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BR: how children have changed us already
So it turns out that your own baby's poop really isn't as gross as other peoples' babies poop. Who knew! Also, two babies poop a lot. Just FYI, in case you were wondering.
It also turns out that I find the sound of my children crying less grating on my nerves than the sound of other peoples' children crying. Not that it's not horrible or obnoxious and doesn't make you want to shriek, "What? What do you want? I don't know what you want! Please tell me!" but there's something less annoying about it than when it's coming from other peoples' children.
Ben heard me singing a lullaby to one of the boys a couple of days ago, and commented that he would have to remember some songs so he could sing to them too. What did I hear him crooning to Will in the wee hours of the morning? "I know a song that'll get on your nerves / Get on your nerves, get on your nerves / I know a song that'll get on your nerves / And it goes something like this / I know a song that'll get on your nerves / Get on your nerves, get on your nerves..."
I never thought my life would revolve in 3 hour segments, but it does. I know that not everyone agrees with feeding schedules vs demand feeding, but with twins you really need to get them on the same schedule as fast as you can or you will literally never sleep. My days are now spent changing, feeding and then counting down to the start of the next 3 hour segment. Unless one of them decides that they'd rather have a 2hr, 45 min segment. And then the schedule is blown all to hell.
I literally looked at the calendar today and realized that tomorrow is our second wedding anniversary. It came as something of a surprise since we had no idea what the date was today (in other news, my Mom is arriving in 3 days!!!). Ben just called his mother and asked her if she would be willing to watch the twins tomorrow after they've been fed/changed/etc for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We would like to celebrate our anniversary with some sleep.
P.S. Please recommend your sleep books (Happiest Baby on the Block, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, etc.). Yes, I know they're only a week and a half old. It's more to give me hope that one day they will indeed sleep through the night than anything else.
Re: BR: how children have changed us already
Great to hear that you still haven't lost your sense of humor girl! That and the fact that you have twins means you are amazing!!! Congratulations again :-)
I'm reading a book right now called the 90 minute sleep program. It's a pretty quick read and it's by a scientist who says that infants go through cycles of sleep that last that long. It got pretty great reviews on Amazon. So far it seems to be true with my fussy little guy. He does get really tired right around 90 minutes but getting him to sleep, or to sleep longer than 10 minutes is a whole other story.
There are lots of books out there. Good luck!
It's so good to have you back on the board!
I haven't read any books about sleeping or what-have-you, but we have a bunch. My cousin donaetd all of her books when Brooke was born and she had bought a bunch of sleep books (her daughter was still waking up every 3 hours when she was a year old!)
I'll post them later.
But... where are the pictures of Will & Dash?!?!
CLICK for blog
yay, you are back!
no idea about books - good luck though.
Pictures please!!!
I totally know what you mean about 3 hour segments...and 3 hours goes by fast when it comes to babies!
Happy almost anniversary! I sure hope you guys get a good nap in. And yay for your mom coming. Take full advantage of her while she's there!
I have currently checked out 8...yes, EIGHT, sleep books from the library because I'm going out of my mind here. Kaya is getting better about taking naps but will not sleep more than 2 1/2 hours at a time at night. I seriously feel like banging my head on the wall in the middle of the night, I'm so frustrated. So if any of them end up helping, I'll let you know. I think I'll read The No-Cry Sleep Solution first, because I don't want her to CIO...yet. If necessary later, we may go down that road, but I hope it doesn't come to that.
I will say that FINALLY, I can sometimes put her down to sleep. I'm currently working on getting her to sleep in her own room so that I am not awakened by every move/grunt she makes. I put her to sleep in her crib about 20 minutes ago for the night, so we'll see how that goes. Last night she started out sleeping in the PNP then ended up in the swing, but didn't sleep more than a 2 hour stretch.
Sorry...this ended up being a novel. I hope Will & Dash sleep better than my little one! It's so early, though. I'd say at the 6 week mark it gets better. It's great that you're getting them on a schedule or at least in a routine. We didn't do that until a couple weeks ago and it's made a world of difference with her naps.
Please post pics when you have a chance! We can't wait to see the boys. And I hope you at least have enough time to catch up with us every now and then. Totally understand you have your hands FULL, but the board is just not the same without you!
Oh, and speaking of funny made up songs...Brady would sing "99 bottles of milk on the wall" to Kaya. It was pretty funny. Maybe that'll work for Ben, too. Haha.
