What the heck am I talking about? Let me explain. For the past 2 months the girls have been waking up at night. Every single night, for that matter. Prior to that time, the girls slept great. And then...teething met bad parenting...and it was all downhill from there. We started giving the girls a pacifier at night because they were irritable as those 1st two teeth started to come in. The pacifier actually didn't pose a problem until around 4am when the girls would wake up and find it missing. (A perfect analogy I read is an adult waking up and finding her pillow missing. "Where's my pillow? What the heck? I WANT MY PILLOW!!!") Up until the 6 month mark we would let the girls cry themselves back to sleep. This was bearable. But then all of a sudden, they started waking each other up. Two babies crying at 4am every night = no longer bearable. Enter: bad parenting.
Our solution to this was, at the 1st hint of a baby waking, race in to serve her a pacifier in hopes that we beat her from waking up her sister. Many times we didn't. Sometimes we did. We assumed that this would just be a stage and the middle-of-the-night pacifier game would soon come to an end. Well, up until we implemented Operation Shut Eye (termed by yours truly) it still existed. And unfortunately my patience knocked on the door and threatened to leave me. It was time to take charge.
Essentials needed:
1) A weekend at home. 2) Baby 411 book. 3) Ear plugs. 4) Lots and lots of patience.
Timeframe:
One week: Beginning Monday, Oct. 25
Strategy:
Separate the girls (each to her own room) to figure out their individual sleeping habits. Once sleeping habits are identified, enter "RAPID EXTINCTION" (aka, cry.it.out.for.as.long.as.it.takes.to.fall.back.to.sleep. Reiterate: "for.as.long.as.it.takes.") Eliminate all pacifiers.
Results:
Sleeping habits: FRUSTRATING! We separated the girls for 4 nights and it went like this: Lil woke up middle of night, Di slept through night. Next night Di woke up middle of night, Lil slept through night. Next night Lil woke up middle of night, Di slept through the night. Next night Di...well you get the point. How is that even possible?! It was. Honestly. The
Cry it out: We 1st experimented with Lilly who woke up at 4:30am and cried for one hour. She has not woken up in the middle of the night since. The very next night was Diana's turn. She also woke up at 4:30am and cried for 45 minutes. She has not woken up in the middle of the night since.
Pacifiers: Over. Donezo. Kaput. Finito.
Conclusion:
PARENTS WIN!! The girls have now returned to sleeping between 10.5-12 hrs. each night without interruption. (I specifically waited to post this until I had 5 solid nights of uninterrupted sleep. If tonight one wakes up, I am officially retiring as a blogger.)
Inconclusive:
Whether to keep the girls in the same nursery or paint purple stripes on a another wall, in another room, to create a 2nd nursery. This has been on my mind for weeks now, so bare with me. We put the girls back in the same room 3 days ago and nighttime has been A-OK. Naptime on the other hand? D minus. When they were in separate rooms they were amazing nappers. On several occasions I would have to wake one of them up because they were napping so long! Now the naps can be as short as 25 minutes and on a good day as long as an hour. That is unacceptable for a stay-at-home-mom whose sanity is solely in the hands of naptime (trust me, you don't want another "SAHM seeks sanity" post!) The girls' chatter is usually the culprit of why they are waking up. I always read this in my twin books..."at about 9 months, your adorable little twins will be throwing themselves a party instead of sleeping." And that comment was followed by a smiley face! I recall reading that for the 1st time when I was as big as a barn having not yet delivered my babies, and smiling at the cuteness of seeing the girls chatting with each other instead of sleeping. I never thought about the aftermath - two VERY grumpy kiddos who didn't get enough sleep! Surely, you can understand my dilemma.
Well, I sought the advice of a fellow twin mom who said she needed to separate her 18 month old twin boys because of the very same reason. She said 1) the boys have never slept better than when they were separated and 2) it is the only time they ever get to be alone. Huh. I never thought of the fact that ever since the girls cried their first cries they have NEVER been apart! (Well, except for during last week's experiment.)
Why I am torn: All selfish reasons, of course. I actually liked the separation last week. I felt like I had two children instead of one unit. Twins are typically thought of as a 'unit' and not 'individuals.' But, for the 1st time ever I could walk into one's room without having to creep in because the other was sleeping. I could turn on the light. And I could dress her in that room without having to wait for her sister to wake up and try to do a double diaper change/double clothing change/double feeding in lightning speed in order to make it out the door before the next naptime! And I just might be able to use that super cozy glider we bought to rock our children or read them a book that is currently in mint condition...along with all the books next to it!
On the flip side, I always assumed that since twins share the same womb, they share the same room. I know plenty of twins who were never separated and their parents survived. We could survive too...couldn't we? And if we do add another nursery, there goes our guest room and any potential overnight BABYSITTERS!
You know what all this means, right? Nursery vs. Nurseries. Another experiment. Stay tuned!
And if you stayed with me up until this point, you earn a PICTURE...or two...
Lil sneaking up behind Diana to snag that toy!
Lil got the toy...and a painful ear tug as a result!
