About to start sleep training, have a few questions

eden/averymum · #1 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 06:03 PM

Hi! I have 7 and a bit month old twins, they are now 6 months corrected age. I plan to start sleep training soon, they have a cold right now and are getting their immunizations on the 22nd, as soon as they recover I'd like to attempt to regain some control of my life!

a little background.....they sleep in separate cribs, in our room. A few weeks ago they would go to sleep after being put down drowsy as long as they had their pacifiers and their loveys. Only about 25% of the time the would fuss and a that was usually resolved with giving the lost paci, maybe some pats on the back, or possibley being picked up and rocked again for a few minutes (until drowsy again), occasionally I had to go back two or more times. In the last week or so things have totally fallen apart and I hvae been spending almost as much time getting them off to sleep as I did when they were just a few months old and at that majorly fussy age.

I would like to establish a daytime nap schedule, I have been reading Weisbluths book and I like the way he outlines things, to watch baby and the clock, have a naptime routine and lay baby down and leave her. the thing is...I don't think I can leave them to cry for an hour, or even 10 minutes! Is there any other way? What about the Ferber method? I have heard of it but don't know much about it.

Is it better to leave night sleep as it is while I establish a day schedule? Tackle everything at once? Deal with night first? My girls take 30-60 minute naps3-4 times a day and go to bed at about 7pm, they nurse every 2-3 hours through the night and are promptly returned to their crib. They used to just flop over and go straight back to sleep but now are sometimes staying awake and can take hours to get back asleep. I am not sure whether or not they really need to nurse at night as it is pretty half hearted but they get really pissy if you try to deal with the wakings any other way.

So my issues are
Not going to sleep on own, requiring a great deal of soothing
Very broken night sleep
NO schedule, completely on demand napping.

What would you suggest i deal with first and how do you suggest I deal with it without an hour of screaming?

phew...that was long. thanks.

Oh, I'll add, I plan to keep a sleep log for the time leading up to starting sleep training.

Kristen02 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-12-2005, 08:54 PM

I think you should work on the night sleep first, because the success happens more quickly than day sleep. It's just more encouraging to start with the easier one first. The nursing is a bit excessive. It sounds like they are wanting to nurse after every nighttime sleep cycle because they don't know any other way to fall back to sleep. This is the reason they protest if you don't nurse. The reason behind sleep training is to teach your children to fall asleep and stay asleep on their own. It's not easy listening to them cry, but every sleep training method has some crying involved.

The ferber method- You can do scheduled checks during the crying-you would check after the first 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, etc. You would be there, but you wouldn't pick up or hold the babies, just show them you are there and leave the room until the next check. Some babies respond well, and others get really worked up over it. They are going to expect to be nursed, so it's better if you have someone else (dh) who can go in the room for the checks. You would do this until the first scheduled feeding. This generally takes more nights than "extinction", which is Weissbluth's method of not going in at all until a feeding, but you need to do what you feel most comfortable with.

At their age, the first feeding should occur 6 hours after going to bed, and 4 hours for each additional feeding. The halfhearted nursing tells you that they aren't hungry, and the excessive wakings can lead to chronic overtiredness leading to more nightwakings. It's a vicious cycle.

Even though you may be starting night training, you can still get a nap routine started . Do the same thing before every nap everyday. At this age, the first nap should occur about an hour and a half after first waking in the morning, and each additional nap two hours after that. This is just a guideline, but I know those who have twins like to get them on the same schedule of course. In another month or so, they will probably be able to stretch another 30 minutes for each naptime. Until you start naptraining, you should do whatever you normally do to get them to sleep.

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask

.

eden/averymum · #3 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 05:52 AM

Thanks Kristen. Does bedtime count as part of day sleep or night sleep? Anf if it is day sleep, than I should continue to put baby to sleep as I have been, and if it is night, then whatever training method I choose?

flipper · #4 (**permalink**) 09-13-2005, 11:11 AM

I am having some of the same problems with naps and bedtime not putting herself to sleep although i dont think i can control her naps during the day at daycare.
The book i am reading is called The Baby Whisperer and the author reccomends the PU/PD (pick up/put down) method. If the baby wakes up during the night, attend to her right away and shush or pat her, if she continues to cry pick her up but set her back down right away not a moment longer. They need to put themselves back to sleep and they should not be hungry. If they cry for a long time they will begin to feel hungry and wont be satisfied until they eat. If they are hungry during the night they are not getting enough to eat during the day.
I guess you are supposed to continue this til they get a hang of it. She also tells you to cluster feed them before bed (feed them like at 6 and 8pm) and then dream feed them at around 10 or 11pm (feed them while they are sleeping) then they should sleep through the night.
I dont stay up past 10pm so i dont know how that will work for me.
I am going to try the PU/PD thing tonight, we will see how it works.
Sorry this is so long. Do you think it could work?