No Cry Sleep solution with twins

Has anyone tried to use the No Cry Sleep Solution with twins? If so, how did you manage it? Do you have two rooms, do they share a room, did it take 2 people, etd.

I really NEED to get my babies down earlier (6 months old) - when I put them down at 7:30 or 8 pm they think it is a nap and wake up 30 minutes later - we try and try to get them to go back down but usually they end up nursing to sleep one at a time in my bed where they sleep for the night. This used to work out but now they're restlessness keeps me up. Anyway, we are not willing to do CIO and I was wondering if the No Cry strategies helped anyone else.

Thanks,

Erin

 

We aren't CIO people so I read a couple of books, Baby wise, Sleep Lady Solution, and just took the parts of those books I wanted to use. My babies use to be so hard to put to sleep. They would hit cranky hour and not stop until 10 or 11 at night. It wasn't until I finally figured out they were sleeping way to late in the day. For example.

Their last nap cannot go past 5pm sometimes 4:30pm. That way they are up for 2 or 2 1/2 straight hours and ready for bed at 7pm. They get a bottle, sometimes a bath and it's down to bed at 7pm.

I also found that I wasn't really on a schedule with them during the day. So I put them on one and kept it consistent and over a couple of days it got easier.

What time is their last nap?
Do they nap well during the day?

I also tried to put them down for their naps when they were tired, but not yet asleep. That way they learned to put themselves to sleep. They would fuss at first, but know they know that when they are in their beds, its time to sleep. They are now sleeping almost through the night, with one wake up to eat at about 4am.

I hope this helps.

 

i cant help you on this one as for my girls go down for bed good at 8:30 we lay them down to bed and they will fuss for about 10 minutes then they are fast asleep.

 

Thanks for your responses.

We do have a daytime routine - it's not written in stone but it's fairly consistent.

Their naps do vary - but not by my choice. I put them down when they show signs of tiredness. They have been swaddled and have a pacifier - this has worked well and they recognize that it's time to sleep. I try to put them down when they are almost asleep. Sometimes they sleep 1 1/2 hours sometimes 30 minutes. There have been times when I get one back to sleep after 30 minutes but if they both wake up it's not possible for me to get them both back to sleep. For naps I put them in seperate beds - one playpen, one bed. Sometimes seperate rooms. Our setup is we have a 2 bedroom house with twins and 1 teenage daughter living at home. The playpen is in her room. She does not sleep in her room anymore but uses it as a dressing room in the morning (we have a room above my husband's workshop across the road that she uses as her "apartment"). I am thinking I need to set up a crib - I don't think it will fit in our room but I will try. If it won't it will have to replace the playpen.

Please tell me if you put the babies down together - mine wake each other up most of the time. Also, they usually don't fuss a little they scream bl**dy murder.

Thanks again,

Erin

 

We are having the same problem. I can't bring myself to let my 6 month olds CIO. We tried putting them in seperate cribs last week (prior to that they were sleeping in our bed) and this week we are starting them out together in the same crib. The end result is always the same - they end up waking up between 11:30 and 1:00am and come into bed with us. If I don't bring them into bed - their crying wakes up their twin. They are getting too big for this sleeping arrangement - we have talked about adding a twin bed alongside our queen to widen the sleeping area. We are going to continue starting them out in a crib - hopefully they will accept it at some point!

 

We only followed no-cry types of solutions. I do not believe in CIO (not being judgmental of those who do, just not my thing). I have never let them cry for more than a minute or the time it takes us to get to their room. Our boys have been sleeping for at least 10 hours straight since about 2.5-3 months old so it can be done! Hang in there! Here are some tips that worked for us.

1. Keep their room very dark – light can be distracting and keep them awake. We have a nightlight to provide enough light in the room for us to get around
2. Use a white noise machine to block out background noise from outside the room – we use an air cleaner
3. We put them to sleep in a crib, in their own room, since the day they came home. I figure that if they learned to sleep somewhere else (playpen, bassinet, etc), we’d have to start the sleep training all over someday when we transitioned to a crib. So we just started with the crib from day one.
4. We put them in separate cribs at 6 weeks old. I am not sure how a baby can sleep well when someone is crying in their ear all night or hitting/kicking them as they turn over.
5. We end the last nap by 4pm. If they aren’t awake yet, we wake them up. Otherwise they aren’t sleepy enough at bedtime.
6. One word – ROUTINE! We have followed the same bedtime routine, in the same exact order, every night since they came home. Now, they start rubbing their eyes at the first sign of the routine – they know it means time for sleep. We start at around 6:30/6:45 and they go to bed at 7:30/8:00pm. The routine includes: Bath, change into jammies, read a book or two, final bottle, go to crib. After the bath, we do not play anymore. We use soothing voices in low tones and keep stimulation to a bare minimum.
7. If they cry when we put them in their cribs, we take them out and rock them a bit and then put them back to the crib. No talking, no “playing”, just rocking, cuddling and maybe a little off key lullabye. We repeat this up to 2 times. If it doesn’t work, we take them out of the crib and play for another ½ hour or so until they are sleepy. Usually that’s all it takes.
8. We keep all their toys separate from their bedroom. The only things they do in the bedroom are change clothes, change diapers and sleep. They know when they go to their bedroom at night, it’s time to sleep.
9. We do have crib toys hanging on both of their cribs – they have six of them each. If they aren’t quite ready for bed, often they will quietly play with the toys until they fall asleep.
10. We make sure they are getting plenty of stimulation during their awake time. They are constantly playing, involved in activities, going on walks, going shopping and/or being entertained all day long. By night, they are tired!

Maybe we have just been blessed with two good sleepers, but I think some of the things above have helped. Good luck! I hope it gets better for you!

 

Well we did CIO so i can't help you there, but i think our night schedul lets them know its time to sleep for the night.
we start around 6pm they go in highchairs and play with cups or something while i get pj's, fill bottles, and get there sink ready for tubbies, than we have our solids and bottle. than one at a time into the tubby, new diapers and pj's, than while Dh or i take the first one to bed the other one bathes the other baby, once in nursery i sit in the glider and they get there bottle again till they are rubbing eyes and very tired, but not asleep. than a kiss on there head and into there crib. We also run a fan in there rooms over night on the floor for the white noise, we have done that since they were born.