Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Sleep Training

I've said it many times in the last 3 1/2 months.  I would never give either of these sweet babies back, of course, but I do sometimes think of what it might be like to just have one at a time. 

This has really come into play in the last week or so as I've had to start sleep training.

If you don't know what I mean by that, basically it involves training a baby to soothe themselves instead of you having to rock, coddle, soothe them. 

This is especially crucial with multiples because you just can't get two babies to sleep at the same time if you are by yourself. 

So, I've got them on a schedule (when it works), and part of this has involved me sleep training them. 

It started with Reese, who absolutely HATES to go to sleep.  It's ironic really, because she is the baby that consistently sleeps through the night.  But she FIGHTS and FIGHTS when it comes to actually getting to sleep, especially during the day when I happen to be here alone. 

So, I've started rocking them both for five minutes and then putting them down.

Truett is a rockstar at sleeping (except for today...ha)!  I can almost walk into the nursery and he's already falling asleep in my arms.  And he naps really well, too.  He sleeps for 2+ hours and most of the time I have to go in and wake him up to feed him.  So nice.

Reesey is a different story. 

HOWEVER, I am seeing things improving and it makes me super happy! 
She has gone from screaming for 25-30 minutes, with me going in to calm her down every five minutes, to now having to only be calmed 1-2 times (today she went down once with no fussing), and sleeping for a good length of time.

It's hard work, and no one likes hearing their baby cry, but it is totally worth it and I'm starting to reap the benefits, even if ever so slightly.

Today was another LONG day, but this time Truett was the fussy sleeper.  He wouldn't calm down and cried and cried and cried when I laid him in his crib.  **sigh**

As the day wore on, though, and Reese would flash one of her killer smiles or Tru would laugh as I kissed on his tummy, I was reminded that the hard stuff comes with the good stuff. 

And I'll take all the hard for even a smidge of the good any day. 


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3 comments:

  1. I love hearing how you do things, I've always wondered how twins would be... :)

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  2. Hang in there momma~sounds like you are doing GREAT!!!

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  3. Its always so nice when your hard work and consistency starts to pay off! :)

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