How I got my TWINS to sleep through the night!
First of all…. I do not claim to be some sort of baby whisper, baby guru, or baby specialist! I am a mom who was desperate for sleep and sanity, to achieve this my twins had to start sleeping through the night! I'm not going to preach to you that it was easy, stress free, or without tears, because it wasn’t. It's difficult and heartbreaking, but it's beyond worth it! Since my twins have slept through the night I feel more in control and at ease in my life! It is truly amazing! I have also expressed to you guys before, that it has been hard to bond with my twins, now I feel like I am able to enjoy them more and and bonding has become much easier.
When my twins were first born I started the Baby Wise sleep training method right away. Along with that I also made sure they were always on the same schedule, if one was up they both were up, if one was feeding they both were feeding! When they turned 12 weeks I was done with waking up! I had heard about the book 12 Hours by 12 Weeks, so I bought it on audio tape, because I'll be honest I haven’t had a lot of time to read lately. I loved the book and thought it had so many great points! In order to do it though your babies must be nine pounds, fortunately I had just gone to their three month check up and they were both over ten pounds, so I decided it was TIME! I knew it was going to be brutal, but again like I said before I was DESPERATE!
So I set a schedule and said that I would be sticking to it! I would put my babies to bed in their room at 7:30P every night, and would wake them up at 7:30A every morning to make sure they got used to being in their crib for 12 consecutive hours. Before bed I would prep them with a bath, lotion, clean diaper, clean pajamas, a tight swaddle, and a warm bottle. I would feed the twins their bottle then put them to bed with a kiss good night, their sound machine, and lights out! Then I would see how long they could go. For example, if they went to 2:30A that would be their new time that I would not feed them until. I did this for three nights, even if they woke up before 2:30, and they did, I wouldn't feed them until then. This is where it gets hard, if they woke up before then I would walk in tell them I love them, set my alarm for 15 min, and repeat until it was 2:30. After three nights of doing this, I then said they would have to go to 3:30. I would do this for three nights, again repeating all the things I did before, and for sure not feeding them till this time. I bumped it up an hour every three days until I got them to the desired time that I wanted which was in the 7:00A hour.
When I write it down and read it back, it sounds a lot easier than it was. Let me assure you that is not the case, it was extremely difficult! There were so many nights I wanted to give in and give them a bottle, pick them up and hold them tight. But I knew if I endured a few weeks of pain the outcome would be totally worth it! A tip to help you survive the extended crying, set your alarm for every 15 minutes, go in tell them you love them, pat them and tell them everything is going to be ok! Remember this is way harder on you, than it is on them! They will not remember any of this, the only thing they will take from it is becoming a fabulous sleeper, and because of that they will have a nicer MOMMY! And we all know the old saying... "IF MAMMA AIN'T HAPPY NOBODY'S HAPPY!"
Again, I want to let you know up front that this will be difficult, but I assure you it will be worth It in the end for you and your family. I am the happiest I have been in a long time, and I know it is because I am getting the appropriate amount of sleep needed to be able to function through out the day! I love my twinners and am so happy I am done with the sleep training part! I hope this is helpful to any of you going through this. Please feel free to message me with any further questions or comments you might have. What works for me and my family might be completely different for you and your family, but in the end we are all Mom's just doing the best we can.
I have linked both books below in case you are wanting further reading!
xoxo, JayCee
