No sleep at night :(

I am a walking zombie. My girls are 5w3d old now. They take 3 hour naps during the day. Then they have 1-2 hours of wake time before the next nap. So virtually they are on a 3 hour schedule during the day.

However, at night I am up every two hours feeding one and then the other and sometimes both at the same time. My Olivia tends to sleep a bit longer, but my Peyton wants to eat every 2 hours. They generally don't wake up and don't get hungry at the same time...and I have had several nights lately where I get in my bed for a quick 45 minute nap before one of them wakes up.

When will they start to want to sleep more at night and eat less at night? Should they be doing that already or am I rushing it?

My nights go like this:
Put them both down at 7:00 (or 8:00 or 9:00 depending on their last nap)
Peyton wakes up at 10:00ish- fed her and put her down....she wont go down
10:30 try to feed Olivia...she wont budge.
11:00ish Olivia is ready to eat.
12:30 Peyton is up
1:30 Olivia is up
2:30 Peyton is up
and on and on...

Help me!

 

My two are almost 5 weeks old and I have the same problem. Mine typically don't stay up for 2 hours during the day though. I sometimes get an hour from them and then sometimes they eat and go right back to sleep. If one wakes up to eat we feed them both, but sometimes DS just won't eat. (And we've done the cool cloth, touching their face, taking clothes off- he doesn't care!) And then an hour later I'm up with him.

It's driving me crazy.

So all that to say, I don't have answers for you, but know you are not alone!!

 

Lots of hugs, you are in a really tough place right now. It does get better and they will start sleeping more, I think it was 8 weeks when they started going 4 hour stretches at night, then slowly 5, and by 12 weeks DS is sleeping through the night and DD is only up for one bottle. Can your DH help at all. During the grueling weeks 6-10 my DH would take one baby at night and I the other, that way we each would get a few 3-4 hour stretches of sleep (on a good night).

 

I was doing night feeds by myself from Day 1. You are in the sucky stretch right now.

At 7 weeks, in an attempt to regain my sanity, I began waking the sleeping twin to feed. At first I felt guilty like I was interrupting their sleep but it was necessary. They started settling down after feeds a lot better at this point as well but they were still eating every 2 to 2 1/2 hours and eating for about 25 minutes. I was tandem breastfeeding and found if I kept them swaddled to feed, they settled down better. I would try to keep them awake enough to eat but drowsy enough to fall asleep (no lights, quiet room etc).

At 8 weeks, I switched to bottle feeds of 1/2 formula, 1/2 EBM and that meant they only took about 15 minutes to feed plus a quick diaper change if needed.

At 10 weeks, I got my first 3 hours stretch.

Now at 14 plus weeks, my girl sleeps through from 10:30pm to 5am but my boy is still struggling through the 1-3am period without a feed. He doesn't need the feed but was habituated to it.

It will get better, it just doesn't seem like it right now!

 

First off, I want to say that it does get better. My boys are sleeping all night from 8:00-5:00 and I feel like a whole new woman. It will happen. I know that is no solace at this point, but just keep in mind that it will get better.

That said, it sounds like your twins are pretty normal. My boys were like that in the beginning. Sometimes they slept all day long and only woke to feed. It was a nightmare at night.


Is there any way that DH could help you out? My DH and I did shifts starting at like two weeks because we quickly figured out that I could not do it on my own. I would go to bed at like 8:00 p.m. and he would stay up to do the midnight shift and then put them in their bed, and usually I got to sleep until 2:00-3:00 a.m. It wasn't great, but it helped me to function.

Also I would try and get your twins on the same schedule. My boys always ate at the same time. If one woke up, I always woke the other one to eat. That way I sometimes got some two hour stretches.

I hope things get better for you soon.

 

Most babies tend to turn things around after 6 weeks. Mine took a little longer, I know it is really hard and I totally remember that walking zombie phase. I felt so wired all the time so even when I had the opportunity to sleep I couldn't, and just totally physically exhausted at the same time. :hug99: My best advice (I had such a hard time doing this) is if you don't have other children, SLEEP WHEN THEY SLEEP! You never think a couple hours will make a difference but it does. Also all of the housework can wait they are in this phase for such a short period of time so all of the things you think you have to do while they are sleeping just forget them. Good luck and hang in there.

