We survived!

Hi. I am writing because my twin girls just turned 1 yesterday.  I still can't believe we survived the 1st year!  I do have a few questions about where everyone was at about this time with their twins.  Our girls are still getting up during the night a couple of times each.  I don't know if it is because they are little or why they are getting up at night to eat?  They are 14 and 15 pounds.  We are also having a hard time getting them to drink from sippy cups.  Any suggestions?  I have tried a couple of different kinds.  I would like to try to get them off of the bottles.  Thank you for your suggestions.
 
Jen

 

Hi,

Happy Birthday to your girls! Congratulations to you as well - you did it! My kids were not waking up anymore at night at 1, so I don't know what to tell you there.

About sippy cups - we tried SO MANY types - I think about 10 different ones - and we kept buying 2 of each. They were already drinking water out of these - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HUB4UE4/?tag=mytwins02-20 - and these were great, but they refused to take milk out of them. We bought at least 4-5 different styles with straws and at least 3 styles with wholes in them - with caracters, handles, silicone - the whole isle of baby sippy cups - but they didn't like any of them.

In the end, we tried the cheapest take and toss cups you find in Walmart - something like these - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CXGQOJU/?tag=mytwins02-20

They loved these cups and we still use them now - without the tops. There's a version with a straw also - and we got those later on, but in the beginning we used these. We bought these after I read about how good they are here on Twinstuff. I think it took about 2-3 days for them to start drinking as much as they did before - but I made sure they had some yogurt or cheese in the meantime for their calcium intake. We stopped doing formula at 1 also, so the transition with bottles/sippy cups and formula/milk - was done at once - and in about 3 days they were drinking as much milk as usual.

I hope the transition is smooth for you as well. I also hope they start sleeping better at night. We transferred our kids to 1 nap a day after they turned one- around 13 months - and it was SO MUCH better for everyone. It took about a week for them to adjust to that also, and I think Max could have taken 2 naps a day much longer - but Vanessa was so bad about it - she was only taking 2 30 min naps - so after we started doing 1 nap - she was sleeping 2 - 2,5 hours at a time, that made her happier during the day and also their nighttime sleep became better. Maybe this is something to consider.

Have fun with the second year - it gets more interesting . Are they walking already?

 

Thank you for all of the advice.  They are just starting to take a few steps.  We have also cut to 1 nap to try to help with sleep.  They have also each had 5 ear infections a piece!  We go see ENT next week to see if they recommend tubes.  We are hoping that may help. 

 

At 1 my twins were STTN but at 2+ my singleton still wakes 2-5x every night. We have taken a different parenting approach the 2nd time around though which is working better for us. We bed-share with all our kids as needed to maximize sleep.

For sippies, with all of our kids, we introduced them at 6 months old so they had plenty of time to figure them out and get used to them. At a year old, you could actually just switch to open cups if you don't mind a bit of mess at first. I wouldn't worry too much about how much milk they're drinking - assuming they're eating a variety of healthy food choices throughout the week, there are many other sources of calcium and fat available to them. Keep offering the milk in a sippy and they'll figure it out. We usually offered milk with meals and had water accessible to them throughout the rest of the day.

 

I 2nd the Take and Toss cups. They are the only ones Vivi would take.

ETA - congrats!

 

Congratulations on surviving the first year!
All kids sleep through the night at their own pace, hopefully they will start STTN soon for you.  As for the sippy cups, we used the Munchkin ones with the straws-those were the ones my kids took to the best.  Sometimes you will go through several kinds of sippy cups before you find ones that they'll like.
When I took my two off of the bottles, I did it gradually, I cut a bottle a week and replaced it with a sippy cup of milk.  Good luck and Happy Birthday to your girls!

 

I remember that it took Lilah FOREVER to use a sippy cup and I had also tried lots of different types.  I think in the end I just gave up for a few weeks and fed her a bottle at the table when she ate.  When I tried again out of the blue, she knew what to do.  But it probably helped that she was in daycare seeing the other kids using their cups during this time.

 

We started sippy cups  before 1. Around 7 months. I only bought 2 sets. One Nuby set with soft spouts and another set with a hard shaped spout. They drink from either. As far as sleeping, one of my girls is a great sleeper while the other wakes 4 or 5 times. I have noticed she sleeps much better in our bed. I like my sleep so I have come to terms with her being in bed with DH and I. This too shall pass....good luck finding cups.

 

  :bday:
 
and well done to you and dad. The first year is tuff.
 
My kids were not sleeping through at 1 and in the end I used a sleep trainer.  I just wished I did it sooner.  My kids were almost 2 when I got the sleep trainer.  It was expensive but worth it! I was so sleep deprived that I could not function at work or home.
 
My kids loved their bottle of milk when they woke up in the morning and I first replaced that bottle with a sippy cup and that made the transition easier.  
 
Good luck.
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