Introducing myself and a ? about naps

Hi. My name is Nikki. I've been lurking on and off since I found out I was expecting twins. Our boys, Jory and Shea, were born in late October, full-term, and are keeping us happy and busy. We also have a five year-old daughter, Eleni, who is enjoying being a big sister. We, and our menagerie of animals, live in Southern CA.

I've been reading a lot of the forums and picking up some really good information. Our guys are getting up either once or twice a night, which I consider pretty good since they are both teething like crazy. So, nighttime is going well. Naps, however, are another matter. I can get Shea to take an 1-2 hour nap once or twice a day and some cat naps as well. Jory, on the other hand, naps for about 20 minutes and then wakes up. Sometimes I get lucky and he sleeps for 45 minutes, but that is rare. He's my squeaky wheel and needs a lot more attention than his brother. Now, if I sit and hold him all day, he will sleep longer, but that isn't very practical. I've tried swaddling (they are swaddled at night), dark room, quiet room, noisy room, the swing, the bouncer, etc. Nothing seems to make a difference. I am exhausted by the end of the day and needless to say, nothing else is getting until my husband get home. Any words of wisdom?

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone. This twins thing is a very different ballgame than a singleton! :itwins_boys:

Nikki

 

Welcome to TS! It is the best place to find info and get help!

I'm a little hazy right now...the boys have been up crying since midnight (teething here too), but you may want to try not keeping them up more than 2-2.5 hours at a time. That is about the threshold for awake time at that age.

Others on here have great nap tips and advice.

Good luck and welcome!!

 

I found that mine napped better if I just stayed out of their room. Mine have always slept in the same room, and never woke each other. But if you do have the problem of one waking the other, put one in a separate room, and just stay away--and don't go in if he is fussing. Eventually he will start sleeping longer.

 

Hi Nikki, welcome to TS!

Jake was my 'squeaky wheel', and he had reflux the worst of the two. So, wherever he slept, it had to be upright, in order for it to be longer than 20 minutes or so. Naps also got better when they were sleeping through the night. Have you tried a noise machine?

 

Welcome to TS!!! As for naps, honestly mine weren't taking good naps at 4 months. Their morning nap was pretty consistent (in that they passed out in a boppy after their morning bottle!), but the rest of the day was a cr*p shoot. Its really rough, and every baby is different, AND every *day* is different!!! One thing that worked for us was to put them in the swings. They'd fall asleep while swinging (with the music on.. ug!) and then after they were asleep I turned the swing off. That usually bought me 45 minutes. The other thing that was helpful was reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (referred to on this board constantly as HSHHC!). The author is pediatrician and has done research on sleep needs for children. He talks about looking for sleepy signals (decreased activity, rubbing eyes), and trying to put them down for a nap BEFORE they get super tired because its easier for them to fall asleep. The idea of putting them down for a nap 1 hour (or maybe 1 1/2 hours) after they just woke up), was weird to me at first, but it worked for us so I was converted! GL, congratulations on your boys, and welcome again!

 

Hi Nikki,

Welcome to TS! My daughter is Eleni as well - names after my mother-in-law. Anyway, a white noise machine worked wonders for our sleeping situation. We purchased an air cleaner and it makes great white noise - I think it helped make their naps to 45+ minutes each....if I'm lucky an entire hour and a half!

Hope that helps a little??

Athena

 

hi nikki!

welcome we were on the october twins thread on the IVFC site together! this is a great site -- sooooo helpful. we are having similar nap problems, so no advice, but i do sympathize.... i'm counting on naps getting better with time and maturity -- we'll see.....

 

Naps? What are naps???

Just kidding (sorta!). :sign0016: to TS. It's awesome!

Re: their naps. Around that age, I had to just toughen up a little and say they are going to stay in their crib for 1 hour whatever may come. If they napped, super, if they didn't, well so be it. I never had one consistently up. I just always had one that was in a "phase".

Anyways, sometimes they would fuss for most of that time but the result is that I have 2 kids who can sleep through the other one's screaming and for the most part, they nap well. I still adhere to the "you're going to be in your crib for the entire nap time one way or another" philosophy and they are 11 months old. But, now they know crying will get them nowhere so they will play instead if they choose not to nap.

I guess I don't really have any great advice but just wanted you to know you aren't alone!

 

Try music. That is how we got to STTN and lengthen naps. I don't do it anymore except wind the mobile to get to sleep but I played it constantly for a while and it seemed to lull them back to sleep when they would wake early. Also I had to seperate them for a while. I also would try going in as soon as I heard a sound to reinsert the binky and pat the back to get my DS back to sleep. THat helped for a while. I also tried feeding(nursing) my DS in teh middle when he would wake up and often he would go back to sleep. Not a good long term solution but seemed to help develop the habit. I remember 4 mo was hard as they were thrying to take 3 longer naps. Good luck.

 

Thank you for all the advice and letting me know this is pretty common at this age. My daughter was always a good napper, so this is new territory for me. I wish that Jory just fussed but he goes full-on ballistic and I am reluctant to let him CIO this young. I do use the swing (with the music - bleh) and we have a humidifier in their room for white noise. Both definitely help, but not as much as I would like. Looks like I need to read this book that I've seen referenced around the forums.

Thanks again!

Nikki

Ps. Hi Fluff! Good to see you!