Issue with Twins sleeping

Hi All -

My boy-girl twins will be 5 months on 12-27. I am having issues with my daughter's night sleep, and my son's napping.
We are able to put them to sleep between 7:15 and 7:30 with little fuss most nights.
My daughter wakes up many times at night due to the pacifier falling out of her mouth, anywhere from 6 to 10 times a night. I have tried feeding her, dressing her more lightly, more heavily, made the room even darker, used a humidifier, and now we are trying some prevacid to see if it is reflux. None of these things have worked. She doesn't eat much in the morning, so I know she is not hungry and she goes right back to sleep once I put the pacifier back in. She slept great in her car seat before we moved her to the crib about a month and a half ago, so my thought was that it might be reflux. However, it doesn't look like that is the case.
I would be willing to let her cry longer if I did not have to worry about her waking up my son. I literally just go into their room, put the pacifier back in and leave. She does go right back to sleep, but will wake up again soon after. I try not to reinforce her habit, but I know I am even though I am not staying and comforting her. She does suck on her fists when the pacifier falls out, but this doesn't console her enough to go back to sleep. I'd try giving her a lovie blanket, but am worried about her putting it over her face. They seem to like to do that.
Our pediatrician was stumped since we are concerned about waking our son up by letting her cry which is why we are trying the prevacid currently. An option, but not ideal, is for me to go downstairs to the basement guestroom and let her cry it out in the Pack N Play. My concern with this solution is that she will get unaccustomed to her crib and I will be in the room with her, so she will know I am there and not helping her, and she might be scared since it is a location she is not used to at night. The other option is to wait it out until she can put the pacifier back in herself, but that is probably not until 7 months or so.
The second issue is naps. My daughter naps great because she doesn't sleep well at night. She'll go down for two and a half hours in the morning and another two in the afternoon. I know it is because she is tired from not sleeping at night. Ironically, she does NOT wake up due to the pacifier falling out of her mouth during the day. My son does NOT nap well during the day and seems to not get tired as quickly. My daughter will be tired within less than two hours of waking, where my son is about 2 and a half - so they are not on the same nap schedule. My son will nap about a half hour and wake up either screaming hysterically or wide-eyed, babbling and smiling. I try to keep him in there longer, but he screams hysterically. I keep them separate for naps - one in the crib and one in the Pack N Play. I would like to have them sleep in the same place every time, but the reality of the situation does not allow for this, b/c they do wake eachother up during nap time since they are on different schedules.
Has anyone had similar issues?
Many Thanks and Happy Holidays! - Jen

 

Hi All -

My boy-girl twins will be 5 months on 12-27. I am having issues with my daughter's night sleep, and my son's napping.
We are able to put them to sleep between 7:15 and 7:30 with little fuss most nights.
My daughter wakes up many times at night due to the pacifier falling out of her mouth, anywhere from 6 to 10 times a night. I have tried feeding her, dressing her more lightly, more heavily, made the room even darker, used a humidifier, and now we are trying some prevacid to see if it is reflux. None of these things have worked. She doesn't eat much in the morning, so I know she is not hungry and she goes right back to sleep once I put the pacifier back in. She slept great in her car seat before we moved her to the crib about a month and a half ago, so my thought was that it might be reflux. However, it doesn't look like that is the case.
I would be willing to let her cry longer if I did not have to worry about her waking up my son. I literally just go into their room, put the pacifier back in and leave. She does go right back to sleep, but will wake up again soon after. I try not to reinforce her habit, but I know I am even though I am not staying and comforting her. She does suck on her fists when the pacifier falls out, but this doesn't console her enough to go back to sleep. I'd try giving her a lovie blanket, but am worried about her putting it over her face. They seem to like to do that.
Our pediatrician was stumped since we are concerned about waking our son up by letting her cry which is why we are trying the prevacid currently. An option, but not ideal, is for me to go downstairs to the basement guestroom and let her cry it out in the Pack N Play. My concern with this solution is that she will get unaccustomed to her crib and I will be in the room with her, so she will know I am there and not helping her, and she might be scared since it is a location she is not used to at night. The other option is to wait it out until she can put the pacifier back in herself, but that is probably not until 7 months or so.
The second issue is naps. My daughter naps great because she doesn't sleep well at night. She'll go down for two and a half hours in the morning and another two in the afternoon. I know it is because she is tired from not sleeping at night. Ironically, she does NOT wake up due to the pacifier falling out of her mouth during the day. My son does NOT nap well during the day and seems to not get tired as quickly. My daughter will be tired within less than two hours of waking, where my son is about 2 and a half - so they are not on the same nap schedule. My son will nap about a half hour and wake up either screaming hysterically or wide-eyed, babbling and smiling. I try to keep him in there longer, but he screams hysterically. I keep them separate for naps - one in the crib and one in the Pack N Play. I would like to have them sleep in the same place every time, but the reality of the situation does not allow for this, b/c they do wake eachother up during nap time since they are on different schedules.
Has anyone had similar issues?
Many Thanks and Happy Holidays! - Jen

 

Jen, Hi! Welcome to Twinstuff!!! Glad you found us....

I'm going to have to digest your post a little further to give you any real thoughts, but I am currently TOO tired and need to get to bed....

I will tell you these things quickly...

My DS and DD were separated for naps for several months before I put them back together and they were together for night time...no problems!!

I also let them cry in the same room. Believe it or not, they learn to sleep through the others cries....

I'm not a big fan of CIO till 6 mos., but my pedi said it was fine at 4 mos....it was just me

You have to do your VERY VERY best to get them on the same schedule. You'll have to keep DD awake a little longer and put DS down a little earlier to have them meet in the middle somewhere. (You can probably worry about this LATER in a month or so)

I TOTALLY recommend Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, Weissbluth> for sleep training. Loved it!!

The other thing. Is that there are a bunch of resources in a "sticky thread" (A bold thread at the top of the forum that doesn't move). Why don't you check through some of that for ideas.

The pacifier thing is a mystery to me. Mine gave it up before 3 mos. they never really took to them.

DO THEY HAVE GOOD HEAD CONTROL? DO THEY ROLL BOTH WAYS ON THEIR OWN? if so, I would let them have a small something to grab onto instead of paci....that's just me - again....

I'll see if I can think of more, but I am beat!! Good luck tonight!

 

Jen, can you separate them for a little bit til you get her to stop waking so much? My twins usually do sleep through each other's cries, but I don't know if they would that many times.

If you can separate them, that could work for a little while.

 

Just a thought...if she was sleeping in the car seat she was sleeping more reclined. Perhaps you can roll up a towel and put it under the top of the crib so she is more reclined. Perhaps laying flat to sleep is not as comfortable for her.

 

What about moving your son out of the room at night for a little while so your daughter can CIO in her crib?

Naps, I'm no help. Mine aren't really on the same schedule either.

 

I let mine CIO a bit, and it doens't seem to bother the other one. Try it one night and just see what happens. There is always the next night to change back!

 

Thanks Ladies!!! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you! All the advice was very helpful & I appreciate your taking the time to write back. I can't wait until I can help with some advice!! Happy Holodays everyone! - Jen

 

No advice but neither one of my babies sleep well. DD is the same with the paci but ds will wake immediatley if it falls out but he won't suck it enough to keep it in. I'm going out of my mind getting up 10 times an hour. They have to start sleeping better right some time soon? They are so restless that I have tried so many things and nothing is working.