Below is a post from my blog where I explain exactly what ended up working for us. It sounds like maybe this would be a good time transition to two longer naps during the day with an earlier bed time. The key to beginning a schedule is to think of it as a 24 hour schedule and begin it first thing in the morning at the start time you choose and commit to it. It will be rough for a few days, but will get a little better each day. I hope you get more sleep soo So impressed with all of your home made food!! Happy New Year!


Twins and Triplets Baby Sleep Training To Get Babies Sleeping Through The Night

My husband and I were literally talking one night about how this has to stop. They have to stop taking turns waking up all night long. We were desperate for uninterrupted sleep for many hours! (Our triplets were big enough to go twelve hours without a feeding and they were already eating every four hours, with an additional bottle to top them off right before bed.)


We decided that the next morning we were going to institute Baby Boot Camp. We began the very next morning by waking them up at 7:00 am and followed the schedule I have listed below. We made a decision that we were going to do whatever it took for our babies to sleep all night long and take two solid naps a day.


We needed this for our sanity and to even have a relationship with each other and to have time the two of us we needed them to go to sleep and stay asleep in the evenings.


Below is our version of Baby Sleep Training or as we like to call it, Baby Boot camp. Please refer to another posting I have regarding helping babies sleep. I talk about miracle blankets and how amazing they are. I highly recommend miracle blankets for baby boot camp if you babies are not rolling over yet.


Wake them up at 7:00 am (adjust the time to work for your family)

Feed Babies
Play Time
Nap Time from 9:00 - 11:00 1.


Lay your babies in their cribs AWAKE. Always put your babies down for naps and bedtime AWAKE.
Split them up into separate rooms in the house as far apart as possible. We set up pack n' plays in two other rooms for our triplets and kept one of them in their nursery.
Have a REALLY LOUD white noise machine in each room. This is so important to even have three sound machines as loud as possible or a huge box fan facing the wall in their room... WHITE NOISE is your best friend for multiples and siblings. This helped our one year old sleep through his three year old siblings being loud all around him for naps and at night.
Put around 10 pacifiers in each of their cribs. This will help your babies to find a pacifier on their own in the night.
We kept our three separated for nap time until they moved to one long 3-4 hour nap a day. Two shorter naps a makes it necessary for your babies to not bother each other so they are able to get the sleep they need. One of your babies might require more sleep than others and by separating them everyone can get the sleep they need. Even if one of your babies doesn’t sleep as long you can still have them stay in their cribs for the allotted nap time. They might end up talking and play by themselves until you come to get them up at the end of nap time. This is important for your sanity to know you have two hours while they are napping.

We put our little ones back together when we transitioned to one nap because they would nap for three to four hours. This was plenty of time for all of our babies to sleep as long as they needed to. One or all might have a crib party before they fell asleep or when they woke up, but by not getting them right away when they cried during sleep training they learned to have fun and play until we came to get them.
Get Babies up from morning nap at 11:00
Feed Babies
Play
Nap from 1:00 - 3:00 (same drill as morning nap)
Get Babies up from afternoon nap at 3:00
Feed Babies
Play
Feed Babies at 6:30
Bedtime for the night at 7:00
For the purposes of sleep training bedtime should be the same sleeping arrangements as naptime. We kept our babies separated during baby boot camp or sleep training.


Once they proved themselves that they would sleep through the night for several nights we put them back together. But we still had the other location ready if one of them cried. Then we would say they lost privileges and scoop them up and put them in the other room where we could sleep train without disturbing the other babies.


After they proved themselves again for several nights we put them back in the room together for the night. It was always good to have the other location for when they would go through teething or sickness to be able to separate them again for those nights.


It's just nice to take away the "multiple baby factor" and just be able to take care of them if they are sick or for the purposes of sleep training or things like that the way you would with one baby and not have to worry about the repercussions of disturbing all of your little ones. Also do not forget to make all of the rooms they will be sleeping in as dark as possible with black out shades.

Now you can use whatever sleep training method you want with your babies since they are not going to disturb each other. We made up our own method which involved going in and patting them on the backs and giving them their pacifiers and making the sshhhing sound. We would go in first after 5 minutes of crying. Then we would wait 10 minutes before we went in. Then we would wait 15 minutes. Finally, then we would wait 20 minutes and then repeat on 20 minute intervals which hopefully didn't even need to happen and they were sleeping by this point.

Then wake them up at 7:00 am the next morning or get them up at 7:00 if they are still sleeping. Try not to go in and get them before 7:00. Also do not go get them as soon as they cry. Always wait and go and get them after they have stopped crying so that they will learn to wake up and be happy knowing you will come and get the when it is time for them to get up.


They will learn to talk to themselves and each other until you get them. Our triplets had a ton of what we called nursery parties when they woke up in the morning and before they fell asleep at night at partied together. Very entertaining! So then this next day is the same as the first day we just talked about.


Hope this helps and everyone can get some sleep!

(Adding this to this post a couple months after I first posted this)
I just remembered that we did use a combination of breast milk and formula but we were sure to give our babies a full bottle of formula for their last feeding of the night. For some reason this made a big difference in our babies sleeping through the night.


The video below is of our kids having a slightly out of control really great time together right before bedtime. After you see the video it will be hard for you to believe, but they really were quiet, in their beds going to sleep ten minutes after this video was taken.


I'm showing you this link for several reasons. I think it is pretty cute and hilarious. I believe that making our babies be great sleepers since they were little created great sleeping habits for our kids that have continued through their toddler years.


They really did go to sleep right after this video because they know I mean it when I tell them it is time for bed. They have always known when I put them in their cribs AWAKE or say it is nap time I’m serious and it really is time to take a nap or go to bed.


We are always working on remaining the boss of them because can you imagine if the world revolved around the four of them and they decided what was going to happen all the time. It is important to remain the boss of them. They don't decide when they want to go to sleep. If this is always how it has been since they are babies when they are older they can have crazy fun together before bed and then you say it is bedtime, they go to sleep.


Don't get me wrong, I have to be more creative in the toddler years to keep them napping and staying in their beds. Now that they are out of their contained sleeping arrangements in a crib with a crib tent I rely heavily on a combination of the following techniques to keep them sleeping! In short, rewarding and threatening to take away their favorite things and following up on my threats and rewards.

http://tripletmomplusone.blogspot.com/

Mom to BBG 4 year old Triplets and 2 year old Singleton boy.