Any way you look at it, we're on the downhill slope. Pretty much from the night we got home, we've only been getting up once a night with them, so its not been as bad as we've heard from other parents. But still - we'd both love a full night of sleep. We're alternating who gets up each night so that at least one of us gets an uninterrupted night of sleep each night.
So, in our efforts to coax our children into night sleeping, we've instituted the following nighttime routine.
- The "final" feeding is at 7 PM.
- After this feeding, we bathe them.
- They then get "spa time," in which they are massaged with some night time baby lotion (I am not making this up. I made fun of Krissee at first, but it really does help them to calm down.)
- They're swaddled and placed in the crib
- Dad reads them a story.
- The lights are turned off, the mobile is turned on for 5 minutes, and the door is shut.
We awaken them around 10-11 for their final feeding of the day, which is kept quiet and strictly business - feeding and a diaper change. No playing.
After that, we go to bed.
And each night, even if its the other's night, we truly hope that tonight is the night.
When its not your night, you can't wait to wake in the morning and ask the other "How did it go?" and "When did they wake up?"
We'll get it. Its still crazy early. But rest assured, once we're getting full nights of sleep? That is going to be like an extra cherry on top of a bowlful of cherries that tops the most decadent chocolate and ice cream concoction known to man.
Yep - THAT good.
8 comments:
don't worry, you'll get there. it's so close i can almost feel it!! things will be much better then...sleep is not overrated at all!
Sounds like you have a good routine in place! I wish I had spa time before I went to bed. Can people my age get that??
Very nice routine! I think I'm going to start giving James spa time...he's 9 months old and I'm not getting a full night's sleep!
Ginny gave me your blog address and it's been fun to keep up w/ the twins. We had our son July 30th and know exactly how you feel. Every night I wonder if this will be the night he sleeps and every night he wakes up at 3am. A full night's rest would be a dream come true!
MMmmmm....I love cherries!
This whole sleeping business sounds a little scary, and stressful!! I got mad respect for parents...especially of twins!
I grinned a little when I read about the nightly routine, sounds JUST like Krissee! I love it!
Wow, & I thought I had the routine thing down. You guys are pros... I guess that extra 3 days over me of being twin parents is why! (Ha, jk) I clearly need some advice... I too like being on the 7pm, 10pm, etc... schedule. So what happens in the morning? Do you wake them up at 7? This is where I struggle because I end up on a different schedule every day because I don't know how to handle it. And rather than discussing this through blog commenting (unless you want to!), you can email me! saoldroyd@gmail.com. Thanks!
Oh, and P.S. I love you're "shut up" comment. And I second that. :)
That sounds like so much fun! ;-)
FYI: if you accidentally type "smithandaddison.logspot.com" instead of "smithandaddison.blogspot.com," you get to biblecollege.com's mega site of bible stuff. Weird, huh? Have a nice weekend!
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