how do you help your babies fall asleep

My twins are so hard to get them to go to sleep. I have to start one hour from when they wake up to get them asleep b/c it takes me an hour to get them asleep. i'm trying to get them asleep before the 2 hour rule. i am rocking one until he falls asleep and then rocking the other one. It is EXHAUSTING! the shortest time it takes me is an hour. plus i'm lucky if they stay asleep. It usually takes 2-3 times of putting them down in their bed until they actually stay asleep.

they are in the same room. one sleeps in the crib and the other in the play pen. they are 1 week shy of being 3 months old. is it going to get easier?

does anyone have any suggestions to help soothe them? I am the only one who can get them to sleep. My husband, my mother, sister, friends -no one can get them to fall asleep, so I NEVER get a brake. I feel like I live in the rocker.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I feel like i never get to enjoy them or my 19 month old son b/c i'm always shushing and rocking them to sleep.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

 

My twins are so hard to get them to go to sleep. I have to start one hour from when they wake up to get them asleep b/c it takes me an hour to get them asleep. i'm trying to get them asleep before the 2 hour rule. i am rocking one until he falls asleep and then rocking the other one. It is EXHAUSTING! the shortest time it takes me is an hour. plus i'm lucky if they stay asleep. It usually takes 2-3 times of putting them down in their bed until they actually stay asleep.

they are in the same room. one sleeps in the crib and the other in the play pen. they are 1 week shy of being 3 months old. is it going to get easier?

does anyone have any suggestions to help soothe them? I am the only one who can get them to sleep. My husband, my mother, sister, friends -no one can get them to fall asleep, so I NEVER get a brake. I feel like I live in the rocker.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I feel like i never get to enjoy them or my 19 month old son b/c i'm always shushing and rocking them to sleep.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE

 

Are you swaddling? Do they like swings or bouncy seats?

I recommend the book Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West (Sleep Lady). It helped us alot.

 

I don't have much advice, I started really early at 3-4 weeks like my ped advised and now I swaddle them, rock them for 1-2 minutes, sing a couple of times "Twinkle, Twinkle", lay them down drowsy but awake and leave. I let them cry for about 5 minutes if they do, that's usually sufficient. If not, I'll sing a few more times, sooth them, but don't pick them up and that's it. At this point, 1 hour 15 minutes seems to be my magic window. They're pretty good at it already. I am impressed myself! The evening is a little harder, but by that time, they're usually overtired since they don't nap well in the afternoon (or I can't put them down), but that's honestly not their fault. Hopefully once they get older the routine will get easier and more predictable.

 

We swaddled, playing soothing music from the FP Aquarium and gave pacifiers. My recommendation is to stop using the rocking to put them to sleep as it is only going to be a harder habit to break. It is important that they learn how to be able to put themselves to sleep.

I am not sure how old they are but if they are over 3 months (my personal timing for doing a modified CIO) you may want to try and let them fuss it out for 5 minutes at a time then go back in and reassure/pat.

 

i try swaddling but they kick their way out. they like their bouncy seats but they never fall asleep in them. they just look around everywhere. Swings-well they worked for one week. now i put them in there and they are immediately in a bad mood.

 

quote:

I am not sure how old they are but if they are over 3 months (my personal timing for doing a modified CIO) you may want to try and let them fuss it out for 5 minutes at a time then go back in and reassure/pat.


they will be 3 months on the 26th. how do you let them fuss when they are in the same room? do i need to seperate rooms. i guess i could put one in my room for a while if needed.

what kind of soothing music do you use?

thank you

 

I have them seperated day and night actually since my girl is a way better sleeper during the night (9-11 hour straight), however my boy seems to nap better, but wakes every 4-6 hours at night (he has reflux and seems to be in pain, which causes a lot of noise / crying ). Seperating them made a huge difference. We started on Friday and my girl has done 9 hour + stretches (and a record of 11 hours 20 minutes) since.

 

quote:
Posted January 17, 2007 01:30 PM Hide Post
they will be 3 months on the 26th. how do you let them fuss when they are in the same room? do i need to seperate rooms. i guess i could put one in my room for a while if needed.

what kind of soothing music do you use?

thank you



We use the Fisher Price Aquarium. This one. It attaches the the crib and plays music. My kids still love it. You can get it at BRU, Target, Walmart, etc..

Mine are in the same room and will be 2 on Jan. 27. I believe they are used to each others noises so for my two if one was fussing the other didn't and still doesn't typically seem to mind. I actually think they like the noise of each other-- again a soothing comforting thing for them. I really don't think at the point you need to separate them into different rooms.

Also since you mentioned they are still under 3 months, maybe the sleep thing will start to get better in the coming weeks. Around 12 weeks of age mine really seemed to get into a better routine about falling alseep and working through issues of wanting to be rocked, etc..

Also, if they kick out of the swaddling-- maybe they don't want to be swaddled and that is bugging them? Just a suggestion?

Good luck and I am sure things will get better!

 

At that age I put mine in their cribs awake and would give them their paci and then rock their back with my hand until they fell asleep. This led to CIO later (5+ months) as I wanted to be able to put them down and leave them to fall asleep on their own. I think you have to transition them into falling asleep in their crib. I have also kept mine in the same room the whole time. Yes, they have woken one another up; however, most often not. Good luck!