Sleep Training With Twins

Published on makchic.com March 2014

Sleep training, without a doubt, is the second most sensitive topic after breastfeeding. Some people say that letting your baby cry it out will affect their sense of security and trust in the world as adults. But as with everything else that comes along with parenthood, you need to make a decision that best suits your lifestyle and temperament.

I’m a stay-at-home-mum without outside help so I need to stick very closely to a routine to keep sane. I’m proud to say that I eat three meals a day, shower, do the laundry on most days, which any mother would know is a huge feat.

Sleep training is basically training your baby to sleep on his or her own, and teaching them to connect their sleep cycles so that they can sleep continuously throughout the night. That’s right – no rocking, no patting, no nothing. I put my babies in their cots and they sleep. If they wake up in the middle of the night, they know how to pacify themselves and eventually go back to sleep on their own.

Of course, this doesn’t come easy because in order to get your baby to learn how to sleep on their own, there will be a lot of tears (sometimes not the baby’s) and at times you may even want to give in, open the door and carry them. I knew that sleep training would be a must for my baby even before I had a baby because I had a friend who had a sleep-trained kid and I was completely shocked at how her kid used to nap like clockwork every single day.

From the time we brought the babies back from the hospital we had somewhat of a system everyday where we’d get them ready for bed at around 5.30pm. I know that sounds really early but for us, it involves two babies to bathe, change and feed so by the time they are actually put in their cots it’s already 7pm.

I’m not sure if this helped but my babies were sleeping through the night before they were even three months old. However, I did struggle with their daytime naps. When they turned four months old, I tried out my friend’s three hourly cycle and it seemed to work wonders for my babies.

Here’s an example of a schedule that a friend gave to me, which you can tweak to suit your little one’s feeds. But keep in mind that they shouldn’t stay up for more than a hour and a half or so.

5.30 am- Nurse and then back down to bed
8.30 am- Nurse and then “Activity time”
10.00 am- Down for a Nap (1 to 1 ½ hours)
11.30 pm- Nurse and then “Activity time”
1.00 pm- Down for a Nap (1 to 1 ½ hours)
2.30 pm- Nurse and then “Activity time”
4.00 pm- Down for a Nap (1 hour)
5.30 pm- Nurse and then “Activity time”
8.00 pm- Bath (every other day)
8.30 pm- Nurse and then down to bed for the night (Asleep by 9:00pm)

Sleep Training Tips:

1. As difficult as it is to believe, babies love routine so once you’ve started your training try to keep at it for at least two weeks so that the habit can be formed.

2. The more sleep your baby has, the better your baby will sleep at night. Babies who don’t have enough sleep are cranky babies and so take a long time to settle down and sleep.

3. Try not to pick up your baby the second you hear a whimper from him or her; most of the time he or she will fall right back to sleep by himself or herself.

4. Take cues from your baby. The moment you see him or her rubbing their eyes or yawning or staring into space put them to bed immediately.

5. Try not to over-stimulate your baby just before nap time; instead try leaving them alone so that they can learn to be independent and wind down on their own.

6. If possible try not to change your baby’s diapers at midnight (unless you really need to) because this will eventually become a habit for them and they will wake up at midnight every night.

7. If your baby has started to sleep through the night on his or her, chances are that he or she doesn’t need the midnight feed anymore.

8. If you’re a parent of multiples you can try staggered scheduling where one is fed 15 to 20 minutes later than the other child so that you can avoid two simultaneously hungry and cranky babies.

9. As cute as it is to hear your baby coo and baby talk at 3 or 4 in the morning don’t go over to their cot to play with them because if they start expecting you to come over to play with them, it won’t be so cute for long.

10. Babies’ sleep patterns are constantly changing and we need to be aware of these changes and go with the flow.