• Blog Stats

    • 8,558 hits

Sleeping with Baby(ies)

Posted on August 29, 2008 by innest
Two well rested twins, 8 months old

Two well rested twins, their parents don't look this good.

Sleeping with babies is not recommended.  Experts say it can be a cause of SIDS.  So when my guys were first born, they never slept with me.  Even when I went to get them in their crib at 3 AM and I took them to my bed to feed them, I always returned them to their cribs.  Even when they were so cuddly and molded against me and all I wanted to do was to drift off with this cuddly baby – I would startle awake to my SIDS paranoia and return them to their bumper free crib in their sleep sacks (all things that were supposed to ward off SIDS, did I mention I was paranoid?).  More on SIDS some other post.

Somewhere around the six month mark I started lying down with Kieran during his nap – he would drift off quickly when I was there.  And then I started taking him to my bed when he woke up in the night.  And then I would take Angus to bed when he woke.  Gus would come in the morning and find all three of us in various positions, with walls of pillows I had built around them to stop them from rolling onto the floor.  I knew it was a bad idea but at 3 AM when you are so tired and sleep deprived, you take the easy solution, something that will get them back to sleep quickly so everyone can sleep.

Thing is, only the babies really sleep.  I now take Kieran to bed almost every night when he wakes.  and he turns, and squirms, and kicks, and pushes his soother into my face and grabs my hair.  But when he’s asleep I can sleep too.  And when he’s screaming in the other room, I can’t.  Latest solution has been me on a mattress on the floor in their room which worked okay last night (first attempt), I can hush them with my voice when they wake.  We were going to take turns on the mattress but they are at a stage when they only want mommy and we only have one of those.

We are away on vacation for a week.  We are considering something more draconian upon our return (Ferber?  I don’t think I cn do it) but I really need these guys sleeping through the night before I go back to work, three short months away!

Will post when we get back.

Advertisement

Filed under: Sleeping zzzzzz... | 2 Comments »

Baby Free Weekend

Posted on August 26, 2008 by innest

The twins spent the weekend at my brother Brad’s place with his wife Pam and three kids: Liam, Teagan and Rowan.  There are very few people we would trust our precious babies with but my brother’s wife is amazing with kids.  I of course had to call all the time to see how they were but I didn’t call as many times as I did the last time they stayed there.  The last time my brother forbid me to call past 10 PM.  Anyway a good time was had by all – Brad got to stay up with Kieran from 12 AM to 3 AM.  Meanwhile I was at home dreaming the babies were in bed with us.  Gus had to keep telling me the babies weren’t there as I lifted blankets and picked up his arm in my sleep, thinking it was  a baby that would fall off the bed.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

About the Cats

Posted on August 25, 2008 by innest

Since the name of the Blog is Identical Twins and two cats I guess I should mention something about the cats.  You can probably tell I am not really into the cats.  They came with Gus and were full grown and had a full hate-on for me when I came into the picture.  We eventually got to a place where we respectfully ignored each other.  Then when I was off on sick leave due to my twin pregnancy, we actually became quite fond of each other.  They would curl up with me and purr, one liked sitting on my belly, I felt like she was “hatching” the twins.  Then the babies came and I’m sure the cats were thinking “What the hell happened?” because there was absolutely no time for purring or cuddles with them.  Things have calmed down somewhat and we are in somewhat of a routine now that the babies are 8 months old but of course the cats have not fogiven me for ignoring them for eight months. So we’re kind of back to the respectfully ignoring stage.  The babies are fascinated by them.

Filed under: Cats n Twins | Leave a comment »

The Trip was Wonderful (till the last leg home)

Posted on August 24, 2008 by innest

My seventeen year old niece and sister each took a baby for two nights and I slept out in their trailer so I couldn’t even hear any fussing.  Two nights uninterrupted sleep – bliss! It’s funny how you are almost tireder when you catch up on sleep – it’s like your body gets used to the interruptions.  I have become a bit of an insomniac since getting up through the night with the babies but I did get a couple good sleeps in.

