Toddler Sleep Training Day #2

Nap time was one of the things that I talked about with Alanna from http://www.goodnightsleepsite.com/.  I thought I had naps ‘under control’ or at least better than nighttime sleeping.  Nope.  I did not!  Alanna recommended that the boys should be sleeping 2.5-3hrs everyday at their afternoon nap and that even if they woke up early I should leave them to play in their cribs for the rest of the duration.  As any mother of multiples knows, if one wakes up it is often best to run up and remove the awake twin in the hopes that the sleeping twin will remain sleeping.  I hate doing this because it usually causes problems later in the day.  The twin who slept longer is wide awake and ready to play and the other is cranky and tired.  So, new nap times and longer naps is what Alanna prescribed.

Nap time:

Put the boys to bed later than I had been in the past resulting in two tired, cranky boys.  They ate a good lunch but wanted to watch t.v. rather than nap.  I took them upstairs anyway with a train in each hand and put them down for the nap.  For the first time in months they cried.  And cried. And cried.  After about 30 minutes they stopped and seemingly went to sleep.  But, a few minutes later began crying again. Then, they stopped and slept for about 2 hours.  They woke up but were playing in their cribs until I went to get them about 2.5 hours after I put them down.
I felt I had some success but was unsure that they would go to bed for the night when I needed to put them down.

Afternoon playing was good.  Still a bit tired.  Boys ate an okay amount of dinner and had a few snacks.

Then, bath time and stories and bedtime.

Bedtime:

Like nap time, the boys were definitely ‘on to me’ and cried a lot when being put down.  Their usual hugs and kisses had a lot more tears, but eventually after about 30 minutes they fell asleep.

My remarkable husband said he would be on “sleep duty” tonight and so I fell into a coma.

His report of the night (much less wordy then mine):

12am One wakes up screaming horribly.  Martin goes in and hugs him, tells him everything is okay and directs him to go back to sleep.  He screamed for 15 minutes waking his brother up.  Then the other screamed, looking for comfort.  Martin hugged him and repeated the process.

2am The second one wakes up confused asking for “Daddy.” He took a hug and a back rub and then went back to sleep. The other one wakes up shortly afterwards crying and screaming.  Desperately wanting to get out of the crib and into our bed.  Martin stays strong and redirects him to go back to sleep.  He stayed awake crying only about 10 minutes.

4:30am both boys wake up crying.  Martin gives them each a sip of water and then they go back to sleep.

8:00am – I wake to the boys talking in their cribs.  Not too sure what they were discussing but it was certainly an animated discussion.  I look at my watch in disbelief that it was 8am and go into to lift the smiling boys out.  Martin sleeps in a bit and I take the boys downstairs and we play trains.

Wow.  Amazing.  Even comparing this day to the one previous is a drastic difference.  The fact that we have gone two nights without a twin in our bed is a miracle.  Strangely I have felt groggy all day because I actually had a good night’s sleep!

I was a believer yesterday, but today I am totally buying in.  The hope of toddler’s who sleep through the night is not lost!