Ferberizing Twins ~ Night #1

In case you don't remember, I tried to Ferber-ize Missy at 4.5 mo. when Daddy was away on a business trip. That didn't go so well. It's been a month and their sleep habits have gotten progressively worse. They were amazing for a couple of months, but since we stopped swaddling them a few weeks ago, they've started getting up every couple of hours. With one, it might be manageable, but there have been a few nights where both Daddy and I have been co-sleeping with a baby when LR decided to join us in bed. Thank goodness we bought a king size bed!

So with the long weekend looming, Daddy thought last night might be the right time to start the process. We Ferber-ized LR after 6 very long months. You'll notice that this blog started right about the time LR started sleeping. That's no coincidence. I couldn't put together a compound sentence much less write about the events of the day. Hell, I couldn't remember what I had done during the day anyway. So... last night was the night.

During the day both babies had been relatively difficult about their nap times. J Frog wouldn't be put down for naps or otherwise which makes it particularly tough on Abra. She had to tie him to her back with a towel yesterday just to get anything done. (Have I mentioned how amazing she is?) Daddy and I discussed whether or not to Ferber-ize them together or separately. We decided to have them together since they're in the same room and need to learn how to sleep through the other one yelling. Missy seemed especially susceptible to J Frog's cries. He has spooked her out of more than one nap.

Last night they were both tired and even though J Frog fell asleep nursing, I gave him to Daddy to hold until I nursed Missy. She almost fell asleep, but then we carried them upstairs and set them into their cribs with the noise machine going strong. They, of course, woke up immediately. J Frog, because he had been asleep for 10 minutes already, felt particularly wronged and started to scream. Missy woke up and looked around but didn't cry. I watched her on the video monitor and she didn't seem upset.

At 8:06pm J Frog started crying.
At 8:15pm Missy joined in.
At 8:29pm J Frog stopped sobbing.
At 8:35pm Missy finally gave in.

I think the last few minutes with Missy were the worst because I let her go for 45 minutes a month ago with no success. I was worried that she just wouldn't be Ferber-ized. But here we are, out the other side. When I went in to check on them, they had turned themselves exactly the same way in their cribs. Sometimes twins are spooky like that.

Missy woke up once during the night and cried for 20 minutes but not very intensely. J Frog woke up 3 times and cried for around 15 minutes each time. I spent each session awake and filled with adrenaline, chanting in my head, "please go back to sleep. Please go back to sleep." J Frog got up finally around 6:30am and Missy at 7:15am. I didn't actually sleep any better than the previous night, but at least they didn't join us in bed and I expect that tonight will be much better.