Nightweaning twins (b/b, 22 months)

[lobilichetti]

Hi there, 

My name is Leela and I have b/b twins who are 22 months old and a 5 yo.  We all sleep in the same room. 

I'm ready to nightwean my boys.  I'm super tired and so is my husband.  Super sleep deprived for 21 months is enough already.  I'm a bit overwhelmed and would love to hear stories about how you went about nightweaning your twins and what suggestions you might have. 

What can I tell you about them to help understand our situation further? 

Hmmm.. they nurse a lot still.  Anywhere from 3 to 7 times a day.  I tandem nurse them a majority of time.  At night, they nurse at about 12:30 and then 3:30 on they seem to nurse almost continuously. 

Until about 18 months they weren't comfort nursers, but all of a sudden they have become comfort nursers.  

They start the night in their cribs (if we can get them in there).  Then they end up in the bed.  I sleep on one side and its super hard for me to sleep with both of them because I tandem with one on each side.  As soon as I turn to my side one wakes up to nurse, so the other wakes up as well.  So, very very very frustrating.  Especially after 3 am feeding.  So lately, I feel like I'm nursing all morning until they wake up for breakfast.  Then they continuously ask until someone offers them breakfast and takes them down.  Then, they don't eat well. 

Thanks in advance. 

Leela

[ladydodson]

hi leela,

i have g/g twins that are 18mo...we just finished the process of nightweaning. dr. jay gordon has a pretty great method that i've used with all of my children...essentially you pick a six hour window that you will use other methods to comfort your child back to sleep. mine is from about 11p to 6a give or take an hour either way depending on when they go to bed, etc. we co sleep in our king sized bed with one crib side carred on my side of the bed (we plan to add a second crib in the same fashion on hubs' side). one baby sleeps between us and the other in the crib. i nurse them to sleep and then move the crib baby to her bed once asleep.

when someone wakes up w/in that 6hr. window, i just shush or pat their back until they settle back to sleep. it's hard at first, they fuss and cry and you will lose sleep the first few nights, but if they are ready (and i stress this) they should sleep longer and longer after about three nights. if they cry for longer than ten minutes or end up really really upset, you scale back on the time frame or just wait until they respond better...its all a process and you should use your instinct. just stay calm and let them know that everything is ok...good luck!

http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html

[mylilmonkeys]

We're nightweaning our 17mo g/g twins, too.  One sleeps through most nights, and I really don't have a problem nursing her on the odd night she wakes, but her sister is a nipple-twiddler and I cannot sleep through while she nurses, and she comfort nurses for HOURS.  So instead of bringing her to bed anymore, my dh started taking her downstairs.  The first two nights she was MAD, and screamed for hours with dh holding and rocking her, but by the third night she accepted her fate.  A week later and she's slept through the night entirely three nights, and two nights she woke but went right back to sleep when Daddy took her down.