Year old twin girls - not sleeping - desperately need advice!!!!!

[wilkie50]

Am posting on behalf of my sis as she has been ont he phone to me this morning absolutely sobbing.

Her twin DDs are 1 year old and have not been sleeping through since Sept. They go down at night (rarely sleep during the day), don't have food with additives or juice but then wake up, wide awake, in the middle of the night and want to play. They will not settle back down so my sis and her DH are averaging 2-3 hrs per night asleep.

He works full time and she does three days - this problem is becoming a real issue for their marriage and sanity.

Any advice or anyone willing to talk to her who have had the same problem?

Thanks in advance.

[dingdongjustforyoufg]

I've no experience of this as I've been incredibly lucky with my DTs' sleeping, but feel very sorry for your sis and DH, will direct others your way

[frumpygrumpy]

I had sleep problems with my first child and bought a marvellous book called Solve Your Child's Sleep Problem by Dr Richard Ferber. Its straightforward to read (so useful if you are sleep deprived!).

It explains a lot about sleep patterns and all sort of things to think about and look at which might help diagnose the real problem. It could be dozing off at the wrong time of day unsettles them or not having a regular day sleep is actually leaving their bodies so exhausted that they have not trained their bodies to switch off for a long spell. They are very little not to have a day sleep.

I felt so much better for reading it and I have referred to it a lot when I've had other sleep problems with my DTs.

this is it and amazon are quick to deliver.

Sometimes the body needs trained into sleep so they need to be prepared to start at the beginning with a new sleep routine and expect it to take a little while. The end result will be so rewarding though that they must not give up. I fully understand how awful you can feel for being sleep deprived, it makes you grouchy and angry and tearful and forgetful and short on patience and you have no desire for any life other than sleeping.

I'm going to link this into a thread that we mums of multiples use regularly. Its the D'you ever wonder......thread. If she can get to a pc, point her our way and we'll try to help more.

[MarsLady]

ditto FG. My DTs were sorted in a week.

[frumpygrumpy]

we're here daily, tell her to come and visit, we'll stick the kettle on

thanks dingdong, was just going to link us in.

[wilkie50]

Thanks so much - they have just bought a new laptop but she is a bit of a technophobe!! I am going to see her (she lives in Manchester) on Sun so will attempt to give her a crash course of MN!! (I am an avid user but have just had my first LO who wasn't a twin so I'm not much help to her!!)

I will also suggest the book to her.

Thanks xxx

[frumpygrumpy]

Best of luck to you both. Hope it gets sorted soon.

[throckenholt]

If they are not sleeping during the day then maybe they are overtired. Mine certainly slept badly at that age if they were overtired (not so much now they are 4). I would suggest they concentrate on getting some sleep during the day and see if it helps (sounds odd but seems true - they are too tired to sleep well).

[twinsnikki]

I agree with throckenholt, I have 3 year old, who still now on weekends need a nap.

It is interesting that the natural thing is to keep them awake during the day in hope that they will go through the night, but sometimes, the reverse is true.

My girls gave up the midday naps at the age age of 2. So naps now are a treat!

Sometimes, I would just take them into my room, get in bed with them, and if they played, I would micro nap. However, this was very rare as they would like nothing more than to cuddle with mummy and do what mummy was doing, sleep....

nik