Need Help with Changing Twins Routine

hi S. i really dont have any advice to help cause i only have one child but i just wanted to give you props. i dont know how you do it. i would be going absolutely crazy:) so good job! and good luck!

Well, you can start off my pushing the nap back to 1:00pm if they wake up at 8am. I would start there & also I would get them fed at the same time. (I had twins & then one more...) I worked really hard to get the twins on the exact same schedule. It made a huge difference in my life. Also, do they have a toy they love? You can keep a toy as a "bed" toy - only to have while in bed, that they can't take out. That helped me to get them to enjoy going to bed.

first of all, if they are still taking bottles, they are plenty capable to hold their bottles themselves... have you though about weaning them of their bottles as well?
secondly, try letting them cry it out. they need to learn eventually to soothe themselves

As a mom of 2 1/2 year old twin girls, I know exactly what you are going through. The only thing that I can say is to be tough. My girls go to bed at 8 and sleep until 7:30 or 8 in the morning, with one nap at 1. They are in bunks, and have been for 8 months now. It took me a little over a week, but I have finally gotten them to just lay in bed and put themselves to sleep. The first couple of days, I would stand/sit in their room and sing to them. As it got easier, I would move farther and spend less time in their room. Now it's perfect. Just don't give in to them, and let them learn that you aren't always going to pick them up and rock them to sleep. I know it's not easy, but it makes your life so much easier in the end!!! Good luck!

I think you may be running into problems because you are rocking them to sleep. All of us, kids & adults, wake in between sleep cycles. If we are used to having something to get us to sleep (like rocking), we will have a hard time going back to sleep without it. It could be that without that, your twins are waking after one sleep cycle and don't know how to get themselves back to sleep. The book that saved my life & my sister's life is "How to Solve your Child's Sleep Problems" by Ferber. It does involve a little crying, but it is minimal and works amazingly well. What you do is have a set routine for bedtime/naptime. Then put the child in their crib & leave the room for just 1-2 minutes. If your child is still crying, go in & comfort them but DON'T pick them up. After a few minutes, leave again for 3-4 minutes & come back in & comfort again. Leave again for longer intervals each time. The first few times may take awhile, but it quickly gets shorter & shorter until - usually within a week - you can just put the child in the crib & they go right to sleep. Combined with regular schedules & putting the kids down when they are sleepy but not overtired, this method works wonders. Good luck!

You probably need to lay them down earlier. Probably 11. Give them a snack, then put them down for naps and give them lunch afterward. They might not be ready to be awake from 8 to noon. It won't take long, tho. By 18-20 months they will be able to stay up until noon. When my daughter went down to one nap this winter, she still was going down about 10 or 10:30, sleeping till 1 at the latest, then going to bed at night by 6 or 6:30. But gradually, I moved her nap to 11, then 11:30, then to noon. Now, she's 2 (in a week) and goes down for a nap at 12:30 or 1. I'm trying to get it closer to 1 because I will soon have to drop her brother off at school at 12:45. But the point is, right now they are probably not ready to be staying up till noon. Try laying them down earlier and see if they nap longer.

Hi! I have 11 month old twins and what I do, is get them both fed first, they both wait up until they are both fed. I then put them both down as I sing a song, sometimes I rock them both and read to them. If you want one on one with them individually I have also read and then sang to one and put her to bed, then do the same with the other. But that only takes a few minutes, so they essentially are done at the same time. I think you have done yourself a disservice (and them too) by having to rock them to sleep. At some point you are going to have to let them cry, so they can learn how to put themselves to sleep. I know everything is twice as hard with twins (they are my #4&5) but you can do it. I know mine are changing their schedules right now and it is soo hard, because I feel like we just got them on a schedule! Good luck, I know you can do it!

i think it's great that you don't feed your babies to sleep. i also think an hour long nap is sufficient enough. however, you can try getting your kids to be more active before the nap to try to wear them down. or even move their nap to a later time and progress towards an earlier nap

Are your twins walking yet?

Here's what I do with my twins...First I have them in big beds already. I put them in big beds at 15 months, but that is different for each parent. I feed them lunch at the same time, then I have them go upstairs together, have them get into their beds, and then I turn on a music box for each of them. Since mine are boy/girl twins when we moved them to big beds we put them in separate rooms. For some reason the music box soothes them to sleep whereas a radio doesn't. If they get up just tell them that it is nap time and take them back to their bed. It's okay to have them scream,if you don't pick them up and soothe them, they will know that that is what they have to do and they will do it. Just go in every 5 minutes or so and say it's okay, mommie's here, time to go night-night, or whatever you want, but don't touch and pick them up. It'll take about 3 times and they'll get it.

