Twin suddenly crying at naps...

[andrea]

I have twin 5 month old girls. Usually they are very easy to put down for naps, my husband works from home so we both take a baby in their room and rock/sing until we see sleepy eyes or until they rub their faces on our shoulders, then we put them down. They may talk/fuss for a minute or two but that's it. For the past few days one of the girls has been really freaking out when we put her down, a minute or two after we shut the door. She also has been waking up more at night (not at regular feeding time) and crying for a few minutes until we come to her and calm her down. I thought she may be hungry so I try to feed her, but she hardly eats. Tonight when we put her down for bed she had a cow and it took a long while to get her to bed (though she was obviously tired). I hate letting them cry (though sometimes I can't help it when I'm dealing with one baby and the other wants me), but going to her multiple times seems to be creating a pattern. When my husband isn't around to help with naps, I can't rock one baby for 15 minutes while the other one is just sitting there waiting on me. Suggestions?

Other info: we got back a few days ago from a week long trip to see family, and we're ALL just getting over colds.

This baby has been my good and independent sleeper. She has always been able to get herself to sleep. Even though they're used to eachother, she woke up her sister tonight (which makes me so tense). I need some advice!

[Shuli]

It could be that she has started teething, or is just miserable from a cold. I was alone a lot when my boys were little and alwyas felt that one was left to fend for themselves at nap time, which was hard for me. If it's the teeth, can you rub something on her gums to help elleviate the pain or maybe some Tylenol? I was talking to a pediatric dentist and she said that if adults had to teeth they'd be screeming for the morphene. :-)

I used to take care of the one who needed less time to settle first, then take care of the one who needed more time. (I had one who needed me for five minutes and one who needed me for 45) Maybe that would make it easier for you? Can you rock them at the same time? That also helped me and then I would put the more sleepy one down first and just continue to rock the fussy one (I had two high needs babies) and that would sometimes help too.

Could be that she's just not feeling well and just needs her mommy.

Good luck!

[Julia'sMom]

My babies also went thru stages with sleep.  For the first couple months DS was easy to put down, as he could put himself to sleep with DD2 needed to be out before going down.  Then for a while DS needed to be bounced to sleep while DD2 needed to be rocked.  Then DS needed to cry for a minute or two by himself before sleep while DD still needed to be rocked.  Then DS would only go down if nursed down and became rather difficult while DD2 needed only a minute or two of nursing then would fall asleep with a pacifier.  Each stage lasted anywhere from one month to 4 months.  If what you were doing all of a sudden isn't working, you can try to switch up your routine and see if she likes something different better. 

We also separated them (different rooms) around 6 to 7 months to help with the waking each other problem. 

I will say that I do have crying each time I put the kids down (I'm on my own most of the time).  I just try and put down the easier/quicker one first to minimize the crying.  :hug