Sleep training is going well so far. I must admit I was really stressed about using the "extinction" method rather than the gradual approach, but it sure has worked fast. The first night, we moved Becs cot to the study and as soon as she had finished her bottle, instead of rocking and patting her to sleep and then taking her to her cot, I picked her up, gave her a dummy and walked with her to her cot and gently put her down and tucked her in.
Well, to say she was affronted is putting it mildly! She screamed in protest and then cried hard for about 15 -20 minutes. And then she went to sleep. We went in to check on her and she had turned around completely and had passed out, so I tucked her in and covered her with a blankie. When we rushed in to check on her the next morning at 6:30am, she was still asleep in the same position. Then on the second night, she cried for 5 minutes and went to sleep, also to be woken the next morning in the same position! And last night, she went down with a little whimper but no crying at all. Tonight, she cried a few little ones but settled down quickly.
This makes me wonder if they were not disturbing each other more than we thought? Finn has also been sleeping a little later and he has uncommonly had a few wake ups at night which is unusual for him. Maybe he knows his sister is not there, or he is scared of the dark as I have turned off the night light to keep the room nice and dark.
My hope is that after a while if they settle nicely into going to sleep without intervention, then we can move them back into the same room! I really wanted them to share a room especially when they move into big beds. My plan was to convert the study, which is a really big double room into their bedroom on the one side and a playroom on the other. Hope this will work out.
But in the meantime, here's to helping our babbas learn healthy sleeping habits for their health and ours!
Glad to here it has continued going smoothly. We were a little rotten I suppose with our sleep training and didn't separate them. I'm sure they will be back together before you know it though and can't wait to see how the room plan turns out.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle xx
ReplyDeleteI'm glad sleep training is going well. It's so rough at first but then it's crazy how quickly they adapt after a couple of days. I'm sure it's super different with twins, but we had to move Peanut out of our room pretty early on for her to start sleeping better because we were actually waking her up all night by tossing, turning, or just our breathing. As soon as she was in her own room, her sleeping got better and longer. I hope once she's used to sleeping on her own you can move her back in with her brother - I'm sure they'll love sharing a room.
ReplyDeleteTrust me Cam...sleep training is SOOOO worth it in the end! Keep up the good work!
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