Scheduling

I'm sure that this question has been asked a million times before, but as a new twin mother, I am really curious as to when I can start putting my twins on some sort of a sleep schedule. Currently at 3 weeks old they sleep whenever they are tired. They are sleeping for about three hours in a stretch. During the day, I try to keep them downstairs in their pack and play or their bouncy chairs when they sleep. I feed them down their and change them. I am trying to establish that it is daytime. At night, we bring them upstairs to sleep in their crib.

I know that it is way too early to expect them to be on any kind of a schedule, but I want to know when I should start establishing good habits with them. Any experiences you have to share are greatly appreciated.

 

Mine really didn't get on any kind of sleep schedule until 4-5 months. That is when they started going down for consistent naps.

 

QUOTE(summerfun @ Oct 27 2007, 12:52 PM) [snapback]469540[/snapback]
Mine really didn't get on any kind of sleep schedule until 4-5 months. That is when they started going down for consistent naps.


Same here.. and actually at 7 months we are still working on getting a routine going because sometimes they just fall asleep on the floor in the middle of playing!

But we did what you are doing- kept them in the living room with us during the day. We had a pnp set up with a changing table. That way they got used to the noise of day. At night we changed and fed them in a dimly lit room so they knew it was night. I think that really helped us set up a bedtime routine that we still do now.. now they go to sleep at night so easily and that really is a sanity-saver for me since I know I will have some 'me' time each night after they go to sleep.

 

It was around 5 weeks that we started with a nighttime routine to further distinguish day from night. For us it was baths, pjs, then upstairs to nurse while listening to the same lullaby cd (I might rethink the cd, as I'm getting a little tired of it.) Naps are still mostly based on the amount of time they've been up, but we're beginning to get a consistent but short one around 9am.

For us, nighttime fell into place really early and has stayed pretty consistent, but daytime still feels kind of crazy.

 

Our first real scheduling thing was to try and get some sort of feeding schedule down. We tried to keep them on the every 3 hour feed as they did in the NICU. Most of the time that worked but not always. Then around 4.5 months, the morning nap appeared. So yours are a bit young for that I think...hang in there. You are in the thick of it.

 

Hi there. At that young age I did whatever I could to facilitate sleep. A few weeks later my babies started to do more crying and less sleeping...that's when I knew I had to start with some kind of routine. At 7 weeks I read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and I started to put some of the ideas from that book into place, including a proper bedtime routine and early bedtime, naps after one hour to 90 minutes of wakefulness (maximum). It took a while to get into a groove with naps (they slept better in their swings until about 9 weeks and then I transitioned them to their crib in their room. Bedtime was great from the beginning.

 

HSHHC is a good resource! One good point in that book is that babies' brains just aren't organized for predictable sleep patterns until 12-16 weeks from the due date (not birth date, in case yours came early, as so many twins do). The other good take-away point for babies the age of your twins is just to keep their intervals of wakefulness brief, so that they don't get overtired. Bedtime routines are always a good idea too. Another good thing to start now is keeping nighttime as boring as possible. Low/no light, no talking or playing, just feed, change, soothe, and back to sleep - save playing/interaction for the daytime.

As far as getting on a sleep schedule (eventually), you may find that just watching the "window of wakefulness" is more effective than trying to do it by the clock. My babies are predictably maxed out after 1.5-2 hrs awake, so that's when I put them down to nap. Actual nap times vary from day to day, depending on when they wake up in the morning and how long their naps are. One day they might wake up at 7, nap 8:30-9:30, nap again 11-12, again 1:30-2:30; another day they might wake up at 6, nap 7:30-8:30...you get the idea. As long as they get in a good amount of sleep during the day, I'm happy.

Sounds like you are off to a great start!

 

:sign0016:

It was also 4-5 months for us for a nap/sleep schedule.

 

We pretty much had a schedule set by 6-7 weeks, but I know that's early for most people. I had to go back to work when they were only 7 weeks old so I started working with them early. They now sleep 8-9 hrs on a good night! So it is possible to start young Good luck!

 

My girls kind of established their own schedule. Lucky for us they were good sleepers.
We made sure to feed them back to back (i.e. woke one up if we were feeding the other one) or at the same time, that way, they slept about the same time too. All you can do at such an early stage is try to feed them on a schedule and establish a "night-time" routine. At bout 8 weeks, that was "Bath, bottle, bed" and still is at 9.5 months. Eventually, they get the picture that nighttime is different from daytime, but you need to be feeding them through the night at your stage. Oh, during the day we did eat, play, sleep, repeat. (Play was in the bouncy, swing, or floor). At night it was just eat, and back into the crib.
Good luck!

 

We had an eating schedule set from the beginning, that we tweaked a little on the way. Their bedtime routine started at 4.5 months and naps didn't fall into place until around 6 (although I started with a routine around 5).

 

We had the 3 hourly feeds established in hosp and continued that at home. From about 2 weeks we started a bedtime routine. Massage with oil, bath, night gowns and nurse. As I was using Contented Little Baby as a guide, I stopped waking them after their 10.30pm feed around 8 weeks I think and let them decide who wanted a feed in the middle.

I'm struggling at the moment to structure the daytime naps. It all fell over once they started sleeping through the night. their afternoon naps are getting better...lunchtime naps are 5mins here and 5 mins there at the moment.

Their schedule at the moment:
7am - Nazier wakes up everyone. Both are BF and changed.
7.45am - Both swaddled and put in crib.
10.30am - BF, change and play.
12.30pm - swaddle and in cribs to sleep -this has fallen over
2pm - BF, change and play
4pm - swaddle and sleep in crib
5.30pm - BF, change and play
6.30pm - start bedtime routine, oil massage, bath, dress and nurse. Swaddle and in crib by 8 Pm.
8 Pm - swaddle and in crib
11pm - wake up, bottle feed, change and back to crib.

They boys have adjusted to the schedule and start asking for food on cue!!!

Hope the above helps.