[DiannaK]

Hey mommas .... I can't believe I'm approaching the 1 year mark.

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Our boys are 11 months old .... I still nurse them to sleep, and we do a combo of sleeping in our room/sleeping in our bed.

I will nurse each baby down, then put him in the pack-n-play, then repeat with the second baby. I will usually try to nurse Thomas first, since he tends to be the baby I have more difficulty getting to sleep.

As the babies wake up during the night, I bring them to bed with me. Sometimes, I put them back in the pack-n-play, sometimes just leave them in the bed with me.

I don't like to tandem nurse them, since it tends to make my skin crawl.

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I prefer to nurse them back to back, as to have some individual time with them, even though it takes me longer.

They are still up during the night .... it's hard for me to know how many times, or who is getting up, since I just roll over, and take out a breast. Some nights are pretty good (like last night), other nights, someone is up every 30 min -45 min.

Any idea how often they should be getting up?? Should I be expecting them to sleep longer stretches??
Anyone try The No Cry Sleep Solution with multiples???

 

[shahjehan]

Congratulations on closing in on the first year

:! How fun and exciting! I don't have much advice for you, just wanted to share how our nighttime is. My babies still get up 3-4 times a night at 13 months. I nurse both to sleep one at a time in my recliner (usually DS first because he is my early to bed early to rise). Sometimes I nurse them both together to sleep if they both want to at the same time-like if we get home from dinner at a friend's or something, but I know you don't like to tandem (I don't really either). Then my DH puts the sleeping baby down in our queen bed, and I nurse the next. He puts the next baby in bed with the other. That is usually at about 8pm. They sleep until about 10-11, and I stay up on the internet, reading, TV, a glass of wine. When one wakes up it is my bedtime, and I go to the bed to nurse whoever it is. I usually end up between them, rolling side to side as one needs me. When they wake up and whine I bring out the breast and nurse them. Having DH walk them or letting them cry is not an option for us because they don't want it, and they will wake up the other two kids in the house (we have pocket doors and light sleepers). They want the boobie, so that is what they get to maximize sleep for everyone in the house. I nurse at roughly 10-11, 1:30, 3-4 and at wake up (6 for DS, 7 for DD). No advice, just wanted to share what is "typical" for my babies and me. Good luck!

 

[DeerMother]

I nightweaned about a month ago - I was not being nice to anyone b/c of lack of sleep, so dh and and I felt that was the right decision for the family. They sometimes get up at night now, if they do one of us rocks them or I am happy to give them milk, but it is not a several times a night every night occurance like it was.

Our routine - dinner at 5, play from 5-6. Reading from 6-6:30/45. I nurse and rock one while the other goes in another room w/ dh. If first baby is ready for bed, they go to bed, if not first baby goes in another room w/ dh while I nurse/rock second baby. At about a year they started getting excited about one another and daddy right before bed so we've had to keep them separate.

Prior to the nightweaning, dd was getting up 1-2 x a night, ds was waking about every hour. We coslept the same as you, with them having beds but not always putting them back during the night. I do think that ds was waking b/c of habit not necessarily b/c he NEEDED milk. For the nightweaning, I wore earplugs and dh got up with them every time they woke for 4 nights. After 4 nights, the waking habit was broken. Since the nightweaning, wake up time has moved from 7 to 5-530, so realize there may be some change in sleeping patterns.

 

[DiannaK]

Thanks to all of you .... sometimes I just need to know what's 'normal' for this age. It's just so hard to wrap my brain around it, because there's 2 of them! It's hard to say, "ok, he was up at 12, and 2, etc", when I'm not even sure who's who in the middle of the night.

I'm not sure nightweaning is an option right now .... they are still sort of small as compared to my daughters,and they are pretty finicky during the day. In other words, part of my problem is that I'm not tanking them up during the daylight hours, and they can get good feedings during the night ...... less distractions, etc.

 

[Shuli]

Mine finally nightweaned at 18 months (due to a family trip, not because they weren't ready). At a year, DS1 was sleeping basically from 6/6:30 until 7:15am and DS2 was up four or five times a night. We never co-slept, so it was easy to tell who was who depending on which crib the crying was coming from. We did the no cry sleep solution at about a year and it basically only worked with DS1, which was great because it meant I was only getting up with one baby. I took her sleep diaries and made a book for each of them and made sure to write who woke up when and for how long by the light of the night light. That way I could see either improvement or not and adjust my days accordingly.

I find, even now, that in order to get good nights I need to feed them more during the day. The more food they have had during the afternoon and at dinner the better they sleep.

We also have a pretty strict bedtime routine (even if the time isn't the same, the routine is) and we try to keep it at the same time every day. Dinner, playtime, bathtime, brush teeth, pajamas, story, bed. We have to put Raphi in the pack'n'play as he goes to sleep quite quickly on his own, and Danny takes a little longer to settle with some crying. Once Danny is asleep I move Raphi back into his bed as they sleep better in the same room next to each other. I find the routine really helps them get ready for sleep as they know what to expect.

