I'm new to the board...trying to adjust with 5 month old G/G/B triplets. I've read many posts and am trying to figure out what we are doing wrong! We had a night nurse the 1st 4 months (1st month they were in NICU so really only 3 months...babies were doing great...started sleeping thru the night with one or two wake ups from about 11 - 5am. Now we give them a full feed at 10pm and put them down, we are up EVERY HOUR patting a back or giving a pacifier.

Getting the night nurse back is not an option as she was budgeted for and that is over..besides it's time we step up to the plate, but I was hoping they would get better not worse....

Any help on what I can do different??? I'm a walking zombie

jonib
mom to
Abby
Andy
Caroline
11/20/05
33 weeks

Rhett 8 years

Hi, I have 2.5 month old triplet girls. Ours are beginning to extend their sleep now. We haven't had any assistance with the girls so we're figuring it out as we go. Our night sleeps are usually from around 11pm to around 4am without disturbance although maybe one night a week they each take turns at being unsettled. Our girls are still in the one cot together. I stagger feeding times to around 30 minutes apart and they are on a 4 hourly routine throughout the day, which they tend to stick to themselves - I don't wake them up. Do you rush in as soon as they start to whinge? Are they cold? I was told to put on heaps of blankets and that tended to settle the girls alot more - 4-5 blankets. I think they like the additional weight. A midwife friend of mine suggested if your baby likes to be held down to get to sleep you could also try opening a phone book and lying it across their torso. Are you doing something different to when the nurse was there? Can you call the nurse to talk her through what you were doing and ask if there is something she can suggest. Personally I would feed them, change their nappy, check they aren't too cold, and then let them learn to self settle or you'll be in there every five minutes for the rest of your life. If they are just whinging, leave them alone and don't go in there. Did the night nurse use a nightlight or radio that you aren't using or anything like that? One of ours likes the night light and if it isn't on she will cry. One gets sick of sleeping with her sisters and wants to sleep in another room for one sleep a day. Another one hates her hands being free from her wrap so she needs extra tight wrapping. Look for things like that. I know it is hard to do when you are sleep deprived. We keep a feeding record which has sleeping, bathing, dirty and wet nappies, unsettled times etc so we can see emerging patterns. It's also good for when you consult doctors. Take pacifiers away at 6 months because they don't require it for their sucking reflex any longer. Replace with a comforter like a blankie, soft toy etc which they'll use to settle themselves. Make sure you can easily get exact extras of whichever you choose as a comforter. We chose a blanket with our older daughter because it is multi-functional. Is there anything you have changed in their cots or taken out of cots that they may have been using as a comforter? Have you changed anything in their diets? Are they burped? etc. Keep a record and if you think it could be diet strip back the diet and add things back in gradually taking records all the time of when they have been unsettled etc. Don't take any of this as gospel. It is just what seems to have worked for us. Our first daughter is autistic and was a really difficult baby so we learnt alot from her which has made the triplets seem easy in comparison... so far!!! Things may change in a couple of months time! Good luck!

Hi there,
We went through the same thing, had the nurse, did last feed at 10. we were putting them in the swings to fall asleep or bouncing in the seats. They were up at least every 2 hours. I thought they were teething, so i asked the dr at the 6 month check up and she said the thing i dreaded.. They cant soothe themselves back to sleep. She said that babies wake up at least 4 or 5 times at night and if they need you to help them go bak to sleep, youll be up all night. I was soooo frustrated, exhausted and sad. I walked out of there, in tears thinking how am i going to do this. My husband and i decided we would just bite the bullet and put them in their cribs to sleep, drowsy but awake that night. It was a tough thing. We kept really busy, made dinner, i did laundry. They cried for about 30 minutes. I think we went in there only a couple of times. It actually makes it worse for our girls. So, they finally crashed. And slept till the 2 am feeding. And then from then on, we just stuck with it. Naps everything. Now they are 9 months. Sleep from 6-6:30 and nap 2 time a day for about 1 1/2 hours. I have really gained some wonderful well needed down time. It is so nice. They still fuss or cry now and then but they all sleep good. I noticed after they started learning to soothe themsleves they were happier babies. They slept better. It was a win win for us.

I was like you at 5 months, exhausted, frazzled and frustrated. I thought letting them fuss it out would be sooo hard, but what i was doing was much harder. The girls are fine, and even are really smiley when they get up from sleeping. So i know they still LOVE me. AHAHAHAH.

Hang in there, you can email me if you have any questions. everyone is different with approaches. this is just what made everything click for us in a great way.

take care,
Shannon

Shannon
GGG Meg, Lucy,& Peyton 12/08/05


http://lilypie.com>

This is all great advice except the part about 4-5 blankets. One of the leading causes of SIDS is overheating so I would not recommend using this many blankets or swaddling too tightly. Instead, make sure the room is warm enough (we live in NE and have had our heat on for weeks already). Use one receiving blanket or a blanket sleeper.