It was great having more hands around to help with babies and the three little girls (ten, seven, and four) played and played and played with the babies, keeping them entertained.  So in a way it would be easier with twins if you had more kids!

Teagan, my ten year old niece, managed to keep them entertained on the long trip home.  But after I dropped her off and did the last hour on my own – screaming, sobbing babies.  And bumper to bumper traffic to boot.  Very difficult as there is nothing you can really do…I tried talking, singing etc.  I finally had to pull off the freeway and give them a baby mum mum to chew on.  That worked for awhile but then I was worried they would choke on their cookies!  We eventually made it home.  Just trying to get them back on some semblence of a schedule.

Sleep is the theme that keeps comin

Filed under: Sleeping zzzzzz..., Travel with Twins | Leave a comment »

5 Hour Trip Alone with Two Babies

Posted on August 15, 2008 by innest

Okay, not really alone.  I am bringing my ten year old niece for assistance.  My husband is worried I will be turning around in the seat if the babies start fussing and drive right off the road.  No need to worry, I am ultimate careful when driving with my babies.

We did do one 5 hour (turned into 9 hours) trip before. but Gus was with me.  The way there was fine, the way back a nightmare. 

The trick is to drive when they are sleeping.  This means getting up early, like 4 AM cause they will sleep till 7 AM, when it is time for first bottle.  They then have their cereal at 8 Am and are ready for a 2 hour nap at 9 AM which means another two hours of uniterrrupted driving.  Then 11 AM bottle, 12 PM lunch and back down again at 1 PM.  The two hour stops make the trip much longer but truly more pleasant than driving with them awake in their carseats, they get bored and fussy after 20 minutes or so when they are awake.

Will post again upon return.

Filed under: Travel with Twins | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

The Second Post: I guess I should explain a few things…

Posted on August 15, 2008 by innest
The fall (twice) from our deck to bushes below

The fall (twice) from our deck to bushes below

My husband and I are both 43, the twins are eight months old, identical twin boys. Apparently very identical though they look quite different to me.  The cats are about seven or eight years old (not sure, they came with the husband) and are fraternal twins. Very fraternal.  One is fat, has long black hair and has cost us about a million dollars in vet bills.  The other is very slim, black and white short hair and has fallen from the balcony of our top floor condo to the ground (twice), bouncing off the roof below (about five stories) . Gus went and fished her out of the bushes, slight limp one time, never had a vet bill. Gus took a photo of the fall.

The babies love the cats, and squeal with pleasure whenever they spot one.  The cats do not love the babies and go through great lengths to avoid them.  Babies are just starting to crawl. Things should get interesting.

Filed under: Background | Leave a comment »

The First Post: Not Sleeping Through the Night with Twins

Posted on August 15, 2008 by innest

The boys are eight months old now and I am sorry to all you parents of twins, triplets and other multiples that are searching for information on the number one issue with multiples i.e. sleep solutions – no, they are still not sleeping through the night.  They are better (one often does) but still no consistency.  I’m quite sure the problem right now is the four new teeth that each are dealing with  –  infant tylenol and infant motrin are getting us some hours of sleep.  I’ve read all the sleep books and advice books – “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” ; “Baby Whisperer”, Burton White, “Twelve Hours by Twelve Weeks”.  No I haven’t read Ferber – letting my babies sob themselves to sleeep just doesn’t work for me.  Some evoultionary psychologists believe human babies are not designed to sleep twelve hours.  My husband sent me an interesting link from an anthropologist at Texas A&M Universtity http://kathydettwyler.org/detsleepthrough.html

Right now all I can do is take some comfort in knowing that they will be teenagers one day and we won’t be able to get them out of bed in the morning.  Also, we seem to have the daytime naps down – they both sleep for 1.5 – 2 hours morning and afternoon.  But for those long nights of a few hours sleep here and there, all we can do for now is slog on…..

Filed under: Sleeping zzzzzz... | Leave a comment »