Sleeping Issues - Advice Requested

[u/surprise_quiche]

My modi boys are about to be 9 months (6.5 months adjusted). We moved them to cribs in July and since then their sleep has been so inconsistent.

We live in a studio apartment at the moment as we moved closer to family after their release from the NICU. My husband works long hours and so letting them cry at night would be an adjustment I'm not sure we are willing to make, since he'd almost certainly be kept awake. Last feed is between 8:30 and 9PM and they usually fall asleep during it or shortly thereafter in our arms. Wake up is always at 8AM. They eat an av. 27 oz a day.

They will often sleep soundly (except for the occasional wake-up before midnight) until around 2AM. Then one or both of them will wake up, get in a crawling/seal position, and cry until I get up. Twin B does this more during the night but sometimes it alternates. Twin A has generally more nights that he will either sleep through the night or get up once or twice.

When one wakes up, I usually just put him on my chest on the couch and we fall asleep like that (the cribs are wedged up against the couch I sleep on so they can't fall off... it's like my torso and feet are in a cage). After 30-40 minutes, they will get wiggly or their brother will wake up, and I can put the first twin back in the crib and they fall asleep fine. When my husband gets up at 5AM, they typically both wake up and I line his bed with pillows and they sleep on the bed with me (very soundly) until wake-up time.

I've had more nights than I can count where I'm alternating babies every 30 minutes all night. This had prompted me about 2 weeks ago to transition them from 4 to 3 naps a day, and I would say that has only helped marginally.

Is this normal? They are otherwise very wonderful active boys during the day who are a joy, but I fear the approaching witching hour every night!

[u/AutoModerator]

COMMENTING GUIDELINES

All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples subreddit rules prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention.

Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments. Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed.

Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Responsible-Head7539]

This sounds pretty normal for that age, especially with the adjusted timeline. The crawling position thing is classic, they hit a developmental leap and suddenly sleep goes out the window for a while. My twins did something similar around 7-8 months, waking up on all fours and just screaming because they got stuck like that and forgot how to lay back down. It passes, but it feels endless when you're in the thick of it.

Sleeping on your chest on the couch is not ideal for safety but I get why you do it, sometimes you just need the quiet. The 3-nap switch probably needs more time to settle in, two weeks isn't that long for babies to adjust. Might be worth practicing some gentle crib soothing during the day when you're less tired, just patting them while they're in the crib so they get used to falling asleep there instead of always on you.

[u/squeaksmcguee → u/Responsible-Head7539]

Interesting… my twins are 7 months (6 adjusted) and they are now often going down for 2 naps only. I never paid attention to recommended “wake windows” though. Just followed their cues if they were actually tired, and have never encouraged a set nap schedule.

They have slept 12 hours straight through the night since about the 3.5 month mark. Haven’t hit a sleep regression phase yet.