AboutBill Russo Expertise My wife and I have successfully raised our triplets using volumes of self help and instructional books, but most of our success has come from within. We have been married since 1979. After 10 years of infertility (which was an education in and of itself) we have been students of high risk pregnancy, neonatal intensive care, nursery organizational skills, potty training, discipline, schooling, and most recently, Attention Deficit Disorder. We have lived in a city setting and rural suburb. We have had hired help and have done it alone. What I offer to you is the knowledge we have accumulated over the years.
Experience
Past/Present clients I have had questions from dozens of parents of multiples in eleven countries.
Question Hi there,
I am the mother of 1 year old twin boys. Beautiful, happy, healthy little people. The trouble I am having is getting them to sleep through the night without waking every hour and a half to 2 hours and getting them to nap during the day for more that 20-30 mins.
Our days are fairly routine. They wake at around 5:30 at which point they join me in my bed for a snuggle and to nurse. We usually start our day at 6 a.m. with a pamper change and a cup of either milk or water. I also offer dry cereal to snack on as they wish while we have some morning playtime. I start breakfast at around 20 to 8 and we all eat at 8 a.m. By about 8:30 we are ready for more play and to send my oldest son (12 years) off to school next snack is at around 10 and then we head out for our morning walk or the park by 10:30. Usually takes about an hour give or take a few mins depending on how the boys are feeling that given day. Lunch is at 12:00- about 12:30 at which point we get cleaned up and changed and settle in to nurse (I know this is a big part of my issue but am not sure of how to break the habit without causing my little people any upset)I nurse them to sleep when my husband is not here as this seems to be what works for me with only 2 arms and a baby in each. They then go down in their beds but this only lasts for about 30 mins most of the time.and at times only 1 goes down at this point our routine gets a little messed up. We have play and errand running once the boys are up in the afternoon as well as snacks and nursing time. We are back to a some-what set routine again by dinner. Dinner is at 5p.m. usually done by about 5:30ish and the boys get play time with Dad and Big brother or we head out to watch big brother at his martial arts class. Around 7ish there is another snack offered, usually something messy and fun and then its in the bath by 7:30. Between bath and bed we have bath,pampers and p.j.'s, brushing of teeth, story time then they nurse until drowsy at which point Dad and I each take a boy and head into the nursery to rock to sleep (Again another habit I need to break but am unsure how to go about it.)They are in bed and asleep between 8p.m. and 8:30. After which chaos breaks out. At least 1 of them wakes at 12ish then again at about 1. With staggered wakings I am up and down about 4 times within that hour. At these wakings my husband and I go in and rock them back to sleep and place them back in their beds. After that they wake again at about 3 then 4 then 4:30. Bear in mind they don't always wake up at the same time so we are in and out of there a number of times. These wakings my husband usually brings them into the bed at which point the only way I can calm them is by nursing them back to sleep and return them to their beds after. Then by 5:30 they are ready to be snuggled, nursed, changed and begin their journey through the next day.
So after all this I guess my Questions are how to get through these chaotic times when our routine basically goes out the window and how can I change these bad habits I have formed without causing a world of upset to my boys? I would love nothing more than to have a well rested family.
Thanks so much,
Sleep deprived and searching for advice.
Answer You seem to have a very good schedule in place. I agree that you have to start to wean your boys off nursing. There are dozens of books written on the subject, but I have found that most mothers agree that slowly replacing a portion of nursing time with a bottle of whole milk works well. Further consider changing bath time to the morning, The evenings should be restricted to quiet non exciting activities. Also try adding a bottle of whole milk an hour before bed time and water and a recorded story to fall asleep to.
Good luck
