02-12-2009 - Sleep Guru tips

My mood while writing this blog: Ok

So let me preface by saying that yes I do believe that the "back to sleep" initiative by the government for SIDS is a great outline for safety, I believe that practical hands on experience/along with common sense is just as equal. So keep in mind this is practical advise not at all based on anything clinical, just a woman who has sleep consulted for many multiple babies....she has worked with infants as little as 26 weeks gestation.

I am a liberal mother-by all means, I had children to add to my life-not have them dictate it. I certainly do believe and agree that a child/baby is at its best if on somewhat of a routine-but geez how much of a routine does a baby or toddler really need? i think eating on a regular basis, bathing, and sleep are a pretty full dance card of responsibility and routine at such a young age.

We hired Maxine - our night nurse/sleep consultant from a referal. I am in Toronto- a very large city, and maxine is the #1 requested high order multiple caregiver in the whole city....she is in high demand. At first my family wasnt a priority-as she normally deals with familys of triplets, quads, and has 2 quints. After a brief phone consult she said she would meet me and my twins and go from thier. Needless to say , she is part of our family now , we love her as she does us. Maxine has been with us almost 2 months. She is an ECE educator, an RN, an aunt, unfortunatly not a mom herself yet.....she has just an overall baby whisperer knack for dealing with babies, her portfolio is enormous.....she has been in the business for almost 2 decades.

It took her 2 nights to get the twins sleeping a good full nights sleep- I myself stayed up the whole first night-mainly out of worry-just being amom, and not understanding fully her practices. But thats all it took-2 nights and I now close my door and let Maxine do her thing-my kids LOVE IT and HER!

Firstly-stuff em full before nite nite! It make be a longer feeding than norm -as they may not be all that hungry-but be patient and get as much food in them as possible-I sometimes have fed them at 9:30 and Maxine gets another 5 ounces in them half an hour later....its so crazy. OMIT a feeding, we chose the 2 oclock one to start for those 2 nights-the babies know no other than to get up at night and eat-alot of times its out of habit(yes that young) and they dont need that feeding.....my kids didnt even notice-they cried for less than 5 minutes when they figured out they werent getting fed, and went back to sleep- you will notice once your baby is up to 6-8 ounce bottles in the day that sleep gets longer at night, so feed feed feed as much as you can in the daytime, I wake mine up if they sleep longer than 5 hours-and stuff a bottle in em ;-)

First off-get a sound machine-one of those things that play ocean waves, forest sounds, birds whatever (my kids love ocean waves) I think Brookstone has it. Play it every time they are in thier cribs/beds (this works for my toddler also) its for white noise. Play it pretty loud at the same decibel every time.

Next: A DARK DARK ROOM, associate the darkness with nighttime for them.

SWADDLE SWADDLE SWADDLE, those nice hospital receivers are the best, your local hospital should sell them, if not , try to find a nice big over sized receiving blanket. Wrap them very tight (yes this scared me as I was worried about them being able to breath-THEY DO) I mean Grayson grunts when he is getting swaddled thats how tight. Swaddle with at least one or both hands up at the face-its a comfort to the baby to be able to caress thier face or suck thier hands or fingers. At an oldr age they may not like or need to be swaddled anymore-mine are almost 4 months and still do.

Wedge them with a rolled up receiving blanket on each side from thier armpits down to or past thier feet, nice and snug-so they cannot fidget, sway or move.

Lastley -yes this is how easy it is-place a slighlty heavy quilt-not comforter-but quilt fabric on top (this is the part I went huh?! arent they to hot, arent blankets bad?!) place the top of the quilt as close to thier chin and pat down on thier body-for my comfort I make a tent like at the chin.. This heaviness creates a womblike comfort and warmness that the babies sleep so still and comfy.

Sounds easy, not easy enough that I knew, but my babies sleep from 10-6 every night since 8 weeks. Keep in mind that they will be warm so you want them in a onesie or a light cotton sleeper, not those fuzzy thick ones.

Swaddling is tough on some parents, I have a step by step email of pictures on my facebook Maxine made for her clients to show the best swadlling-send me your email address if you are interested and I can email it to you.

I aften talk to mothers about this as noone can comprehend little preterm twins sleeping through the night at 8 weeks-its been 8 weeks of consistent sleep to boot! wohoooooooo!!! use your "mom instincts" and commom sense, but do know these babies are smart and we are teaching them behavior-yes even at this young age...there is no reason your babies cant be sleeping the same through the night.....all it took was 2 days for me......

Good luck ladies

Mel