Bedtime with 10 mth olds

[lesliesara63]

What does bedtime look like at your house? Right now ours is like this & its a ton of work! 7PM - 4 yr old to bed takes about 15-20 min I hold one baby while I do this. 7-930PM non stop nursing, rocking, bouncing. 830 I send my 9 yr old to bed. The babies have stopped going to sleep for any helpers so they just get held while they wait for me. The worst part is that they often wake up within a short period of time & I have to do it all again! I am just frustrated and at the end of my rope. My first two kids I coslept with & nursed to sleep in bed. These babies are put in  cribs because there are three of them & I really don't want to continue all night nursing. Are cribs a losing battle? Should I just put them all on a queen mattress on the floor? I'm not sure they are old enough for me to just lay with them to go to sleep. What do all of you do in order to get multiple babies to sleep?

[mamalovex3]

Our current routine is to nurse the babies and then myself or my husband takes them to our room (with the wall-to-wall queen/king mattress combo) and lie down and let them do whatever.  Sometimes they run around a bit, sometimes they talk to each other, sometimes they just snuggle (and yes, sometimes they cry).  Usually, within a  half hour, they both fall asleep snuggled up to mom or dad, and then when we are sure they are REALLY asleep, we move them one by one to their cribs.  We started this at about 13.5 months, and at first it was just my husband doing it (they would freak out if it was me and I was near them but not nursing them).  We also started one baby at a time, which made everything easier. 

[rinap]

If I'm on my own, I put my two down on their mattress and alternate nursing them until they're asleep. There's often crying and climbing over each other in that time. Sometimes I have to take a break.

When there are two of us, my husband curls up with the one I'm not nursing, and sometimes after several trades a girl will go to sleep with him.

Tonight, there were two hours of screaming. And then some reading. And then, finally some sleeping.

My girls sleep on a full sized futon on the floor. I either sleep between them or I move from side to side on the outside. (I've been hoping that if they're together, they'll comfort each other, though they need a pillow between so they don't wake each other up) In theory, they sleep alone there and I come in when they need me. In reality I spend most of my nights in their bed. Which doesn't help your "nursing all night" issue.

[Barefoot Farmer]

When my trips were that age, we were in a solid walking routine. Our oldest was 7 at the time. Our bedtime routine went like this: 5pm dinner, 6pm everyone upstairs. 6-7 bath, pjs, and books/milk/nursing for triplets. 7yr old either participated or did independent reading and lunch making. 7pm, if DH was home, 2 of the trips were walked together, one in ergo, one in arm cradle (quite the workout!) and the third trip was walked by the other parent. The two trips were always the same two. Our girl loved the arm cradle and our second boy loved the cradle, both were out in 20min. Third trip could take up to an hour to walk to sleep. If DH wasn't home, third trip would play with older sister for the 20 min it took me to walk the other two. I hated relying on her for this and she would earn stars on a star chart which she could collect every couple of weeks for a pottery day with mama.

The walking routine lasted until the trips were about 20months old (I was 9 months pregnant and walking was getting harder for me while carrying 2 almost 2 year olds!) and we transitioned those two to laying down with mama to sleep. The third trip at 2 years 5 months is still walked at night although he is now down to 20-30 min.

Hope that helps.

[twinsmama9]

No I don't think cribs are a losing battle. Personally, they are a tool for my sanity and a safe place for my babies (who are 10 1/2 months old)! If I put my girls on queen mattresses on the floor they would be up half the night and would surely crawl off and get into something they shouldn't.

I am not sure what sort of help I could be because I FF (couldn't BF d/t numerous medical reasons)... I don't cosleep, except for the occasional nap. In any case, I'm going to post our routine hopefully it helps, it's an absolute lifesaver for our family!

6:30-7a: wake-up and play in cribs and babble

7:15-7:30a: go downstairs with mama, diaper changes and play while mama makes bottles

8a: drink bottles
9a: eat breakfast solids
9:30a: naptime for 1 1/2 or 2 hours (they nap in different rooms/cribs due to schenanigans at nap time)

12p: bottle
1p: lunch solids
2:30p: naptime again for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (sometimes an hour)
4-4:30p: bottle
5:30p: dinner solids then pajamas
7p: bedtime bottles

7:30p: we read 2 books in the rocker, I sing them 2-3 songs while rocking and I put them down awake in their cribs (in same room at night). They scream when I leave the room for maybe 30 seconds and then will babble or just lay down and go to sleep. It's rare that they remain awake for more than 10 minutes because they're so exhausted at this time.

*non-sleeping/eating time is spent in our giant baby proof play area and/or running errands or going to music class once every two weeks*

I am alone 75% of the time, and am currently 7 months pregnant. My girls are amazing little sleepers, the STTN 99% of the time now. They get about 11 hours at night and 3-3 1/2 during naps. Good luck feel free to PM me with any other questions!

[13pumpkins]

I do not have advice, but I offer support if you need to chat!  We have enough trouble getting our almost 5 and 2.5 year old to sleep!  I had been making strides but I no longer could sustain sitting on the floor in their room and opted for falling asleep with them each night in the guest room.

Cosleeping has been our MO and I have NO clue what the plan is with triplets!

If it makes you feel better I HAVE considered a huge mattress on the floor.  You're not alone!