HSH, Happy Twins

I got the Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins the other day and read it. Hmmmmmm......

Heres what I thought ( in case your thinking of getting it)......

MUCH shorter than the first, I read it in one night.
More geared for newborn twins and new twin moms.
Some useful facts ( for my age), but mainly info that confirmed to me I am doing the right things ( things Ive done instinctively with twins)
Does not clearly outline how to sleep train twins.
Does discuss GERD/Reflux issues ( which is common in twins) and prematurity issues.


Some useful facts and suggestions I found to be helpful and confirmation.

1. Fraternal twins are much harder to sleep train then Identical twins, because Fraternal are two different babies, where as identical "can" have the same temperment. I have Fraternal and totally agree with this. Not sure what Identical moms think. I have a hard time keeping mine on the same schedule ( as far as sleep).

2. Quoted out of the book, "Never wake a sleeping baby" ( as he suggests in his HSHHC book) , does NOT apply to twins. If one twins wakes (he suggests) so does the other one. Now he does say if you have one twin who is a longer napper than you can give them extra time to sleep but anything longer than 30-45 min. will mess up the rest of the day.
......this was one suggestion that confirmed to me what I was doing was ok. I have read posts about this and I mayself have posted about it. I always have woke the other on, now my DS is a longer napper so i will usually give him another 15-20 min. My mom is always like " I hate waking them". Yeah....."Oh well".

3. He outlines how much sleep each age should get.

birth - 4 weeks 15-17 hr
mo 1 - 13.5 hr.
mo 2-4 14.5 hr
mo. 6- 1 year 14 hr.


Other than this , I really didnt get anythin gout of it that I didnt get from the other book. The other book was much more helpful in 'How " to sleep train and get them on a routine. This one doea outline each age group, but really focuses on newborns. The other age groups is very vage as to what to do.

Overall it was an "ok" read. It would be great for a new twin mom or a pregger.


If anyone else read it........


What did you think?

 

Thanks for your review, I did not read it but I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about it!

 

I haven't read it and admit to not completely reading the original. I skipped around and was very bummed with how vague everything was, especially the twin chapter in the back. Thank you for that review! It may not be worth the extra money if someone already has the original.

As for the sleep training ID's, I don't think it's because mine were ID, but b/c they were on such a strict schedule in the NICU with the same nurse as each other, that I was able to keep the schedule going when they got home. I have been able to keep them on the same nap/bed schedule (other than a random day every few months), but they sure didn't sleep any better at night!

 

I was eagerly awaiting the release of this book, finally got it in the mail yesterday, and like BlessedByTwo, I read it in one night. Overall, I was pretty disappointed. The preview of the book promised to talk about what "not to do"--common mistakes parents of multiples make and how to correct/avoid them--which I was very interested in. There wasn't really much on this topic, and while I found it reaffirming to know that we're doing the right thing, I wish there had been more about how to actually "do" the sleep training--especially naps. We have good night sleepers, but our naps nowadays, not as much. I did find it less confusing than the original book (in the original I had to reread several sections to understand what he was describing). He has some anecdotes from twin parents, but nothing like the stories found in the original, and these anecdotes do not have ages attached to the twins. My identical girls weren't ever in the NICU, and we have tried to keep them on the same schedule since we brought them home (DH and I are also schedule people so I think that helps). Overall, one of my girls does need more sleep--she tends to be really affected if she has a bad nap, but it hasn't been too hard to keep them on a similar schedule.

 

yeah i was pretty dismayed when i hefted my amazon box and it was so light. i assumed he would include all of the same information in HSHHC that apply to twins, not just make a brochure sized add-on. i haven't had a chance to read it yet but the chapter outline is pretty disappointing. i really doubt i'm going to get anything out of it that i didn't already have to figure out on my own because there STILL isn't a good guide to twins and sleep out there.

 

Thanx for the review ladies!

Very dissappointed though, i was relying on this book for some guidance regarding naps. Not sure whether to bother investing now.

 

Thanks for reviewing this and putting out the "good-to-know" tips!! Question about the amount of sleep twins need... 14 hours for 6months - 1 year, does that include naps?
I think it's interesting about the idea of waking the longer napper after a certain point... Yesterday my super-sleeper took a 3 hour nap while my other one woke after 1.5 hours and it did kind of throw a kink in our schedule, but I would have never thought to wake her up after a certain point. Maybe I'll try this in the future. Thanks again!

 

QUOTE(rumbo @ Jun 13 2009, 11:42 AM) [snapback]1352944[/snapback]
Thanks for reviewing this and putting out the "good-to-know" tips!! Question about the amount of sleep twins need... 14 hours for 6months - 1 year, does that include naps?
I think it's interesting about the idea of waking the longer napper after a certain point... Yesterday my super-sleeper took a 3 hour nap while my other one woke after 1.5 hours and it did kind of throw a kink in our schedule, but I would have never thought to wake her up after a certain point. Maybe I'll try this in the future. Thanks again!



I believe this includes naps. This was a amount of time per day for ALL sleep. He did say too though that some babies need more so..........? Like I said it was very vague.

