Twins Waking All Night

Ten month old dummy dependant twins waking all night.

We have 10 month old twins Zander & Indy. Up until they were 8 months old we never really had a problem with their sleeping habits.  Until we moved houses, when everything went wrong. The babies just didn’t settle from day one! Even in the day they started to get grumpy which isn’t like them, they are normally jolly little people! I was starting to feel like I was a failure and was feeling really down. Surly as a Mum I should know what was wrong with them?  For about a month every night they would start waking up every hour on the hour all night! We were trying every trick in the book to get them back to sleep. From Shushing them, constantly putting  dummies back in and tapping there chests to rocking them and committing the worst sin ever ,putting them in bed with us, which they were more than happy with. We even tried separating them so we could deal with them one by one plus they wouldn’t wake each other up!

Reluctantly it was time to admit defeat! And call in for back up!  Luckily had I met Linda at Our first year’s club for twin parents at St Johns Hospital where she did a talk on sleeping problems. We thought she had a very nice approach to sleep.

I gave Linda a ring when I was at my lowest! She asked me to go through my routine from morning to night time. Which I thought was very strange because I didn’t have a problem with them in the day! Linda reassured me with in a month they will be sleeping through.  Linda gave me a good solid routine from the minute they woke up plus suggested a dummy a detox and no swaddling! I can honestly say with my hand on my heart we were dreading this battle!! But having being reassured by Linda I felt like the black cloud was lifting!

The day time routine wasn’t much different than we had already put into practice, just a little tweaking here and there. They didn’t even notice the dummies had vanished! I think we liked the dummies more than they did.

The first night went better than expected. We stuck to the controlled crying and introduced a dream feed at 10 -30 as Linda advised and in less than half an hour they were both asleep. Zander woke up half hour before the dream feed so we decided 10 O’clock was a reasonable time to stick to. Indy woke up in the early hours, two shushes later she was fast asleep. Night one had been a success, although I still thought there was worse to come!

The next few nights were pretty much the same; we were beginning to think they new what to do and how to get back to sleep. I myself was starting to relax for the first time since they were born and actually getting a good nights sleep, and that made me feel I could cope with anything the little ones could throw at me.

I kept in contact with Linda daily for the first week and she really encouraged me and gave huge support. And for the next month we spoke two to three times a week!

It’s been two months now and I would never had believed that Zander & Indy would sleep through the night. We still have the odd night where they maybe one shush in practice. But overall a complete success!!!

I recommend Linda Russell to everyone. I do believe she has saved my sanity and also for certain saved my relationship with there Dad.  Thank You Linda, you have been a true friend! Lynda Samuel & Colin Leonard.