Sunday, June 8, 2008

Trial and Error !!!

Well I may be on to something. I don't want to give too much praise to our success just yet because it's only been 3 days BUT we may have a bedtime routine. I have been reading other "twin" blogs (and some singleton mommy blogs too) and skimming this baby sleep book my friend Sara gave me (i don't have time to read the whole thing - besides it's slightly boring - you know too technical - i only like gossip magazines now that my free time is so limited) and it seems that when putting E and E down at night I have been making a HUGE mistake in reading their "tired" signs -- like a 3 hour or so mistake.
Before, our nights were looking something like them napping (in the living room usually) (one of us holding them usually) (I love the internet because you can do whatever the heck you want with punctuation since I hate trying to remember "correct" punctuation) (good times) around 7pm or so and we would go to bed around 10ish. Since I am new to this mommy thing I forget that most children don't stay up until 10 pm. ESPECIALLY NEW BABIES!!! Well all of you "seasoned" mommies know where this is going. RIGHT? When I would try getting them to sleep they (well mostly Edie) would SCREAM for sometimes up to an hour. FRUSTRATING!!! Having that as your last activity of the day then getting up constantly all night really makes you start to dread the nightime. Trust me. I got the idea from all of my readings that babies like schedules and routine sooooooooooo.......... three nights ago I gave them a bath around 630pm then a baby massage (they love this), swaddled them up and we were in the bedroom with bottles in mouths at 7pm. They were in dreamland by 730pm!!!!! They did not seem all that tired but apparently they were. SO -- on night 2 I did the same exact thing and again asleep by 730 pm. Now tonight (night 3) (in a row) I bathed, rubbed, swaddled and Jon gave them their bottles and VOILA -- asleep by, well actually 8pm tonight, BUT that is fine too!!!
Edie still woke up every 2 hours last night but it seems less frustrating when you don't have to wrestle her to sleep in the first place. When she wakes up she usually eats a bit and falls back to sleep. She isn't a middle of the night screamer. Thank goodness. Ella seems to be waking only once each night -- I am just starting to notice a pattern.
So it turns out -- putting them down to sleep at normal hours also leaves me with a bit more time to myself each evening. I can get used to that. But I won't because it all could change at the drop of a hat.
Lesson learned -- never try to wrestle an overtired baby. They scream louder than you.

4 comments:

Erin said...

wow - great stuff! we're kind of doing your "Before" right now. maybr it's time to think about an earlier bedtime...

here's hoping it lasts!

Erin said...

Good luck with the routine. I'm sure they will fall in line in no time. Thanks for all the encouraging words!

Marianne said...

Good work! We still stick to a sleep routine although now that the girls are older we do allow for more flexibility. When they don't get "enough" sleep then we pay the next day. You think wrestling an overtired baby is hard, try wrestling an overtired 3yrold! Finn wins every time.

Cece said...

That is awesome - I can't imagine trying to figure out all this new mom stuff - guess I'll figure it out when I'm forced to, lol!