Good Luck, I know how hard it is and how wonderful it is to have twins :)

If I were you, I would try to teach them to fall asleep on their own as soon as possible. The longer they need you to get them to sleep the harder it's going to be. I used to help my oldest go to sleep all the way up past his being a year old and we STILL have sleep issues with him and he is 5! We changed things with our others and just let them fall asleep on their own at younger ages and we don't have half the sleep issues with them that we have with our first. Once you get them to learn to fall asleep on their own it should be easier to get them to sleep at the same time, meaning longer naptimes for you:)

I don't have experience with twins but maybe you should not be actually rocking them to sleep. They are old enough to self sooth and put themselves to sleep. I would reccomend feeding them lunch at the same time and putting them in their cribs at the same time, maybe with some board books and say "It's quiet time" and create a nice quiet environment. I have a classical music CD I always played for my daughter that signaled sleep time. It is so OK for you to have them in their cribs like this for at least two hours, you need a break! I have a friend who has twins and she said she would just sometimes put them in their cribs, close the door and watch Oprah in her basement! Remember the airplane analagy, give yourself oxygen first so you can better take care of your kids! You are doing great!

They are old enough to feed themselves to some degree. Go to garage sales for another highchair, or even better go get a very cheap ($14) at target a booster that attaches your kithcen chairs and put both of them to the table to eat. At 16 mos they shouldn't need a bottle or have one anymore (dental and dependency reasons) so you should set them up to the table with bite sized foods, a sippy cup and feed them at the same time.
You cannot make them sleep longer. Some kids give up naps earlier then others too. Also rocking them to sleep is setting yourself up too big time too as you have to put them down awake and teach them to soothe themselves to sleep. That may help you out a ton!

Let them scream, walk out at naptime, make sure the room is dark and cool and just walk away. If you can put them in seperate rooms so they don't bother the other too.

I also have twins. What works for me is this: instead of putting them in cribs for naptime, I lay down with them on my bed and feed both of them their bottles at the same time. You can always try moving them to their cribs once they fall asleep or just play it safe and let them nap on your bed instead. Good luck.

Oh Honey, you have made it alot harder on yourself. I tell everyone. Make milk by the gallon and do everything on the floor. I went from 3 hours down to 1 by doing that. My twins are now 21, but what helps is to do these simple steps. Take the milk from the fridge and run straight hot water in a pan in the sink. Put both bottles in the pan and go to the floor and start changing diapers, etc. by the time you get both of them changed and ready for their bottle the milk should be warmed enough for them. Always testing it since everyones water temperatures are different. Then I went back to the floor. Layed them both down beside my legs, so they were touching me always, started feeding them, I would prop one bottle on my legs when I would pick one up to burp her, then traded with the other one, until their milk was gone. I then could pick them up for rocking, but remember if you start rocking them to sleep, they will need it more often than not, it is best to elevate one side of their bed (especially at this age), lay them side by side, because they are their best companions and let them go to sleep on their own. Don't get me wrong, I cuddled and coddled them, but at nap/bed time, they need to learn that when you put them in the crib thats what they are to do. When the girls got bigger, I elevated the crib lenght-wise. We only had one crib for them. I'm confused as to why you are changing their nap time. With all of children, single and doubles, I let them nap at 10:00am and then after lunchtime or between 12 & 1 they went down again and they slept for about 2 to 3 hours every afternoon. This allows you the break more than once in a day and it helps them in their growing. Babies grow more when they are sleeping. Good luck with your twins, I hope you have help. haha! Be consistant in what you decide to do and they adjust better to every day tasks. Kay

if they are moving around in their crib instead of sleeping this may help: I put my son in a rocking chair that i strap him into - a car seat may work too, I use a fisher price rocking chair and it is comfortable for him. That way he was not able to stand up and cry, so the only alternative is to sleep. He actually calms down easier when I put him in it because he knows he can sleep in there. I'm not sure if he knows why he can sleep in there and my husband really didn't like it at first, but it worked. Then I transitioned him to falling asleep in a crib, but I still keep the rocking chair there for times when he has trouble falling asleep. I know if he cries for a while in the chair it's because he's really not tired, or he's hungry, thirsty, poopy or hot. I don't know if separate rooms might help - the Fisher Price rocking chair I bought is really lightweight and would be very easy to put in different rooms. Ok, here it is, the infant to toddler rocker: http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_tr...=

I got mine on clearance at Wal-mart, but there seem to be some good deals on eBay.

Anyhow, my son is very big for his age (14 mos) and he still fits in it and sleeps for a few hours.

good luck!