 

QUOTE(BlessedByTwo @ Jun 13 2009, 12:37 PM) [snapback]1352990[/snapback]
I believe this includes naps. This was a amount of time per day for ALL sleep. He did say too though that some babies need more so..........? Like I said it was very vague.

Does anyone else have babies that sleep longer? Can they sleep too much? My 7.5 month old boys sleep about 12 hours at night and take two to three naps a day. I think that they sleep about 4-5 hours during these naps.

 

QUOTE(Jennifer2008 @ Jun 13 2009, 11:28 AM) [snapback]1353014[/snapback]
Does anyone else have babies that sleep longer? Can they sleep too much? My 7.5 month old boys sleep about 12 hours at night and take two to three naps a day. I think that they sleep about 4-5 hours during these naps.


yup! my girls are sleeping around 12 - 13 hours at night, plus 3 - 4 hours of naptime during the day. although, i am noticing that they seem to be gradually reducing that amount.

imo, i don't think babies can sleep too much - if they've already had enough sleep that day, they'll just fight their next nap. when it starts happening consistently is when i start looking at tweaking the schedule.

 

I wish it would have had more on how to get my girls to STTN. They are really good putting themselves to sleep, but still wake up 2 or 3 times a night.

 

QUOTE(Jennifer2008 @ Jun 13 2009, 01:28 PM) [snapback]1353014[/snapback]
Does anyone else have babies that sleep longer? Can they sleep too much? My 7.5 month old boys sleep about 12 hours at night and take two to three naps a day. I think that they sleep about 4-5 hours during these naps.

Mine also sleep 12 hours a night and usually another 3-4 hours during the day. However lately they have been sleeping less.......don't know what is going on.

 

14 hrs doesn't seem like that much. (My twins are 5 months; I wasn't sure which of your categories they fit in.) They have just recently started taking 30 to 40minute morning naps instead of the 2-2.5 hr ones they had been taking the past 3 months. I'm hoping this is just temporary!

And thanks for the book review! Mine is on the way but now I'm wishing it wasn't so I could stop the order. That does sound disappointing! If it's really more of a brochure/add-on, IMO it should be cheaper!

 

Ditto... I, too, was dissappointed in this book.

My husband has a dangerous job and works many hours with a schedule such that he is not home at night and many days.
And I don't have relatives or support outside of him, so I am managing on my own most of the time.

One of my challenges is how to soothe 2 babies at one time - while fostering healthy sleep habits... I end up resorting to the only calming methods that have worked which are all 'assisted' - sling, BF, rocking, etc... and trying then to put them down drowsy but awake never seems to work because I have 2 in my arms, so inevitably one gets jostled or jolted out of drowsy... ugh... so I am left with letting them fall all the way asleep before I put them down...

So I was dissaoppointed to see a whole chapter on creating your 'sleep-training team' - basically it is supporting dad's taking a very active roll. While this is great - I also wanted a chapter that offered some suggestions if you don't have the resources for creating a sleep-training team. Tips from his 'research' from other twin parents that go it alone...?? Nada

It had a whole chapter on breast feeding - very good info and would have been great to read in the beginning (I EBF) of my journey - but what does this have to do with sleep? Or did I miss the point somewhere??

Anyway - I guess if you haven't read HSHHC, it is a quick good read... but not in depth or delivering much unique...

 

Thanks for all of the reviews. I figured my girls were too old now to get much out of it, but I was hopeful that it would be helpful to new moms of twins. So far it doesn't sound that way.

QUOTE(BlessedByTwo @ Jun 13 2009, 05:58 AM) [snapback]1352814[/snapback]
1. Fraternal twins are much harder to sleep train then Identical twins, because Fraternal are two different babies, where as identical "can" have the same temperment. I have Fraternal and totally agree with this. Not sure what Identical moms think. I have a hard time keeping mine on the same schedule ( as far as sleep).

Identical twins are also two different babies. We are pretty sure that my girls are identical, and they are SO different in every aspect, including sleeping. Like Megan, my girls were on a very strict schedule when they came home from the NICU and that carried over when they came home, so that helped a lot.

 

QUOTE(MamaGG @ Jun 13 2009, 08:10 PM) [snapback]1353426[/snapback]
One of my challenges is how to soothe 2 babies at one time - while fostering healthy sleep habits... I end up resorting to the only calming methods that have worked which are all 'assisted' - sling, BF, rocking, etc... and trying then to put them down drowsy but awake never seems to work because I have 2 in my arms, so inevitably one gets jostled or jolted out of drowsy... ugh... so I am left with letting them fall all the way asleep before I put them down...

