We have 5 month old twins who sleep in separate cribs but the same room. Until a week ago, they went to sleep at 8ish and slept straight until 6 or 7 every night. Recently, our daughter has been waking up every morning at 4. We've tried giving her a pacifier and putting on music to get her to go back to sleep. Unless we take her out of the crib, though, she cries. Sometimes just rocking her will put her back to sleep and other times we feed her a little formula and that knocks her out. It is clear that she isn't hungry but rather has just gotten used to eating at that time. We want to try to let her "cry it out" but we're always afraid of her waking up her brother - then we'd have two babies up in the middle of the night! Any suggestions on how we can get her back on a schedule of sleeping through the night?
to help soothe my daughter back to sleep, I would rub her back with warm hands, I kept the light off and did not talk to her. She usually fell back to sleep in a few minutes and eventually stopped waking up in the wee hours. I too had another child that I was afraid would wake up from her crying, but he usually slept through it. My daughter is now 6
and I can still soothe her if she wakes up from a bad dream, by rubbing her back.
It sounds like a growth spurt. If you want to try to let her cry it out set up a play pen or pack and play in another room. When she wakes move her there and let her go back to sleep on her own.
I have twins too...you have to separate them and let her cry it out...I had the same problem with my son...and I would take him out of his crib so he wouldnt wake his sister and I would given him a feeding thinkng he was hungry. The dr. said to stop the feeding give him water instead. He didnt take the water and eventually stopped waking up. But we had to buy a larger house so we cdould separate them when they were 6 months old...good luck!
Maybe she's starting to teeth... My daughter started at 4-5 months and was 8 months before we saw the first tooth. If you think that could be it try a little Tylenol. Might be gas, try gas drops.
I have one baby (11 months) and she's has never slept thru the night, so count yourself lucky, even though it's hard right now.
Good Luck with your babies!
I have 10 mo old b/g twins and also had issues with sleeping. Do you have a portable crib? You can set it up in another area and have her use it until you break this cycle. Then, when she's back on track, move her into her regular crib near her brother.
We also used water. Start with the largest amount she typically drinks. Then, each night, reduce it by 1 oz until it's not offered or needed anymore.
Also, try to watch how much she's sleeping during the day. I read Ferber's book and he suggested total nap times- I think 5 mo. was about 2 1/2 hours. But that includes all sleeping during the day- naps- in the car, etc. When I started adding up all the min. they slept, it was way over the amount. Perhaps cutting her back a little during the day will help at night.
Don't get discouraged. Like I said, we had issues too. Then we did the Ferber method and everything was going really well for over a month. My son got sick and now we've had issues with him waking too early too (5 instead of 6:30 / 7:00). I'm going to try monitoring the daytime sleep, putting him to bed a bit later and then using the portable crib to have him in another room so we can "Ferber" again w/o waking his sister. Best of luck!
Hi R.,
It's nothing wrong with letting the babies cry. I have 6 year old win boys who are night and day. I had this problem as well and what seemed to work very well with my twins was to not try and seperate them too early. Remember that they were together in the womb for so long that they wake up afraid believe it or not, that's why when you pick the baby up she stops crying she is craving contact. Now, what i would recommend is that before you put them down for bed let them interact with each other in the same crib for a little while and then put her in her own crib. Alos, make her bottle warmer then usual (not hot) but it will sooth her and she should fall rite out.