I'm awful, I know! Ben took some right after they were born, but they're on his laptop (and I'm on mine). I'm going to try to take some new ones tomorrow and I'll try to post them then!
Ugh, I feel your pain!
Part of our problem is that Will is MUCH fussier about sleeping than Dash is. You can pretty much just plonk Dash down and he'll go to sleep almost right away, or just contentedly watch the room until he drifts off, which is awesome - Will, though, starts drifting off to sleep, then startles himself awake half the time (and he won't settle down after a few surprised seconds, either - you have to get up and soothe him or he'll howl the house down). I know it's early days yet, but I really really hope he's not going to become a contender for CIO - I know that it works well for some kids, but I'm just not sure if *I* could handle it lol!
'Allo lovely! Congrats again and all that jazz!
Oh how the newborn era hurts as far as sleep deprivation goes. I think I've said it here before but when Maya was born, I came to the sudden enlightenment of just why and how sleep deprivation is so artfully and successfully used as a torture method on POW's and the like...
I am in complete awe of you. You have two of them to juggle, I bow down to you. You are ze super-mama-squared.
I liked the 'No-Cry Sleep Solution' too. I liked it in theory. I say 'theory' because I never actually used any of her suggestions but they seemed pretty right by my judgement lol.
G'luck with getting the boys on the same clock!
Congrats again! You sound like you are doing great. Also, like everyone else I cant wait to see pictures.
I'm worried about this one sleeping too so please let us know what works for you down the road. GL!
oh I 100% agree with all of that...esp how your whole world gets "reframed" into little chunks of time!! I feed miss A on demand and sometimes she only goes an hour or two before wanting to eat again and it drives me bonkers, i can only imagine how crazy you'd have to be to nurse on demand with twins...so i think it's understandable you're trying to get them on a schedule
when your mom comes to visit PLEASE take her up on helping. not just with stuff around the house but after you nurse them in the middle of the night, don't be shy to wake her up and ask her to get them to sleep for you... I never did that when my mom was around and totally regretted it, it would have been sooooo nice to have some help during those first weeks when it is so tough.
i don't have any advice on sleeping, just that our pedi told us that as soon as A had regained her birth weight, that i could let her sleep one long stretch at night between feeds if she wanted to, to let her get into the habit of knowing that night time is for the "long sleep." so, sometimes she'd go 2 hrs between feeds at night, sometimes 3, and sometimes she'd go 4 and i swear the 4 hr stretch feels like 8 hrs when they are newborns!!!
you are one super mama for doing this with twins!!!! i agree that the first 4-6 weeks are the hardest and from there it does start to get easier as you get used to sleeping in small chunks, get into a routine, they sleep better, etc.
CANNOT WAIT for pictures!!!!!
oh and happy anniv!!!
hope you get some much needed sleep 
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
Yay Lisa! Welcome back!
Congrats on becoming parents and happy anniversary.
I've ready No Cry Sleep Solution and Baby Whisperer as well as watched The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD. The latter has worked for us perfectly every time and it's our go-to to settle Libby down and get her to sleep without nursing. NCSS might work for us soon, now that she's older and the only thing I've taken from Baby Whisperer is the EASY method. The rest is too "sleep training" for my AP tastes.
You're right...in the beginning you just need hope that you'll get sleep someday again. The first 3-4 weeks are just brutal. But it gets better from there. Good that your mom is coming. Sleep whenever you get a chance. If she can watch the babies for even an hour or two. You'd be amazed at what a 2 hour stretch of unterrupted sleep can do for you! And shower when you can too. I coveted my showers when Libby was first born. It was the only time I was alone.
It's funny you mention crying in relation to other's kids...I find that I can stand other kids crying way more than Libby's. With her, I have a visceral, physical response, especially in public. I cannot stand to have her cry when we're out and about....it's really weird.
BTW, are you BFing? How's it going? I hope all is well with you and your little guys. I know your time here will be limited, but I hope to read your birth story and see pics of W & D when you get a chance!
Oh...for Ben...have him check out http://bussongs.com/ and http://www.lullaby-link.com/
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Christine - this is totally normal for a baby Kaya's age. 2.5-3 hours is great! Her tummy is small so that's about as long as she can go before needing to feed again. In the night, does she get up or just wake up? If you can just get her to wake up and feed and go back to sleep, then go with that! I had to work with Libby not to want to "be up" just because she was awake. So now she wakes enough to feed (like a dream feed) and falls back to sleep. Some nights now she'll go 4 or even 5 hours, but generally it's still 3. It did help that we found a nighttime diaper solution that will last her longer than 3 hours.
