Mommy the Sleep Nazi

So,the boys are six months old now, and last week after a series of events (one of which was me dissolving into tears because I couldn't open a jar of pickles... can you say 'sleep deprivation?'), I decided that feeding-on-demand was just not working for us any more. The boys were up at night eating- I kid you not- five to seven times every night. Even the pediatrician was floored. And, of course, they hardly ever awoke at the same time. So I spent a few days and used every waking moment I had available (and I have to tell you, I don't have a whole lot of them) to research babies and sleep, sleep training and schedules.

With the Princess, she created her own schedule of sorts pretty early on- I know we certainly didn't put her on one, but she awoke, ate, played, and napped at the same times each day. I never realized how wonderfully lucky we were until now. And truth be told, I think each boy would do the same, but the times they "want" to do things do not coincide- and to keep Mommy out of the big building with the padded rooms and the nice men in the white coats, it looks like they need some help coordinating their schedules.

So I read, I researched, I took notes, I planned. I tried to talk it over with Monk but at the first mention of the phrase "sleep training" and "schedules" his eyes glazed over and he started to steal glances at the tv while I was talking... so I worked on developing a plan and Wednesday night was the first night of putting that plan into action. A lot of it I took from a, uh, "borrowed" copy of the Sleep Sense Workbook (Dana Obleman's program- pretty awesome, I'm still looking for a copy of that ebook to thumb through). The idea is to teach the boys how to fall asleep without needing any help- like the bottle they've been jonesing for in the middle of the night (my fault). So a few nights ago the boys went to bed after a "bedtime routine" (something else I've never been big on- I don't know what it is, but give me a rule, even one I institute myself and something inside me yearns to break it), and since they are both a very healthy weight, they don't "need" to eat overnight. So I decided no more nighttime bottles. And what's more, I carried it a step further and created a schedule for them for the daytime where they only get three 8 ounce bottles a day. And I know it's early, they've only been on this new schedule for less than a week, but...

They are doing AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

I really thought they were going to protest a lot more and insist on having a bottle to be soothed back to sleep, but apparently I have totally underestimated the power of my singing the ABCs. From the time I put them down at around 7pm til about 3am the first night, all I had to do to help one twin go back to sleep was hug him, pat his back, and croon the ABC song. I think it's fair to say I was totally shocked at how much easier it was than I thought it was going to be. True, I had to totally throw out my idea of not picking up the twins (I figure we get away from the bottle first... baby steps, so to speak).

On the other hand, I don't know what happened after 3am. Maybe I just hit a wall myself, too tired to comply with my own rules, or maybe it's because both boys woke up at the same time and I was just too flustered (and sleepy) to think straight. But at that 3am wake up is when I caved and both boys got a bottle of watered-down Pedialyte, and I brought someone to the couch to snuggle with me. By that time the Monk was also up, and he took a baby until he left for work. But I still am considering it a MAJOR success, especially since the rest of the day went so well also.

They have really taken to the whole schedule thing (apparently they haven't gotten their Mommy's rule-breaking impetus). They seem very content, despite the fact that they are eating, not kidding, more than ten less bottles per day than they used to. We're still finding our way, and I suspect we will be for awhile still, but knowing that there's a light at the end of the tunnel has done wonders to improve my outlook on things... six solid months of sleep deprivation is a looooong time (Abu Grahib's got nothing on moms of multiples, let me tell you). Hopefully the overnights start going smoother, and they start staying asleep for longer stretches and being able to soothe themselves back to sleep in the middle of the night.

As I write this, the boys are napping!!! Praise GOD! :)

Hard to believe we went from the first photo to the second in the short space of one week!!!