 

You described it well----walking zombie. I was SO phenomenally exhausted from being up with mine all night (almost every hour...two hours if I was lucky) and then having to get up at 6:30 with my toddler every morning I wept. It was awful. But it does end. Mine weren't particularly good sleepers in the beginning. They didn't go four hour stretches until they were at least 3 months. by 5 months they slept 7-8 hours, and now they sleep 12 hours. It was a rough road. Nap whenever and wherever you can. I can't count the number of times I fell asleep on top of a load of laundry while trying to fold it those early months! You will get through it!

Reyna

 

I'm so sorry, please know that it will get better. Mine were on a simliar schedule at that age and I honestly thought I was going to lose my mind. I was so overwhelmingly exhausted from being up all night and having an active toddler (2 yr old) to tend to, it was AWFUL. I ended up getting really, really, sick and being hospitalized for almost 2 weeks with bacterial pneumonia and pleurisy when the twins were 4 weeks old. I remember very well when they slept in their first 4 hour stretch (about 6 weeks) and their first 5 hour stretch (7 weeks) and then 6 hrs, etc. I started crying when they did this for the first time as I honestly didn't think they ever would.

They started sleeping in really long chunks of time (10 hrs plus) at night around 6 months and now, at 10 mo, they regularly sleep from 6 pm - 6:30-7 am. I owe it all to the techniques in HSHHC - but I really didn't start working on getting a schedule together until around 3 months or so.

Good luck and please know that it will get better....((((hugs)))))

 

I could definitely use more sleep too, but mine are at least only waking every 2.5 to 3 hours so I am getting some sleep. Here are a few things I am doing that might help. Although I don't have a schedule during the day, every evening I feed them both as much as I can at 9pm. Then, at 11pm I give each of them a bath and feed them again as much as possible. They usually don't wake again to eat until about 2 or 3 am. Also, DH and I have a rule that when you get up because one baby is crying, you have to feed them both. Even if you can only get an ounce in, I take the other baby out of the crib and feed her as much as she'll take.

Otherwise, they've gotten a lot better recently. They have gotten a lot better about going right back to sleep after they are fed. For awhile I thought I was going to lose my mind because they were waking every 1.5 hours or so. It will get better!!!! I know exactly how you feel. I've found that they are starting to become more alert now during the day and they are awake for longer stretches - I think it's helped a lot.

 

I have to agree with the other posts that this is a very hard time. But it will only last a little longer and then they will begin sleeping longer stretches. I actually woke my girls up at the same time to feed because if I didn't, then one would wake up an hour after I put the other down. This really helped a lot to just go ahead and get both feedings over and put them back down together. I actually got a couple of hours sleep this way instead of 30 or 45 minute stretches.

 

It does get better! I was like you and it was SOOO hard! I decided to take control of the situation. Someone told me to try and keep them up for awhile late evening. I kept them awake as late as I could, then I would put them in their crib together. When one woke up to eat, I'd wake of the other to eat too. It was the ONLY way I could get them on the same schedule and it worked beautifully. They started sleeping thru the night at 2 months old. They are now 5 months old, sleeping 10-12 hours a night.

 

I am having the same problem with Emily and Zachary(4 weeks today). At night they like to tag team me, and then sometimes both of them will stay up. Most of the time after we been up for awhile we fall asleep in the chair, until the next feeding time. They are eating about every 2-3 hours. I can not wait for them to sleep more. Since my mom left on Monday and I was about in tears on when my DH came home that day, after we eat and it is time for my older two to go to bed I go and take a nap and he watches the twins. We will see how long that last but it is nice right now. Everyone says it gets easier when they get a little older, I can't wait.

 

hang in their all of you, it is a difficult stretch and up till 4 months i felt like that. It does get better and the only advice i can give is the get as much naps in whenever you can (you when they are asleep) and the get and accept as much help as possible. It is alot of work with twins specially in the beginning, but the rewards later is so fantastic.