Hang in there...Kaya sounds like she's right on track...I hope it'll frustrate you less to know that. If she's 3 years old and waking every 2.5-3 hours, then you have a problem. At under 3 months you have a very normal infant.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Do you swaddle Will? If not, I recommend trying it. Libby is an arm flailer and wakes herself up with her wayward arms. Swaddling definitely helps her sleep better.
As for CIO...please don't even think about any sort of CIO until they are at least 6 months old. Any earlier is just mean and not recommended as it causes major stress to the baby like elevated blood pressure and cortisol levels.
Here are some better options to consider:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/t051200.asp
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
I should add that when I'm trying to get her to sleep, it's not like she's up and happy. She cries (and her cry is LOUD), even if I'm holding her or rocking her. And those are the times when I'm ready to bang my head on the wall. I get so frustrated that it's hard for me to go back to sleep, and by the time I finally fall asleep, she's up again.
tehe, it's nice to have you back lisa! glad to hear things are going well. i'm certainly no expert when it comes to babies sleeping, but one of my friends just recommended healthy sleep habits, happy child yesterday - her 8 mo daughter sleeps from 7pm - 7am, and has been STTN since 7 or 8 weeks =| one thing she said that has really helped them is to make a big distinction between night and day. blackout shades at night, lights on during the day if it's not bright enough out (we live in seattle - it's pretty gray in the winter)
ETA: i've read that babies can't distinguish day/night until 3 months - so this is still just for when they're a little older!
also ETA: happy anniversary!!!
Kiss sleep goodbye NOW
Ok I lie, you should've kissed sleep goodbye sometime in your 3rd tri!
In all honesty, it's weird, I've learned to function on little to no sleep. While I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to get some, I've just come to realize that someday she'll sleep... she might be 14 or 20 when that happens but someday sleep and I will be best friends again.
Bella's actually doing decent. Two nights ago, it sucked she was up for 3 hours fussy and crabby but then slept 2 hours then was up again... it was what it was and I dealt, exhausted but I did it. Last night, she slept from 7pm-5:30 am, nursed then slept until 6:30 am... it was HEAVEN!! I wish that I could program my body to sleep when she sleeps but I can't. Tonight she conked out at 6:30... I'm clearly not sleeping. I'm about to back away from the computer to clean up this mess we call a house
Lisa! Great to hear from you! Congrats on the baby pirates!
I have read "No Cry Sleep Solution" and "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" (boring...) but I can't say either was much help.
The women in my mom's group really like the book "The Sleep Lady," one of them swears by it. I have not read it but I might check it out.
Another friend swears by the book -- "The Baby Sleep Solution: A Proven Program to Teach Your Baby to Sleep 12 hours a night by 12 weeks" -- but I personally find their methods offensive (withhold feeding to make them go longer stretches, etc.)
Basically... It will get better once they can eat more! Alexa goes to bed at 7:30pm and gets up at 6:30am. But her consistent STTN didn't start until she was about 6 months... A combination of starting solids to fill her tummy up and daycare wearing her out probably helped...
I would note that she used to get up at 3am but we got her to drop that feeding by giving her warm water in a bottle one night instead of me nursing her. My friend got her baby to drop the middle-of-the-night feeding by giving her baby a paci instead of nursing. Also, she used to get up at 5 a.m. but I got her to extend to 6:30 or 7:30am by giving her a "dream feed" when I go to bed.
GL! You are amazing! They will sleep someday... They can't go to college and not be sleeping! :-)
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Wow Christine. Sounds like she might be having a growth spurt since she was sleeping better before...hope she gets through it quickly. Any chance she may be teething? Libby is and it has affected her sleep lately...she'll go one day with virtually no naps and fussy at bed time and the next she naps all day long and sleeps like a log. Only thing I can chalk it up to is the teething. Today she's barely nursed at all...so I think her gums really hurt.
I hope Kaya is settling down soon...good luck mama!
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Yup we swaddle - I can't imagine not! He doesn't settle well without it.
And don't worry - I have NO intention of letting Will CIO at this stage! I just meant that I hoped he wouldn't be a contender for it at some point down the track (not any time in the immediate future). Thanks for the link though, I'm going to send it to Ben too!