Good luck.

 

[4Marmalade]

Our routine is changing slightly right now. They are 10 months now. I used to nurse one baby down in our bed and one baby down in our guest room. Dh would sleep with baby dd in the guest room because she was sleeping through the night or only waking once. I would sleep with baby ds in our room and nurse him throughout the night. Now baby dd is crawling and we are moving her back into our bed because the guest bed is high and we really don't want to baby proof our guest room. So now I nurse them to sleep in our bed. I prefer not to tandem usually but they are getting better about waking slightly when I roll them off me and going back to sleep rather than crying for the boob again so tandemning is not quite as bad now. Last night it was baby dd against the wall, dh, baby ds and then me. I had to go over and nurse baby dd once. I would like to have her beside me so I don't actually have to get out of bed but I'm afraid she would start nursing more if she was next to me. Plus I don't fully wake and would probably nurse her with every little sound she made.

I find our bedtime routines, where babies sleep and with whom is constantly changing. My other two dc's were definitely up in the night to nurse so I find that part "normal". Having baby dd sleep through was a really pleasant surprise

:. I'm also noticing that they are nursing more during the night and becoming busier during the day. We need to do a few more solids but we've been really slow to start and I get really lazy in that department. We were travelling this past week and that's when baby ds really started demanding food and eating anything I had so I'm glad to be home and will be able to offer him more food.

 

[vanauken]

I tandem nurse them to sleep, so that's not much help to you. Ours still get up once or twice a night. At this point they're both in their own pack'n'plays (right next to each other), though they slept together for the first year of their lives.

I'm thinking about night-weaning, but letting them have a cup of water in their beds. It gets hot here (starting about now) and I think they're waking up from thirst more than need for comfort, at this point (14 mos.) old. They still nurse a ton during the day, so I'm not worried about them not getting enough milk! (I am a little worried about how full my breasts will be in the morning if I don't nurse at night though - ouch!)

 

[DiannaK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanauken I tandem nurse them to sleep, so that's not much help to you. Ours still get up once or twice a night. At this point they're both in their own pack'n'plays (right next to each other), though they slept together for the first year of their lives. I'm thinking about night-weaning, but letting them have a cup of water in their beds. It gets hot here (starting about now) and I think they're waking up from thirst more than need for comfort, at this point (14 mos.) old. They still nurse a ton during the day, so I'm not worried about them not getting enough milk! (I am a little worried about how full my breasts will be in the morning if I don't nurse at night though - ouch!)

How do you get them off you?? In the rare instance that both boy are calm enough to nurse together, and not try to beat each other up, when they nurse and fall asleep, then I'm STUCK in the chair.

 

[4Marmalade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiannaK How do you get them off you?? In the rare instance that both boy are calm enough to nurse together, and not try to beat each other up, when they nurse and fall asleep, then I'm STUCK in the chair.

Butting in here

but when I tandem nurse my two I do it in bed. I lie on my back with one on either side of me. They nestle their head in my armpit/shoulder area and nurse. Once they are asleep I can then slowly roll them to the side. Ds sleeps on his side so I just need to set his head down. Dd sleeps on her belly so I have to move her around a bit more but she usually settles once she's on her belly and I pat her back. It's essentially the same position you might use in a recliner chair except I am fully on my back. But you could use some pillows to get yourself more upright. It still might be easier to roll them aside rather than having to pick them up and set them down again - kwim?

 

[vanauken]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiannaK How do you get them off you?? In the rare instance that both boy are calm enough to nurse together, and not try to beat each other up, when they nurse and fall asleep, then I'm STUCK in the chair.

I don't know if what we do will work for you, because I'm pretty sure the only reason it works for us is that I've been doing it since they were itty-bitty and we're just all three used to it . . . but I nurse them down using a double nursing pillow (the EZ2nurse) and then, once they're really asleep, I scoop them up and carry them to their beds. I use one arm per baby, just scooping my hands under their heads and then lifting them up - at the same time - against my chest, so my elbows are under their bottoms and my forearms holding their bodies against me and my palms cradling the back of their heads (their heads are leaning on my shoulders). Then I carry them to their room. To put them, down, I just lean over and put them down. Together for naps and separately for bedtime - at bedtime I basically put them both down together and then pick one back up and move her to the other bed.

Whew. Okay, that looks really long typed out, but I can't think of a better way to explain it. Again, I started doing this when they were a couple of months old, and I'm sure that's why it still works. I don't think they'd go for it if I'd started doing it now at a year plus, and I know I wouldn't have the muscles to do it if I hadn't built up to it so gradually - they're almost 25 lbs. a piece now!