Twin Mom Looking for Sleeping/napping Suggestions

My twins would only sleep in their swings too. When we started letting them cry at bedtime we stopped with the swings and put them in their cribs at naps too. Try to stick to the less than two hours awake thing and then adjust it as your babies adjust. They're gonna cry while they get used to it, but stick to it for at least a week before reevaluating. The weight limit on most baby swings is around 30 lbs, so technically you could still use them, but it will just perpetuate the problem. Good luck!

Remember that your boys were together for 9 months in the womb. They might be a little anxious apart from each other, you might try laying them in the same crib close together to see if that helps.

You are at a difficult stage and I agree with everyone else here that those swings are not helping at all. Consider them the enemy.

I'm a stay at home dad of 21 month old triplets and I got them to sleep through the night by 4 months. Some of it was luck in having good babies, but the rest was because my wife and I really pushed for them to be independent.

Nap times were all me and I always preferred the kids to sleep around 3 hours in the middle of the day. With all three of them in the same room, I couldn't guarantee they'd sleep that long, but I knew how long I would leave them in there. If they chose to play/cry/babble for an hour or two, that was fine with me. I knew that eventually they would fall asleep, and they did. After about 2 weeks of doing this, they started to fall asleep quickly and get almost 3 hours of sleep during the day.

Bedtime was very similar. We had a bed time for them of 8:00PM and we put them all down together. Initially there was a lot of crying, sometimes for two hours or more, but that two got to be less and less and then eventually they would fall asleep within 15 minutes or so.

To help them make it through the night, I fed them a full meal AND gave them between 8 & 10 oz of formula so that they had full bellies when they went down and were less likely to wake up hungry. To be sure they did start waking up every couple of hours, but unless it was a serious cry (all parents know that one) we left them be for the most part.

Occasionally my wife or I would go in and pick up the crying baby and hold him/her for about 10 minutes and get it calm and put the baby back in its crib. We wouldn't leave though, we would stand above them and lay our hand on them with the slightest amount of pressure to help comfort them. My one son loved it, the other son didn't care, and my daughter absolutely HATED that, and it didn't them long to let us know this.

Now, it wasn't always perfect, and there would occasionally be an odd baby that would wake up, but we would just let them cry and go back to sleep. Once they're sleeping consistently through the night, that will hardly happen and when it does it won't last more than 10 minutes or so (unless there is a serious problem like being sick, scared, or having a bowel movement that hurts).

Now at 21 months they still share a room and they NEVER seem to fall immediately asleep. They play with each other, sing, babble, and cry. My one son in particular must think he's giving a concert sometimes and is often up for over two hours playing and yammering away. That's his choice because he's not getting back up (which he knows) and he will not get up in the morning until it's time for all three to get up and if he hasn't had enough sleep, so be it (that's a whole other game right there!!)

My basic tenet about them sleeping, whether for a nap or the night is this;

I don't know how long you'll sleep, but I do know how long you'll be in bed!

It might sound a bit harsh, but it's effective, it's consistent, and they are getting the right amount of sleep each day.

If you need any other advice or just some support, feel free to give me a shout.

Sorry, but the only advice for you is to stop using the swing for naps. It was my biggest mistake. At 6 months this was the only way my daughter would ever fall asleep. I totally had to train her to sleep without swinging. It was really, really hard. Put them in their cribs for naps--and look for sleepy cues from them. It's going to take a little while, but it will happen. Also, stop going to them in the middle of the night. Let them fuss a little--it's not going to hurt. And yes, I did learn that poor naps are the result of poor nighttime sleep--it's all connected. I wish you luck. Wish I had more advice!

Kudos to you for reading Weissbluth's book. It turned us around completely, and our twins were sleeping through the night by 5 1/2 months (6:30pm - 3:30am which has progressed to 6:30 - 6:30 and they're 3.5 yrs now).

I breastfed my twins as well. After 5-6 weeks of absolutely no sleep, I rented a double pump from the hospital so that other people could help me with the feedings, especially when they needed to eat every 2-3 hours. It was a life saver! But, you've made it to 6 months!!!! That's AWESOME! It may also be why they're waking up - they want your smell, your closeness, etc.

It's never too late to retrain their habbits. I think the father of triplets had great suggestions. The children have to learn that nap time is nap time, bed time is bed time, etc. and once they're in bed, you're not coming back in until the sleep time is over. Ours still share a room, and there is a good 20-30 minutes of chatter each night after we leave them for bed. We think it's a great way for them to wind down and prepare for restful sleep.

They also MUST learn to sleep through the other one crying. So, if one wakes up and causes the other to wake and cry as well, it's OKAY to let them cry for a while. It's not mean. It's not neglecting them. They have to learn how to roll back over when they wake in the night and put themselves back to sleep. We used the hand technique as well - we didn't pick either one up, if it could be avoided, but we did go in and place a hand on the one that was having trouble sleeping until their breathing was soft and regular again. No talking and definitely no food though. That would really send the wrong message.

Finally, depending on where you live, search out a moms of multiples group. They typically meet once a month and have their own blogs. There's one based in Oak Park (WSMOMS) that has a YAHOO blog. I find that they have awesome suggestions and they're supportive.