Crying it out

Having babies on a solid, reliable schedule feels absolutely wonderful. The boys weren't on a schedule until around 5 months. Then we went home to California (3 hour time difference) for 2.5 weeks and it ruined everything. After coming back to PA they woke up every night between 1 and 2 in the morning. One usually wakes up and the other either wakes up afraid of the cries, or we have to wake him up because we can't get the first one back to sleep. It sucked. We fed them, gave them water, burped them, laid down with them... anything to put them back to sleep. They were getting used to eating in the middle of the night again, so they kept waking up.

We asked some of our other friends who have twins how they dealt with this. They swore by the method of letting your baby cry it out. So we knew it had to be done.

The first night I could barely handle it. Harrison started crying and David soon after. There is a lot of anxiety when they are both bawling because they get scared by the other one's cry so it's hard to stop it all without comforting them. Dave handled it pretty well though. He was much calmer than I was. He went into their room and started singing and held their hands. They still ultimately want to see me before they go back to sleep and I couldn't resist anyway, so I went in. I re-tucked them and gave them a toy to chew on (they don't like pacifiers - which is kind of a relief - but they'll chew on those too). They were both back to sleep within an hour I think. A long tearful hour. It was terrible. We checked every once in a while to make sure they weren't hurt or needed diaper changes but we didn't pick them up. 

The next day every nap I put them both in bed once one of them was getting tired. I didn't rock one to sleep and then let the other one get tired and rock him too. I tucked them in their cribs, gave them a toy, sang, and left the room. The less tired one cried for about 15 minutes. Then they were both asleep. That was waaaay easier! A lot less of my time taken and the boys were getting a schedule (the same one at that) and learning to go to sleep on their own. It got easier and they stopped crying so much, and now they are on a predictable schedule. They get tired and hungry at about the same times every day, and that is because I PUT them on a schedule and modify it according to their growth. You don't wait to see what their schedule is. You make it.

And that is another beautiful lesson of (twin) motherhood.

Harrison sleeping in the NICU

Another little thing: My babies sleep WAY better with noise and a warm, steamy room. When the boys first got sick the pediatrician recommended a humidifier to prevent congestion. After we got one we didn't have to pick dry boogers or syringe their noses in the middle of the night anymore. We also got the heating fixed and their room gets the warmest. It's about 75 F in their room at night and we try to always keep it above 70 in the day time. If it's below that they don't sleep as well. If your baby isn't sleeping long those are some things you should keep in mind. It works like a charm.