 |
||
 |
||
|
||
 |
 |
 |
| Samantha & Sydney February 13, 2006 |
 |
Stories
June 20 ~ The girls had a good night. Bath at 6:30pm. Big feeds. In bed between 8-9pm and slept until 1am. Mike fed them and back to bed until 6am. We've decided to give them 1 feed overnight - whenever they wake up.
Our previous plan (trying to soothe them back to sleep) wasn't working. Actually, it was getting harder. While we still think that most nights they aren't waking from hunger... It's much easier to feed 'em and get 'em back in the crib than soothe them for hours.
They are beginning to learn to self soothe by sucking on their hands. We do sometimes let them cry for short periods and give them an opportunity to fall asleep on their own. But if screaming begins, we intervene quickly.
I'm sick today (sore throat and dizziness). So instead of enjoying my first official Mom's night out with the twins group, I'm going to bed early.
June 15 ~ Pediatrician appointment and 4-month shots.
Samantha is heavier: Weight 13 pounds 12 ounces; Length 23 1/4 inches
Sydney is longer: Weight 13 pounds 4 ounces; Length 24 inches
Sydney no longer needs to take the extra vitamins and iron! Dr. Wall recommended we start rice cereal and then solids around 5-6 months. Depends on when they can situp well on their own. Next appt in 2 months.
The girls seem to have outgrown the nighttime feedings. They do still wake up and want soothed and comforted, but aren't actually hungry. Last night, they went to bed around 8:30pm. Syd woke at 4:30 and feel back to sleep around 6am. Sam woke at 6am. They weren't hungry until 7:30am. That's 12 hours between feedings!
Of course, having the shots today will throw off the schedule. They are sleepy, cranky and sore. Both girls are napping this afternoon - in separate rooms.
June 14 ~ The girls and I walked to a nearby cafe for a late lunch. On the way home, we visited Susie & Sophie.
We are no longer swaddling Sydney. She is fascinated by her hands. She enjoys (and soothes) herself by sucking on them. Her new PJ outfit is a long sleeved onsie and a sleep sack.
Samantha is also interested in sucking on her hands, but she still requires swaddling to sleep.
June 13 ~ FOUR months old!
I'm working hard to get their naps organized. At this age, they need structured naps. They are so active and alert, but still get overstimulated easily. Our latest strategy is to separate them for naptime. Sydney sleeps in the crib or swing in the nursery. Sam is swaddled and positioned safely on our bed. Our goal is 3 naps per day (60 minutes in morning, 90 minutes in afternoon and 30-45 minutes late afternoon).
We have stopped feeding them at every nighttime wakeup. Their pattern has been to wake, only eat 2 ounces and collapse back into dreamland. At this age and how much they are eating and gaining, we know these wakings aren't usually about hunger. It's extremely difficult to soothe them back to sleep.
The books recommend sleep training at 6 months. We are trying to figure out what's appropriate for 4 month olds.
June 11 ~ The girls woke at 3am and 5am. Then didn't want to go back into the crib.
Tonight we are determined to make them wait until atleast 5am. The books say one overnight feed is still okay at this stage, as long as they are "dream feeding" and going right back to bed. Since they both hit new daily formula records again (jeez must be another growth spurt), I'm really hoping they can make it thru until 5am.
Sydney is enthusiastic about learning to suck her thumb. So for the first time, she is not swaddled tonight. Hopefully sucking on her hand will help her to self soothe. And hopefully (for Sam's sake) she doesn't spend the night punching her sister. Especially since Sam is still swaddled and can't defend herself. ;-)
June 10 ~ We've changed a few things over the past few days: faster nipple for their bottles; bigger bottles for the 8pm feed; dropped the 11pm feed because they get up at 4-5am regardless; moved the futon out of the nursery; moved their swings into their nursery so they can nap better during the day.
The faster nipple is really speeding up feedings. An average feeding would take 45-60 minutes. Now the feeds are 15-30 minutes.
They still spitup very frequently, but it rarely hurts or upsets them thanks to Zantac. Mostly it creates lots of laundry (theirs and ours). I had to change my shirt 6 times yesterday.
June 9 ~ Walked to the library.
The "Sleep Lady" book is helping us. Finally an "expert" book that doesn't make me want to scream. The advice books often frustrate me. First, I don't have time to read an entire book - give me the cliff notes! Second, these authors expect you to follow every piece of advice -or- apparently their approach won't work. Well, I don't agree 100% with any of them and most of them don't adequately (if at all) address the twin issues.
June 7 ~ Syd and Sam are more expressive and very active. They love to play. It's becoming a challenge to find the right activities, at the right time of day, for the right length of time.
They recognize our faces and voices and smile in response to us. They enjoy kicking - especially kicking mommy & daddy.
June 5 ~ We don't like Mondays around here. Mike works a very long day. All of us miss him (including Bailey). The girls gave me a particularily hard time today.
They are not napping at the same times. Which wasn't so bad while Grandma was visiting. Now it's a problem for me since atleast one of them is always awake (and often fussy). I'm SO tired. Mike has an early meeting on Tuesday. I hope the girls sync up their naptimes tomorrow or it'll be another really long day.
June 1 ~ Skipping the 11pm feed resulted in a 2am wakeup call. Lesson learned.
The girls enjoyed lounging on the front porch this afternoon with Bailey.
| previous page | Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | next page |
 Contact This Site's Owner
|
 |
 |
 |