We have made it thru the first year!

Hi Everyone-

WE MADE IT!! Didn't think we would get thru with all the sleep deprivation! And IT WAS A year!!

Our DD2 was a projectile vomiter for the first 2 months and spent a lot of money to see a specialist to find out we needed to change her formula...went from milk based to soy to Nutramigen. (very expensive, but so worth it!)So, don't be afraid to try new formulas.

Also, our DD2 was "diagnosed" with colic. We ended up co-sleeping with her so we could get some rest. I was scared to do the co-sleeping and then I went to the store for some wedges to separate us and found that a portable changing pad was just what we needed. It had re-moveable/velcro wedges to move and there was no way we would roll over the wedges and not wake up. We put a crib sheet over it and we felt much better about co-sleeping with her.

Since making bottles is a pain, especially at night, we came up with a system:
fill bottles with water, set a glass measuring cup near the bottles, and the formula-
we would get up, pour water in measuring cup, microwave the water...never more than 10 seconds... and I recommend experimenting to find out how long. I think it was 7 seconds for 1 oz, and 9 seconds for two oz...but we have a small microwave. Then add the scoops of formula. This sped up our feedings and got us to sleep quicker.

The sleep deprivation...SUCKS! There is no other way to describe it. I love my daughters, please don't get me wrong, but they get to take naps during the day...us, NOPE! I seriously would be a walking zombie some days, not knowing how I was going to make it thru! And then lack of sleep messes with your emotions. Oh, there were days I would cry when I dropped something. It just really gets to you. And, did I mention, they are still NOT sleeping thru the night! I have one that sleeps, and one that doesn't.

Here is what I have found about my girls that I was concerned about, but now realize they are just different:

DD1
Eats almost anything
still crawls
"talks" says "more"
sleeps thru the night (mostly)
first to roll, last to crawl
DD2
very picky
been walking for 2 months
would rather sign what she wants
is not a good sleeper...sometimes wakes up every 2 hrs
last to roll, first to crawl

And they do start to hurt each other! My girls have recently started to bite one another, or hit or try to headbutt each other to knock the other down. I have NO idea where they are getting this from!

Although I made it...I'm still struggling with getting them to sleep without a bottle. It was a "bad" habit we did to get some rest and now we are trying to break them of it, so if you have any advice for me...please let me know! It's so much harder when you have two, because you don't want them to wake the other.

Good luck and take it one day at a time.
Nicole

 

HI Nicole,

Happy Birthday to your girls and congratulations to you as well!!! You made it! I think it would be more useful to post your questions in the second year forum, there are a lot of people who already went through the same thing... including me.

My kids were used to go to sleep with a bottle also, a habit I promised myself I will break but didn't... So here we were, they turned one, they were getting a bottle to go to sleep each night. I was SO FED UP with making bottles, I couldn't wait to get rid of formula and bottles. So the day after their birthday, when we finished that last can of formula, we gave up bottles. We switched them on sippy cups and regular milk. They weren't too happy about it, but we kept offering it to them, and after 2-3 days they got it somehow and now they drink milk out of sippy cups. We tried several sippy cups, but they accepted very easy the Take and Toss ones - the cheapest ones they sell in Walmart - I got them after I read about them here on twinstuff. I think before that we tried 6 different sippy cups and 2 different straw cups and none worked. They were drinking water from a straw cup since they were 8 months, but they refused to drink milk out of the same style cup. Those days when they were not drinking the milk, we made sure they had plenty of water, we offereed it to them more than usual and also we made sure they had more yogurt and ricotta cheese or cottage cheese for their calcium intake. We kept offering the milk but we didn't make a big drama if they refused it, we just gave them water instead. Anyway, they got used to it in 3 days or so. The dr told me they need about 15-20 oz of milk at this age, so they drink 3 sippy cups of milk a day, and if they don't finish them, we don't pressure them, they also have yogurt so they are OK.

About going to sleep at night, my good sleeper, Max couldn't care less, I just put him in his crib and he slept. We had to fight with Vanessa, she is a night owl anyway. It took about 2 weeks for her to start falling asleep well, and at times we still have issues with her falling asleep, it may be because she was conditioned to sleep by the bottle... but it's getting better and we used to have issued with her falling asleep before also. It helped a lot to have the music box on to distract her, she's looking at that listening to the music and falling asleep. Also at times she's getting up to push buttons and since she's up she's throwing stuff out of her crib and then starts crying, but that's another story... A lovey blanket helped with that too. We also have a noise maker that makes the sound of rain, we keep that on as well, I think that helps too.

Good luck getting rid of the bottles, I am glad we did it.

 

Wow! You and your husband rock! No bottles? That is awesome! I have had my fair share of bottle cleaning and I really want to be done too! I had to laugh when you said the "take and toss" cups because those seem to be the only ones my girls will take too! I bought the fancy ones, the hard tops, soft tops...and they take the toss ones!

We have started to take the bottles away before they are actually asleep. Addy doesn't seem to care, Kaylyn on the other hand screams bloody murder. Of course, then she wakes Addy and we have to start "over" again. I'm debating keeping Kaylyn in a separate room until we wean her off the bottle. I thought about giving her a nuk, but I don't think we are making life easier with that either. For Kaylyn, I have started to take her bottle away and give her water in a bottle...maybe I will try sippy cup instead. (She's not a huge fan of plain water, so I'm hoping she will eventually give up the water bottle.)

So to clarify you started to give them sippy cups for bed? Did you let them have them in bed or was it cold turkey? We have a sitter during the day and I'm not sure how/when to have her do this as well...only 1 set of hands. Might have to put one down earlier than the other.

Thanks for the advice...I will talk with my husband about doing sippy cups only!!
Nicole

 

Hi Nicole,

I realized I wasn't clear enough when I explained it to you. We stopped giving them bottles at all and they got the sippy cups as the snack before bedtime. We put them in their high chairs in the kitchen, we gave them a slice of bread and ricotta cheese, after that a sippy of milk - or water in the beginning. And then we went upstairs, bath, low lights, shushed them, gave them their lovey blankets, noise machine on... and left them hoping for the best. Max fell asleep right away, we had issues with Vanessa for about 2 weeks to fall asleep, when she was starting to cry, or throwing stuff out of the crib... Lately she's been better but she still wakes up at times. Many nights I ended up taking her in our bed to avoid her waking him up. Also, I separated them couple of nights, she ended up sleeping in the pack and play in the guest room for the same reason. I should mention my kids still use pacifiers, and I know I should take those away also, but I am afraid for now.

I realize it's not the end of the world to be drinking from a bottle at 1, but for us I think it was better. My parents say I used to drink a bottle at night until I was 3, and I think that's way too long. They kept trying to take it away but I was asking for it... So that's the reason I wanted to get rid of the bottles, I didn't want to give the twins the opportunity to ask for bottles. Also my teeth come out in the front, I really think it's because I had a bottle for so long, it's not genetics, my parents' teeth are fine.

Good luck, I know it's not going to be easy, but I hope it will be worth it.