Its me again...

So progressively getting worse my boys turn into crazy babies at night. I need someone to say this is normal or something I am having a hard time not getting any sleep. The boys sleep and eat so well during the day, but from about 10:00pm to 6:00am they barely sleep and barely eat don't want to be held, don't want the paci, and wake up like every half hour. It is making me crazy I just cried right along with them last night because I have no idea what to do. Thank god DH is home right now, but what do I do when he has to go back to work. I don't know what to do is this normal? Is there anything I can do to make this better? Please help! :unsure: Some say I should keep them up during the day, but they are so young they aren't even supposed to be born yet! If I am supposed to do that I have no idea how I can barely keep them awake to eat!

 

Sounds like they have their days and nights mixed up. Mine did too at first. The better they sleep during their naps in the day means the better they sleep at night. We do a routine. Wake up, eat, play nap..repeat..repeat, but with no play..then bath, bottle and bedtime. It took them a while, but they are on a night time schedule now. Hopefully it will last.

 

Nights are SO hard, but it will get better. I would find myself crying at night too, thinking that there was nothing fun about having two babies, and feeling guilty for thinking that. You HAVE to try to sleep during the day whenever they are both sleeping or when you have someone else to watch them. When they are this young, it will be pretty much impossible to keep them awake more during the day. I didn't nap enough b/c I wanted to spend time with my 2-year-old, then I'd get tired and want to nap, but realize it was time to nurse again. I got so exhausted, which then contributed to mild postpartum depression. So- sleep whenever you can and know that they will start sleeping more at night, hopefully soon!

Kirsten

 

My girls were the Exact same way, and you have to get "The Happiest Baby on the Block" (<--That's a link!)!! It comes in a DVD form and book version, I bought the DVD (who has time to read with newborn twins?!?!) and watched it with DH. It made a huge difference in our world!! GL!!

 

I second the rec for the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. It was VERY helpful. One thing we did when the girls were tiny was to have them nap in the living pnp. Our living room is VERY bright during the day, so even though they still slept a lot, it was different from night time. At night we put them in the pnp in our room and even when we got up to change and feed them, we kept the lights low (used the bathroom light or light from our TV- volume turned down). Also night time feedings were no nonsense. We didn't really talk to play with them, we just fed and then swaddled, cuddled and layed them back down to sleep. GL and it will get better. :hug:

 

QUOTE(Leighann @ Sep 20 2008, 04:16 PM) [snapback]989304[/snapback]
I second the rec for the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. It was VERY helpful. One thing we did when the girls were tiny was to have them nap in the living pnp. Our living room is VERY bright during the day, so even though they still slept a lot, it was different from night time. At night we put them in the pnp in our room and even when we got up to change and feed them, we kept the lights low (used the bathroom light or light from our TV- volume turned down). Also night time feedings were no nonsense. We didn't really talk to play with them, we just fed and then swaddled, cuddled and layed them back down to sleep. GL and it will get better. :hug:



I second this, we had to do this with our babies when they were first born and up until they were about 2 months old!

 

hang in there, it is normal and it DOES get better!
We followed the "adults are no fun rule" at night - we would change them, swaddle, feed, all with no interaction, no kissing, talking, hugging, playing etc. At night we always put them in their cribs (or tried),during the day we would let them sleep in the main room in their bouncy chairs, where it was a bit brighter and noisier.

Do you have any friends or family that can come over and help out in the evening time or even during the day so that you can get some sleep?

My dh and I use to take the night in shifts, I would sleep from 6pm to midnight, and then he would sleep from midnight to 6am - this worked really well because then we both got a 5-6 hour chunk of sleep.

We used a white noise machine at night and swaddled them really tight. It's ok to let a baby fuss a little bit too- we always jumped when they made a sound, and sometimes they will actually put themselves back to sleep if you leave them for a few minutes.

Big Hugs!