What time do they go to bed at night? I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but when my daugthers naps were too short, I started putting her to bed earlier (6:30) and she started sleeping 12 hours at night and taking a full 2 hour nap. I got this idea from Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child

I am not sure if you will want to try this but here goes. My daughter was about 14 months when I changed her whole routine to see if I could get her to sleep though the night. I have a friend who told me to start a routine like read a story or sing a song, tell her is was bedtime/naptime and then place her in her crib, she then said for me sit in the middle of the floor so she knew that I was still there. When you children are ok with that then move closer to the door, continue to do that until you are out of the door. When she told me this I too thought no she is going to cry so much I knew that I could not handle it so I went strat for the door, I know sad but my little one only cried for the first week or so and only for about 10 to 15 min. Now when she goes down she hardley ever cries and when she does it is only for a min. It was really hard at first but so well worth it in the end. My little girl know will go to her crib when she is ready for a nap or will tell us she is ready for a story. She is 18 months old and I never thought that she would be able to fall a sleep on her own, she is finally a great sleeper! Good Luck!

I know everyone has a differesnt way of doing things. However, I don't do bottles after 12 months. So I would wean to sippy or training cups. Even serve water in a small halk full cup for snacks. Also, by this age, have the drinks served during lunch. They are old enough for a booster instead of a high chair too. so serve lunch at 11 with drinks and finger foods (introducea spoon too if you have not.) Basically, I would set the goal to have them feeding and drinking independently by 18 months. then you all sit together and eat, clean the dishes, change the diapers and put both in their cribs. Give them a board book to look at and cuddle one. then cuddle the other. If one screams until you get to them, they wil eventually get used to it if you stay calm and mater-of-fact. Also, you ould switch off who goes first but it might be best to choose one (like the one who gets the most upset faster) to go down first and then the other...and stick with that. I have mine 15 months apart so my youngest goes first while the older settles in and looks at books. We just stick with that. Oh, for the future, slowly make bed and nap time routine shorter. You will save yourself stress at age two to three. Make it really simple: we eat we/play (while you clean up), we read a book (I have each pick one to read together in the hall), we bath (Potty, hands, whatever), then a two minute cuddle and lights out...we are done.

S.,
I have twins too and they will be five in October and they still take an afternoon nap from 1:30-4:30. If you want them to have a good schedule it is up to you and you need to be able to stick with it, that means no afternoon errands or going to the pool, plan to be home every afternoon. I would suggest reading the book Baby Wise it is full of ideas. It is very strict and full of routine but you can take what you want and leave the what you don't. The biggest thing I took away from it was to have your kiddos be able to self soothe without you and without being fed a bottle. Babie especially should wake, eat, play, sleep. And if you give your kids a good routine it's nice for them and you. I also have a 20 month old and I did the same with him that I did with the twins. He has know for a long time now when nap is and goes down s nicely. I tell him it's nap time sing him a twinkle twinkle twice through with his "security blanket" and put him down a wake, he is out within minutes. All three of the kids can nap anywhere now and it so nice, but my 20 month old needs some sort of blanket for security but it isn't specific. Anyway I hope you get it worked out, good luck! Oh, the book I mentioned is broke into chapters based on different needs like napping, feeding, day routines... so you only have to read the area you want to- I know it can be hard to find time for a book:) I would say whatever you do stick to it for 10 days and then re-evaluate.

I wish my twins still took two naps a day. Truth is, for mine anyway, Around 12 months, if they still had the 10am nap, they wouldn't sleep at all or not for very long in the afternoon, and the night sleeps were getting wacked out too. So I did what you're doing around 12-13 months with them. At 15 months, however, they were moved to two twin beds on the floor. This was partly because they were getting very restless and tired of their cribs, they didn't like to be in them, and they were close to trying to climb out. But mostly because we were moving and needed to get rid of one crib. I found that when we did that, and put them in their room for a nap in the day, they actually were happier and slept better once they fell asleep. Now, that's the key: Once they fell asleep. Being a lot more mobile in the room made it so that it was playtime for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour before naptime. They would eventually fall asleep for the full naptime, but for the first while we would have to go back in and lay them back down on thier beds. They mostly end up on thier beds asleep now (they are 25 months). But this has been great for us. As far as screaming when you put them in, though... I have to ditto all the other moms who said QUIT rocking them to sleep! You've created this problem of them not being able to sleep on their own by always rocking them. They are old enough now that they should be able to fall asleep on their own without it. I don't have any great advice on how to do that because I never had to, but I do know that it is definitely not helping your situation to rock them. I also agree with the mom who said to do everything all at once. That's what I did with mine also. I'd set the milk to warm, go change diapers, bring back the milk, and feed both at the same time on the floor. Very similar to what she said. Then I'd put them in the crib for naps. Now, they eat solid food for lunch, and I always have them eat their lunch at the table, then it's straight up to their room for diaper changes and naptime. It really helps them to know what's coming that way. And if you're going to do just one nap at around noon, it's very easy to transition to the lunch/nap routine. Anyway. You've gotten a lot of great advice right now. Good luck with your twins. They're an amazing joy, but an amazing challenge all at the same time. No matter how good or troublesome they really are. The fact that there's two of them is something a non-twin mom will never understand.