Fussy twins

Submitted by Tracyjane1809 on Sat, 07/07/2012 - 21:33

I have twin girls who were 14 weeks premature, they would have now been 5 weeks corrected age.
they sleep most of the day only waking for bottles every 3 1/2 - 4 hrs then they stay awake for about 15 mins then back to sleep. During the day they sleep either in the bouncer or swinging chair.
At night I give them a bath around 7 and then bottle and bed for 8 ish, both girls go straight to sleep but after 10-15 mins get really fussy start crying and it's really difficult to settle them they usually finally sleep around 11 before waking about an hr later for a feed again it takes ages to settle. I've tried putting them in the cot during the day but they cry, I've tried to leave them to settle on there own but they get louder and it's harder to settle them. one of my girls wakes for her dummy at night every few mins. Any suggestions on what I can do?
Should I wake them more during the day?
leave them to cry at night?
Not worry so much about a routine?
I realise 5 weeks is to early for a routine but because they were prem they already kinda in one with eating every 4 hrs, when they are awake they look around notice colours and voices etc.

‹ 5 MO waking at 5am! 10 month old and sleep routine gone to pot! ›

Hello,your twins were really

Submitted by Juliet on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 23:02.

Hello,

your twins were really early so you have done so well to get into such a good routine. It's great that you have started a bedtime routine as that is one of the keys to promoting good sleep habits later on. Most young babies have an unsettled period and unfortunately the evening is a very common time. I can give you a few pointers but obviously at this age they are not expected to sleep all night and I would treat them to their corrected age.

Roughly at this age babies need around 15-16 hours of sleep and this can roughly be split equally with wakes for feeds. To begin with there is no order to the day and night particularly if your were in SCBU with bright lights and noises making it hard for them to differentiate. I am sure you are doing this but help them differentiate by getting out and about as much you can in the daylight, speaking at normal tone etc. Then at night keeping noise to a minimum, no stimualtion and darkness - all these things help babies to regulate their body clocks which starts to develop at around 6 weeks and by 3-6 months most babies have a regular sleep wake cycle.Also by around 3 months melatonin is starting to develop.

Your bedtime routine is great so continue with this and if they are unsettled just try and settle them back down into the cot. They could have trapped wind or colic and this does tend to get better as they get older. One of the other things is to try and put them in the cot or moses basket for naps and bedtime slightly awake so that they learn to self settle to sleep. Initially you may need to rock or cuddle to soothe to sleep but try and do this less and less as they get older so they learn to self settle to sleep.It is also getting the timing right for the naps - if they are over tired they may well resist the cot and also like the rhythm of the chair. If you can get them settling in the cot/moses in the day it may well help with the night. You could also try white noise.

The feeding schedule sounds great and new babies do only manage around 1.5 hours awake before they are tired again. regular naps helps prevent over tired babies.

Hope that helps a little.

regards

Juliet