How to get two babies to sleep at the same time

[StacyAnn]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before... I'm kind of new here and haven't had much of a chance to look around.  I have twin girls who are 5 months old and am struggling with getting them to sleep.  Does anyone have any good tips for how to get two babies to sleep at the same time?  I usually don't have any help at bedtime, so I need to figure out a good way to do it by myself. 

For the past couple months, I've just tried to work with one at a time... putting one somewhere (in the swing, under a mobile, etc.) for 10 minutes or so while I get the other to sleep.  These days it is taking longer and longer to get them to sleep so my old strategy isn't really working anymore.  The one who is waiting tends to get very impatient and start fussing, so I try to go back and forth between them and usually just end up making no one happy. 

I do tandem nurse them during the day, but have never been able to transition them to a sleeping position after tandem nursing.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks,

Stacy

[dolcimama]

I have 4 month old twin boys and this is what works for me...

We do the same routine every night. My guys go to sleep around 7 and then we wake them @ 10 for a top off feeding. If I am by myself, I try to stagger their feedings (B nurses, A drinks expressed breast milk) but if they both are fussy, I end up bottle feeding both at the same time.

My twin A is more fussy than B and requires much more assistance in calming than his brother. At 7 pm, I change both boys and put B in his sleep sack. I turn on the vaporizer and their ipod (soft classical music) and shut the door. We also give him his night paci but he normally spits it out. For him, that's all it takes. Sometimes A will scream through this, I usually put him in the crib while working on B and he is content to look at his mobile. What he doesn't like is me working with B while he is in another room.

A however, is more of an issue. I change him, put him in his sleep sack or pjs. Then I feed him a small feeding with cereal, maybe 2-3 oz of pumped breast milk or formula and a tbsp of cereal. I do this in our rocking chair. Some nights, he will fall asleep in my arms (but not normally). If that doesn't work, I'll feed him, burp him and put him in his swing where he will fall asleep. Then we transfer him to the bed after about 1/2 hour of sleeping.

Twin A really fights sleep and can get really overtired. Both my guys sleep in the same crib which they seem to like. I think that because they are two individuals with two different personalities, what works for one may not work for the other. Would be nice though!

Hope this helps,

gabrielle

Mommy to Franklin & Callan 

[Katie063008]

My husband works afternoons, so I am also by myself with my twins (5 months) and my daughter who is 2.5.  I should mention that we co-sleep so this may not work for you if you are not comfortable with bedsharing. For the first few months I used the swing and nursed the fussier baby to sleep, then nursed the second baby to sleep.  Now I have one baby sleep on either side of me and turn around to nurse whoever fusses the most.  They do cry a bit sometimes but it is the best I can do.  I have my daughter look at books until one baby is asleep, then nurse the second baby and read stories to my daughter until she is ready to sleep.  Then we turn out the light and sing songs.  By this time both babies are asleep so I turn on my booklight and read until my daughter falls asleep.  Then I keep reading until I am tired.  I tried to get up for a few weeks but have decided the inevitable waking of at least one child was not worth the benefit of getting up since I usually just read in a chair anyway.  Good luck.  It's really tough.

[Red Pajama]

I don't know if you swaddle your babies, but I did, almost for a year with the twins as a matter of course, and then after as needed.

When I was alone for nap or bedtime, I would swaddle, nurse tandem, and then set one down onto the couch/bed I was on, carry other to bed, go back and get first baby.

Good luck!

My twins are 5.5, and there is life after twinfancy.

[ShanaV]

Short answer: tandem nurse them on the pillow while I sit on the bed. Let them nurse to sleep, sometimes for 45 to an hour. (I usually read MDC on my phone during this :-P). Then, very slowly, carefully, gingerly place one, then the other down on either side of my spot in the bed. It's golden if both sleep thru the transfer, usually one wakes up, so I nurse him lying down, and we all sleep. I roll side to side thru the night.

I used to swaddle, but they don't need that anymore. Also now baths help put them to sleep, whereas they used to hate baths. But I usually need a second set of hands with the baths, to hold the one I'm not bathing.

[StacyAnn]

Just popping back in to say thank you all for the tips... I've been experimenting with different methods to varying success.  I haven't found a perfect solution yet, but that's probably because there isn't one.  I think the hardest thing about having multiples, for me, is that I can't be as responsive to each of their needs as quickly as I'd like.  I'm still trying to make my peace with that.  My new parenting mantra is, "I'm doing the best that I can."  :)