First, you are probably going to have to let them Cry It Out to sleep through the night. Second, your schedule is strange. They should be sleeping 11-12 hours a night with 2 naps but no night feedings. Also, they are probably drinking less because they hit 9 months. Intake usually drops then and they only need 20-24 ounces of formula/BM a day now. I could barely get mine to take 18-20 ounces. They are eating quite often too. They might not be hungry enough to eat much by the next meal time.

They probably need to be on a 4 hour schedule with 3 meals. You can add snacks if they need them but I didn't. Here is a sample schedule of ours at that age using your times.

6:30am Wake up
7:00am Breakfast followed by bottle
Morning nap at some point. Ours was usually 1-1.5 hours.
11:00am Lunch followed by bottle
Afternoon nap at some point. Probably 1.5-2 hours for us. They usually slept until just before the next feeding.
3:00pm Dinner followed by bottle
7:00pm Bedtime bottle followed by bed. This can be a little bit earlier if necessary.

Obviously you can tweak the times to suit your kids and family's needs. We were on an 8-12-4-8 feeding schedule and they ususally woke up 20-30 minutes before the 1st bottle and went to bed after the last one.

NO feedings after that. They don't need to get up at 10pm to eat. They don't need to be fed a bottle and then back to sleep before breakfast. If they fight that, let them CIO. They need to learn to sleep through the night and sleep through each other's cries. If someone is really disruptive you can CIO in a PNP in another room.

You have created some bad habits by continuing to feed them at night although they are old enough not to need it and taking them out of the room every time they cry. Now is the time to re-train them. There will likely be a few ugly days but babies are smart. After a few days of a new routine you will be surprised how well they will adapt.

Lori

http://yesidohavemyhandsfull.blogspot.com/

Our schedule at that age-
7am- awake, diaper change and 8oz bottle
8am- breakfast (cereal and fruit)
9am- wash up, diaper change and dressed for day
10a- nap for 2 hours
12noon- diaper change and lunch (baby food)
230p- 8 oz bottle
3p- nap for 2 hours
530p- dinner (baby food)
7p- nighttime wash up, PJ's
730p- 8oz bottle
8pm- bedtime

Good luck


Judie and Victor
lucky parents to
Frankie 3/95
Maggie 7/96
Rose 7/96
Elizabeth 7/96

My triplets are almost 3 so it is hard to remember the schedule exactly, but i do know that we kept them fairly warm at night and, at one point, did have to let them cry it out. Ours slept through the night at 4 months and we stuck to 4-6 ounce bottles every 4 hours, but it was a bit less when they started to eat solids. One thing we did early on was play a CD for them throughout the night. It is called Dreamsurf and it just ocean waves over and over. If we had this on, they slept, but if not they would wake up. We also kept them VERY bundled up. Some almost thought we were cruel and said they were probably hot, but honestly they were premature, small, and did not have a lot of fat to keep them warm so they actualy LIKED the added layers. We put cloth-like underpants (diaper training pants from my older son) on them OVER their diapers. This helped as if they leaked, it didn't wake them up because it would just go onto the underpants. It also meant less washing of sheets for me--just had to wash the cloth underpants more frequently. Many kids wake up because they are wet and cold so anything you can do to keep them dry will help. They may not be waking up just to eat. I hope this helps. I will try to track down my schedule as well since it seemed to work well for us.

Good luck. It is rough, but it does get better!

Jennifer

I agree with pretty much everything Lori said.

We didn't do exactly a 4-hr schedule, but we were definitely on a 3-meal plus afternoon snack routine by then. Feeding and sleeping are so closely tied together with kids and babies...full babies sleep longer/better and well-rested babies eat better. So, pick a schedule with 3-4 meals, stick to it, and they will catch on--they will also be much happier babies, better able to entertain themselves, and ready to learn. Plus, you're starting good eating/sleeping habits early that will pay dividends down the road.

Rebecca

Laura (6)
Lucas (3)
Aubrie, Emily, & Teresa born 7/5/10 at 34w3d.

I read this four times and I'm still not sure I'm reading it correctly. Are they only drinking 6 ounces of formula A DAY? You need to cut out all that food, which has no calories, and give them more bottles.

If it makes you feel any better, since everybody says CIO and you don't want to, it actually DID NOT work with one of my daughters. She'd just cry and cry for two hours until she fell back asleep. No matter how many days we let pass. Even when we figured out that she was crying JUST BECAUSE she was awake and wanted out. She's almost 3 and still doesn't always sleep through the night, though she generally will be quiet and play if I go in and tell her to shush.

But, I'd still give it a try. I get the apartment living, when the girls first came home from the hospital we lived upstairs from our landlords, and so we were really hesitant to let her cry in the middle of the night for more than 5-10 minutes. It might help to let your immediate neighbors know what you're going to do, and then just let the kids cry for one night, and then check again with the neighbors to see if they could actually hear the crying. It turned out our neighbors couldn't hear a thing, so we'd worried about that over nothing.

