wake up, I would change the diaper and if the other one hadn't woken by that time which he usually did, I would wake that one up and then nurse. It was CRUCIAL to my sanity to keep them on the same schedule.

Good luck!!!!!!!

 

Oh, forgot to add that at that age, if naps got real screwy, I would pack them in carseats and go for a ride, and out they'd go. I would bring a book and head somehwere for something to eat, and go back home or to a park or something, and let them nap in the car while I ate and read. Not so fuel-efficient but it worked!

 

My girls would never go down for naps when they were that young unless they were in the swing or lying on top of me or Grammy. Swaddling got them to sleep but soon as I put them in their crib their eyes would pop open!! Very frustrating.
Now they are 5 months and I still swaddle them and put them down for naps groggy and they sooth themselves to sleep.

 

I think mine do quite well and have for a while. How I got them there I am embarrassed to say I can't quite remember.
I was very very strict with a bedtime routine, even if they both fussed, I got through it.

Now they know their routine and all i have to do is switch on the white noise when I come home from work, put a paci in for my son, give him his lala and he goes for his capnap. My daughter takes a bit more work, I have to walk with her or rock her. But they normally go down for around 45 minutes. While they are sleeping I get their bath ready, the first one to wake up goes in - (around 6.30) hopefully finish before the other wakes up, then down on my bed for some fun naked time while being lotioned, massaged, diapered and pj'd. The other one gets bathed while that one plays on the bed or in the swing. When they both have their pj's on, we feed them their 7 o'clock bottle, after burping we lie in our bed and sing or read stories and quietly play. (no rattles or anything stimulating). I put the white noise back on and they generally really calm down. When they are relaxed, sometimes asleep already, we transistion to their cribs in the nursery. At 8 o'clock whether they are awake or asleep I say goodnight and close the door. They 99% of the time drift off to sleep on their own. I then have the evening with my husband.

Even when the were little I would do bathtime, massage time and story time. If they were fussy I would hold both of them in my arms with their paci and sing till they drifted off. If one needed rocking, I would put that one on my knees and sway them side to side while holding the other one. Somehow we got through it and the routine was established and seems to have paid off.

I never used the swings or bouncers to put them to sleep, which is not to say that it didn't happen but it wasn't on purpose.

 

I always put the babies in my lap and bounced them at the same time on my knees. They would conk out in minutes. Eventually we slowly transitioned to falling asleep in cribs while drowsy.

 

Right now at 7 wks you're in survival mode, and believe it or not you'll figure out what works for you and your babies. We did the same thing as you are doing by taking shifts in the night. I remember being terrified and overwhelmed. DH did midnight and I did 3am. Just try to stay consistent at night with feeding, changing and back to bed, and they will get in the routine of sleeping. Also, keep it dark and quiet. Usually ds would wake up first at about 3am, I'd change him, feed him and lay him back in his crib. Then if dd wasn't awake I'd wake her up and do they same, they usually fell back to sleep after the bottle that's why I changed the diaper first. Also, even though we were taking shifts, if I had to I'd wake up dh, and looking back on it I didn't have to wake up dh very much.

 

This question could have been from me!! I haven't posted before, but I have 4 weeks old B/G twins, and my husband and I were just discussing this question this morning. I told him I was going to come on and post the question, and lo and behold it was already asked.

We don't seem to have the same problem with nighttime sleeping and getting back to bed - just with napping in the daytime. These babies do not want to sleep unless they are rocked for quite a while, and they don't seem to care too much for the swings and will continue to scream when they are put in there. I

It's difficult even with my husband home helping, and he'll go back to work in another week and a half, and I don't know what I'll do then. I'm not as worried about feeding them or entertaining them at the same time as I am with getting them to nap!!

I hate to get in the habit of having to drive around to get them to nap, but that seems to be the only consistent way to get them to sleep during the day...when does this get better/easier??

Suzi

 

We haven't had troubles with them sleeping at the same time so far. They are bouncy seated if they don't fall asleep while eating or with 10 mins of our rocking. Then they just stay in there till they wake up. GL!

 

QUOTE(jennottawa @ Jun 26 2007, 01:48 PM) [snapback]307419[/snapback]
I know this sounds awful, but I really can't remember.



Ummmm...same here. :huh: but I do know that we only had bouncy chairs and as pp stated, our boys were born early so they dropped off to sleep pretty easily (although not at night...he he).

We do some rocking now but are getting better at putting one down with self soothing and the other with the rocker.

I do it by myself, mostly, so I have faith in you! :good:

The bottom line, do whatever works for you and whatever is easiest!

Good Lick!