bed time for 4.5month old twins

LoriAnn - posted on 09/17/2009

thank you for all ur help. my girls turned 5 months yesterday and have gotton much better, since i posted last they have limited their naped to 2-3 sometimes 4 a day. a guy in walmart saw my twins and gave me some advice as well he told me to keep the girls up about 2-3 hours before bed time. ive also became a lil more flexible because i want them to have a range bedtime, because my fiance and i are 21 and sometimes go camping for a weekend and i dont ant them to be on such a set strict schedule that they get all crazy...its been working great i kinda wait till they r tied for them to go to bed or nap when one looks tired i out them one to nap and then tried and nap the other....its been working well....they go to bed between 9 and 10 and wake up between 8-11....usually late 9. i too have one twin listening and following VERY well...but my other (the older) HATES bedtime hate sleeping and hates being tired....again thanks for ur help!!

Katie - posted on 09/17/2009

I have a general rule that if my girls wake before 6am I give them a bottle and put them back to bed, that is just too early to get up. Anytime after 6 I get up with them and start the day and that means waking up the other one which sounds mean but honestly if you have two babies on two different eating and napping schedules you will go crazy....at least I did on the few days that I didn't wake up the second twin. At 4.5 months old my girls slept from about 10 until 8 in the morning and they were sleeping through the night, most of the time.

Summer - posted on 09/17/2009

I have 2 year old fraternal twin boys. Four months is the age that my pediatrician told me to start helping my boys learn to sleep through the night. It is absolutely easier said than done. But if you can tough it out, then the payoff is so worth it. He said that at 4 months they are physically able to sleep for 8 hours without feeding (as long as they get enough through the day) or changing (unless it is poo). My guys didn't have any feeding or weight issues though, so if your twins do then you may want to talk to your doctor before you try that. Our schedule at this age was wake up at 6 am, first nap from 8 am to 10 am, second nap 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, and third nap from 5 pm to 7 pm. Of course we had all our recommended feedings and things in between those times. Our bedtime routine was bath, cereal bottle, swaddle, then rock for roughly 15 minutes in a dark room with one of those calming baby cd's playing, and in bed whether awake or asleep by 10 pm. We always used those footed sleepers for pajamas because mine kicked their socks off. I also left a fan on but facing away from them so that the white noise from the fan might help them sleep but the air wouldn't make them cold. And we kept the room completely dark. It only took about 2 weeks of following this routine consistently, and they had it down. After we got them on this schedule they were like different babies. They hardly cried. When they were awake they laughed and played. We didn't have to hold them all the time and try to constantly soothe them and figure out what was wrong. They stayed on this schedule till they were roughly 9 months old when we changed to 2 naps a day and an earlier bedtime. Of course the naps got a little shorter as they aged, but they were still at the same times. He said not to wait until they fell asleep to lay them down for naps or for bed because part of establishing healthy sleep habits was for them to learn to put themselves to sleep. He said if they cry as long as they aren't losing their breath or anything just to let them cry and to stay out of their sight. He gave us some time limit guidelines which I don't completely remember, but I think it was like after 20 minutes then soothe the baby. He said to have as little interaction with them as possible though, so no talking, no bouncing, etc., do as little as you have to just to get them soothed so they don't mistake this time for playtime. Then once they were calm to lay them back in bed and start the process over. I swear there were a few nights that I must have spent the whole night awake just sittin and doing this over and over again. The first couple weeks I tried it almost every night I just ended up giving up and picking them up and giving them bottles. But finally I told myself that it was impossible for me to continue functioning that way, and so I buckled down and got tough and just did it. I swear it is the best thing I ever did. One baby did catch on to this earlier than the other, so I was fortunate enough to be able to put them in separate rooms so they couldn't wake each other up. By 5 months they were both sleeping all night long, and they have been ever since.

Shelley - posted on 09/06/2009

Babies can stay in bed for 12 solid hours, starting at 3 months old, if they are getting at least 24 ounces of milk per day. Mine are in bed from 7:15 to 7:15

Kristen - posted on 09/03/2009

My twin boys will be 5 months next week. They usually have their last bottle around 8 and are out for the night until about 6 or 7 am.. depending on our work schedule we sometimes need to wake them up to get them fed before heading to day care... They have been on the same sleep/feeding schedule since they were born and have been in their own cribs since they were about 6 weeks old.. (they were getting big and kept annoying the other one while sleeping)..

Jocelyn - posted on 09/03/2009

My twins are just a little older (5 months now) and they usually get up themselves between 7 & 8. How long are they usually sleeping after their last night feeding? I would try to be consistent as possible and get them up a few hours after their last feeding. Between 7 & 8 has worked great for me. I always wake the other after I feed whoever got up first but they are pretty much on the same schedule. By now they should only be waking up once or not at all for a feeding so really start trying to elimanate them. My boys usually eat around 7 and go to bed around 8:30. We wake them around 10-10:30 to eat again so they are nice and full (we are going to try to start pushing that up and eventually getting rid of it too). They dropped the 1 am feeding first and got up around 3ish to eat. That happened around 3 months. Around 4 months they started sleeping until around 5. They are getting used to that feeding that they really don't need so try to get them to go back to sleep before you feed them. Hopefully you'll get them out of the habit of waking to eat. It's so hard I know but really try so you can all get a good night sleep! Good luck!

Wendy - posted on 09/03/2009

We did sleep training using "The Baby Sleep Solution" book. It's wonderful & saved our sanity!! We feed them at 8pm & they're in bed between 8:30 & 9pm. They get up at 8am. Our boys are almost 4mo.

They usually sleep thru the nite. Sometimes one will wake up needing a diaper change (HAVE to use disposables) or need a snack (3 to 4 oz of formula) if having growing pains, but that's rare. The big thing was we had to stop co-cribbing :( , but it worked! -w

Meghann - posted on 09/02/2009

My almost 4 month old twins have recently started to go to bed about 8:30. One is now sleeping through the night and gets up at 8:00 AM. The other is still waking one time during the night and I just feed her 4 ounces and put her back to sleep. They seem to sleep the best at night when their routine and naps are consistent during the day. Also, even if they are still sleeping at 8 AM I wake them up to keep things on schedule.

Vicki - posted on 09/02/2009

When my twins were that age they were on the exact same schedule (I know lucky me) and truthfully I let them sleep as much as possible - waking them up was something I never did on purpose. I was a stay at home mom then so had that luxury and no other children.

Jodie - posted on 09/02/2009

my twins had a routine and slept and fed at the same time!! By four months they were going to bed at about 8 and waking rouhgly every four hours for a feed!! If they woke at 6 for a feed we got up then the latest they would wake for a feed was 8 a.m so we would get up then!! I never really woke them for feeds or in the morning b/c i found they would be grumpy and soon fall back to sleep

LoriAnn - posted on 09/01/2009

yea but what time do you wake up with them for the day

Tasha - posted on 09/01/2009

wow, my twins are turning 4 in october but when they were little i never really did the "schedule" thing. i tried to at least lay them down together for naps and bedtime (they shared a crib until there wasnt enough room anymore) they never stayed asleep at the same time so i just let them be.

Kristin - posted on 09/01/2009

I have twin girls... what we ended up doing is after we put them to bed at night, if one got up, we woke the other one up to keep them on the same schedule...