So I was dissaoppointed to see a whole chapter on creating your 'sleep-training team' - basically it is supporting dad's taking a very active roll. While this is great - I also wanted a chapter that offered some suggestions if you don't have the resources for creating a sleep-training team. Tips from his 'research' from other twin parents that go it alone...?? Nada


Ditto on this! I end up cutting corners because I just need to get them down. If I had all day and night available to make teaching them the best habits it would be a whole lot easier. But I've got another little one and am trying to work from home....it's impossible. I just end up doing whatever works short term, but of course that's probably creating really bad patterns long term. *sigh*

 

I was really excited about this book and I just finished reading it. I thought it was ok. I liked that it was concise, but I feel that some areas needed more coverage. I was hoping he would spend more time on how to get babies to take naps. Also, I was hoping he would cover specific sleep problems that might arise. While he discussed different circumstances (prematurity, etc.), he never addressed problems that can arise while sleep training. I haven't read HSHHC. I'm not sure if I should read that too, so I can get more coverage on sleep problems. The breastfeeding chapter, while it had great info, was kind of random. I thought he should have tied it in to sleep better.

 

QUOTE(AmberG @ Jun 15 2009, 12:22 PM) [snapback]1355001[/snapback]
I I haven't read HSHHC. I'm not sure if I should read that too, so I can get more coverage on sleep problems.



I would read HSHHC. I was able to establish a nap routine from that book. I highly reccomend his original. Take what you got from HSHHT and apply it to the original. I was hoping he would address more ways of sleep training "twins".

GL!!

 

QUOTE(BlessedByTwo @ Jun 15 2009, 11:04 AM) [snapback]1355206[/snapback]
I would read HSHHC. I was able to establish a nap routine from that book. I highly reccomend his original. Take what you got from HSHHT and apply it to the original. I was hoping he would address more ways of sleep training "twins".

GL!!


Thanks for the suggestion BlessedByTwo. I just ordered my copy of the original from half.com.

 

I could have written your review word for word. Like some of the other moms said, I felt that 14 hrs total sleep isn't very much. My guys sleep 16 hrs now, so I was wondering if this was normal. All in all, I think if I tried to do exactly what the book said, mine would be worse sleepers. I also wished he had more advice on how to juggle bed time alone. My DH works 2nd, and bed time is stressful and difficult; I wish I had some advice on what to do. He also didn't give any advice on how feeding ties in with sleep schedules. To me they are directly connected, and I can't just watch for drowsy signals, because if they are due to eat in another 30 mn. they will only take a short nap, before waking up to eat. All in all I felt more confused than ever after reading this book, and I had been so looking forward to it.

 

I got my copy in the mail yesterday. We participated in this study since all my 3 kids were his patients when we lived in the US. I haven't finished reading yet. For me, I don't think it added much more than I already knew from HSHHC, and the fact that I have talked to him many times over phone or email, did make this all very familiar. I just ordered the book because we participated, not because I need it at age 2 1/2. However, I do think that for new moms this is a good, easy and smooth read. For moms who already had children and/or are very familair with HSHHC this doesn't add a lot. I did think the book was very easy to read, but I didn't think HSHHC was very bad either, but maybe because we had a head start. I think for existing moms it's more an addition to HSHHC. So, yes, it's OK and I would recommended it to new moms and/or people who didn't read HSHHC at all.

And I think it is great that there is at least something out there solely on twin sleep ... it was about time!

 

QUOTE(azucena @ Jun 16 2009, 12:32 AM) [snapback]1355720[/snapback]
He also didn't give any advice on how feeding ties in with sleep schedules. To me they are directly connected, and I can't just watch for drowsy signals, because if they are due to eat in another 30 mn. they will only take a short nap, before waking up to eat.


I think he would have said, sleeping comes from the brain, not from the stomach. I really believe (and that's my experience as well), they'll sleep when they need to, they eat when they want to. I had mine falling asleep 30 minutes before a feeding and still sleep 2 hours, pushing the next feeding almost 5 hours later ... However, when I did get a routine / schedule at around 4 months, I would schedule feedings either before and/or after nap times, simply by looking at the clock.

 

Thanks for the reviews, I guess I didn't miss much by having twins born before the book came out. I wonder why "never wake a sleeping baby" doesn't apply to twins?

 

QUOTE(aimeethomp @ Jun 16 2009, 12:44 AM) [snapback]1355741[/snapback]
Thanks for the reviews, I guess I didn't miss much by having twins born before the book came out. I wonder why "never wake a sleeping baby" doesn't apply to twins?

It basically comes down to keeping your sanity and keep them on the schedule with some leeway (30-45 minutes) which means you sometimes have to wake up the other one. But once they have a schedule, and get a little older, I would say you do go back to never wake a sleeping baby, except they aren't babies anymore at that stage ...

 

My girls are just over two months (not adjusted) and I was wondering when/how to start sleep training. The book I'm reading, 12 hours by 12 weeks, recommends waiting for the following: 1) babies are at least nine pounds 2) babies are eating 24 oz each day consistently 3) they are a certain age -- don't have the book on me to check that. I believe the age the author recommends for twins is at least eight weeks. I haven't finished the book, but it seems pretty good. You divide your day into two parts based on your schedule. The first twelve hours is "day" and the second twelve is "night". Gradually, you wean the babies off the night feedings. I'm just waiting for our girls to eat enough to tide them over for a longer time. We had a few 4 hour stretches today and that was wonderful.