As for the night feedings, one dropped the 4 am feeding at 3 months adjusted, 5 actual, and the midnight feeding at 7 months actual, 5 months actual (she kept falling back asleep when I was feeding her so I stopped it). The bad sleeper dropped both of her night feedings at 9 months actual, 7 adjusted. So you're just about right there, I'd just purposely lower the amount you're giving them, or just give them water and not milk. And I'm assuming they're waking up for it, but if you're waking them up I'd stop and see what they do.
Amy

Julia, ^Caitlin^ & Gabrielle



Visit us at http://onealaskanmom.wordpress.com

My schedule at that age was a bottle at 7, 11, 3, 7. The bottles were 6-8 ounces. They also had table food/baby food after their bottles. AFTER their bottles because they are still supposed to get the majority of their calories from formula or breastmilk until 12 months. So after their bottles at 7am, I'd put them in their highchairs and either feed them or give them finger foods.

They took two, 2 hour naps at that age. So they were up at 7am and back down for their nap at 9am. The nap went until 11am. Your babies are not napping long enough. Do not be confused with the "45 minute interruption" which occurs during the nap. They are not ready to wake up yet. They are simply switching from light sleep to deep REM sleep and some babies have a hard time transitioning and cry out. You may either allow them to cry until they fall back asleep or you can soothe back to sleep but they are NOT ready to get up. Our afternoon nap was 1-3pm.

I think your babies are having a hard time sleeping through the night because they are not getting enough calories during the day and they are not getting enough sleep. Sleep begets sleep.

I would never allow the kid to control me and sleep on the couch with him. Im sorry but at that age, he can be in his bed. I had a rough time getting mine to drop bottles at night from age 4 months to 6 months. It was lots of crying and hardly any sleep for me but it was soo worth it in the end. After that mine slept 12 hours. no night feedings at all after six months of age. they learned to sleep through the each others crying.
Mine are four now so I cant remember exactly but my schedule went something like this:

8am wake/bottle
9am breakfast then play
10am nap until 12
12 bottle then play
1 lunch then play
2pm nap until 4
4 pm bottle
5-5:30 supper then baths
8pm bottle in living room and then directly to bed

I always did 4 hr schedule with mine. somewhere in there I dropped to three bottles and I spaced the bottles to one when they would wake, one after lunch and then one at bedtime. Then I did the lunch before the second bottle and after they got up from lunch they got a snack. then supper at usual time.
Kelly
GGB born 30 weeks
We are Four!

I know many people will be mad at me for this but here is another issue: how they go to bed...maybe this should be a different topic all together....
So...here we go...one has to be rocked in a bouncer, another one rocked in a swing, and the third one in the stroller. I've tried letting them cry in bed and I've tried just letting them play till they fall asleep and I've tried laying down with them, and still that's the only way they'll fall asleep. This kids rock my house.
I pretty much gave up and I hope as they'll get older I will be able to tell them that it is a bedtime and please lay down in your crib and close your eyes. And they'll just fall asleep. But today it's just a dream!

GBB triplets born @ 35 weeks 5 days on 03/24/2011
Triplet A 3 lbs 14oz
Triplet B 3 lbs 13oz
Triplet C 5 lbs 4oz

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.

So here is an update!!!
Today was the first day that one of trio finally gave in and fell asleep on its own without making a peep!
I think what worked for me was that I refused to let them nap for the third time from 4-5pm. I mean sometimes they just shut down but I still try my best not to let them nap again. And also, I separate them in different rooms.
Another one is half way there, he falls asleep on its own during the day but he keeps giving me hard time in the evening. I have to be next to him (I temporary use a co-sleeper and then I transfer him to the crib).
The third one is still out of control...
I keep trying everything that people suggested here! Thanks a lot!

GBB triplets born @ 35 weeks 5 days on 03/24/2011
Triplet A 3 lbs 14oz
Triplet B 3 lbs 13oz
Triplet C 5 lbs 4oz

I remember being lost with sleep issues when mine were 9 mo, we just moved to a new house and it was crazy. It's easy for those of us who have "older" kids to tell you what to do but looking back, it was difficult and confusing and not as easy as it may be remembered.

My advice is first decide to change. Which it seems you have. Then come up with your best plan and stick to it and keep making changes or tweaking it til it works. Different things work on different kids. Don't get depressed, just keep plugging away.

Even today, with three year olds, I wake them if they're not up by 7am, I fit in some activity in the am, and nap is 12:30/1:00 and lasts no more than 2 hrs. I don't skip naps or change the schedule for anything. It's all so they go to bed on time and I have a chance of getting some down time and relaxing with my husband. Good luck!

Lisa
GGB born 12/26/08 @ 34 weeks
4 lb 14 oz
4 lb 12 oz
4 lb 5 oz

1. try cry it out. Period. It WILL work, but it takes time, patience, emotions and a STRONG husband/partner to hold you back when you want to go get them and comfort them. We tried this at 6 months old and within 3 weeks they were sleeping through the night and have been (they are 5.5 now).

2. STOP worrying about them waking eachother up. If you don't get them used to it now, and "teach" them how to sleep through it/ignore it and put THEMSELVES back to sleep if woken up like this, you are going to be one very exhausted miserable woman.

Julie
Single mom to

Tristan Declan 4lbs 3oz
Cassandra Madison 4lbs 7oz
Ryland Markus 4lbs 2oz
Born on 9/5/06 at 32 weeks 4 days

www.our3.blogspot.com