With twins it is extremely important to have a schedule and routine that you follow everyday. Especially if you're like me. I need to have a plan or goal and not feel like I'm blindly stumbling through each day. Things do not always go as planned. I know that is a shock to you. I plan on taking a nap everyday, but it rarely happens.
The twins have been on a good feeding schedule, and go to bed surprisingly easy at night, but naps have become a nightmare as both twins had become cat nappers, which if you have experienced this you know you can't get anything started much less done in this length of time. I am in the process of breaking them of this habit.
I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to have them sleeping and eating when I want, but I have a tinge of self-doubt when it comes to these things I guess because I want a book to tell me what I am doing is going to work. I was told about a book that sounded amazing Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old. I was skeptical and couldn't wait to read what unrealistic things it was going to tell me to do to accomplish this. Before the book even arrived I came up with a new schedule with not only set feeding times, but also set nap and awake times that I was determined to follow. When the book arrived, I was surprised to find that I was already doing several things it said to do. Not only that, but (to me) it didn't really have any unrealistic expectations or suggestions. It was so simple! I can do this, I thought!
Now, I know everyone is different. It's easy for me to have a routine because I'm organized. I also don't feel like I have to do everything the book says. I can adjust it to work for me and my babies. But I have a dream that my children will sleep long and hard, and that I can just kiss them and say I love you and goodnight, and not spend hours putting them to sleep. I know this is possible, but it doesn't mean it's easy.
So, back to 12-hours' sleep. I hear stories about peoples' kids waking at the crack of dawn and getting them to sleep later in the morning means putting them to bed later. But the twins were already sleeping 9.5 straight hours, so another 2.5 hours didn't seem out of reach. I'm not going to re-type the book, but basically you do four things once your children meet the weight/age requirements and can eat at least 24 ounces in 24 hours: 1. Feed every four hours in a 12-hour period, 2. Eliminate night feedings, 3. Sleep/rest quietly in crib for 12 hours at night, 4. Nap one hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon (I apologize if it's annoying you when I switch from typing the number and spelling it out. I know there are rules, but I forgot them).
Like I said I was already beginning to try to do these things, so this doesn't seem out of reach. The challenges will be there, though. They are learning to self-soothe, which means I don't pick them up as soon as I hear them cry I wait 3-5 minutes then I go in and try to pat them, put the pacifier back in, etc, whatever I can do to help them, but avoid picking them up unless I feel necessary since I aim at picking them up when they're happy, not crying, although that doesn't always happen. Another challenge is keeping them awake. They can barely stay awake for an hour and a half without wanting to sleep again. Right now they still take an evening nap, which will have to be cut out if I want them to sleep long periods.
I will have many more challenges and will be sharing them (along with victories, I hope!). It's going to take a lot of work and sacrifice on my part. I may not be able to do things that interfere with our routine, since that can hinder progress. For example, I may not be able to attend bible study on Wednesday nights because keeping the twins awake, but also quiet would be very difficult! However, I am willing to do it if it means I can know they will sleep 12 hours a night and take naps so I can have me time!
Feel free to pray for me or offer any suggestions that might help me!
Here goes nothing...
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