So I tried cry it out for the first time last night. I have been very reluctant to do it for fear of all 3 crying all night, but w/ seeing the peoples success w/ it on here, I thought we'd give it a try. My girls were pretty much sleeping through the night at about 3-4 months, but somewhere along the line, stopped. I've been up every hour or two replacing paci's, occasionally rocking, w/ some nights better than others.
They went to bed around 9:30ish, one of the girls(Amelia or Jordyn) began crying at 12:10, and Olivia started in at 12:45(she has a distinct cry). I resisted going in and layed there praying for them to stop. At 1:00 there was still a little crying, but shortly after, there was silence! It took a lot longer than I would've liked, but I'm hoping each night will get shorter. They made it until this morning around 6:30/7:00ish & I avoid getting them up until after 7:30.
I also wanted to throw my typical day/schedule out there for some of you pro's to give me feedback-
8a.m. cereal(2oz meas. dry)+2-3TBSP fruit,formula/EBM 4-6oz. or nurse
Nap 10:00/30-11:30ish
12- veggie 2oz, fruit 2oz,formula/EBM 4-6oz. or nurse
Nap 1:30/2:00-3:30ish
4p.m. cereal(2-3 TBSP dry)+2 TBSP veggie, formula/EBM 4-6oz. or nurse (I just added this solid feeding on 7/12)
Short Nap- 6:00/7:00ish (I've tried to eliminate this late nape, but they have a tough time staying awake for 8pm feeding and are very crabby.
8p.m formula/EBM 6-7oz. or nurse+ 2-3 oz bottle
9:30ish- BEDTIME!!!
Since adding all the solid meals, getting them to drink their bottles has been a challenge, but I think it's getting better.
Sorry this is so long, I appreciate any feedback!!

Debbie, proud Mom of triplet girls:
Amelia, Jordyn & Olivia
born 10/28/10 at 35 wks & 4 days

The only thing I would suggest is eliminating the short nap and putting them to bed earlier instead. You are trying to get them to sleep about 12 hours a night. Mine usually went closer to 11 hours. If they can't make it to an 8pm feeding, try feeding them at 7pm and then putting them to bed right after. You will probably find they still wake up around the same time in the morning.

Lori

http://yesidohavemyhandsfull.blogspot.com/

Hi Debbie --

If my thinking is correct, your GGG are about 8 months adjusted? Definitely understandable that after almost 10 months, you'd want them (and you) to get a full night sleep!

We did sleep training with our GGG born a few months before yours (mine are 13 months adjusted now). I've got a couple of suggestions that may or may not fit for you. I sought some help from a sleep coach that had helped me with my first. Along with her advice, I also used the suggestions from "Healthy Sleep Habits...". The advice from both was very similar so it worked well together. The sleep coach strongly advised me to simplify my bedtime routine - at the time we were rocking 'til they girls were "almost" asleep. As you can understand, this took a long time. So we simplified it to reading a book all together, and a quick cuddle and kiss and into bed. The other suggestion she made was to get rid of the paci's. I'll admit I was not in favour of this one however, the logic made sense and my husband made the decision to go for it. Her reasoning was, the babies need to learn how to SELF-soothe. The pacifier was not helping that process and, like you, we were spending way too much time going in and sticking the soother back in. So, we got rid of them when we started to let them cry-it-out. The coach indicated that, they were going to be mad anyway (because we were letting them cry it out) so why not change some things in the meantime and get it all over with.

So we did - I don't regret it at all. The night sleep took a while before they figured out the new routine however, the repeated wakings and need to replace pacis was gone after one or two nights. The naps took longer but, in the end, now they are napping and sleeping with no assistance from us. We say goodnight and leave the room - period.

The other thought I had after reading your post was related to your schedule. With my first daughter, we had a very similar routine to yours. The sleep coach that I employed strongly urged me to get her into bed no later than 7pm. The book I read (Healthy sleep...) also supported earlier bedtimes for helping sleep problems. So, with this, we made the change.

I agree with Lori that perhaps you can cut out the third nap and go for an earlier bedtime. It's hard at first but your life will be so much more relaxing. The likelihood is they will sleep until the same time as they are now -- but they'll be more rested! If they are waking up at 6:30 - 7, try aiming for first nap to be 9:30 -10. Second nap I would leave as is and then, aim to give your last bottle around 6-6:30 and right into bed for night sleep. The times seem squished however, I suspect they will do fine. I think they have a tough time staying awake for the last feed (when you skip the 3rd nap) is because they are exhausted and need sleep.

(and you thought your post was long....yikes, sorry)

They may not finish all the milk (but it seems that you've got a variance of 2 ounces for any given feed -- perhaps try and increase the day feeds and give them a smaller bottle at the 6 pm bottle.

Anyway - for what it's worth those are some of my thoughts. Good luck Debbie and hang in there!

Janet
G - 12/07 35 weeks
GGG-04/10 30 weeks

I have found that CIO goes on considerably longer than people will tell you. Tried it last night on my 4 mo (3 mo adjusted) triplets last night. They have each demonstrated the ability to sleep through the night (but never all on one night, of course) and don't eat from 7 pm to 7 am. But they continue to wake and complain throughout the night.

So back to last night... Ezra woke at 11:15. He got close to quiet several times and then started back up - he was having a hard time letting go. At around the one hour mark he woke his sisters in the other room and we had all three crying until 1:15 when Ezra gave in and fell asleep. Grace shrieked on and off until close to 3:00 and Lily was mostly sleeping but chimed in every so often as well.

I am a fan of Weissbluth in theory (not sure it's going to work in my house), so at the moment, I am letting Grace scream through nap time. The girl has GOT to learn to self-soothe. Seems like Ezra and Lily might actually be sleeping through it!

Nicole
Adam 5lb2oz & Joseph 4lb4oz 36w3d 9/25/08
Ezra 5lb4oz, Grace 4lb11oz & Lily 3lb3oz 36w 3/16/11

Nicole, 4 months (3 adjusted) might be too young for CIO. My kids had stopped eating at night at the same age, but there is no way they were ready to self soothe. We didn't try CIO until they were a little older.

Lori

http://yesidohavemyhandsfull.blogspot.com/

Thank-you so much for the feedback! Things have been AWESOME since letting them CIO. The second night, nobody woke up! There has been just a little crying here and there, but I have not gone in their room to replace pacifiers since last Wednesday! I am loving sleep!!!
I really like the idea of eliminating their late snooze, feeding them early and getting them to bed early. We may give it a try this week, but I have a few concerns. I worry that they will think it's just a nap & wake up ready to play after and hour or two, and I worry that they will wake for the day at 5 or 6 a.m. I will have to just go for it and see what happens! As far as getting rid of the pacifiers, I like that idea too, and know I have to eventually, but I'm not quite ready for that yet. For now I throw and extra in each crib so hopefully they can find one themselves if they want it. Must be working, because I haven't replaced them!

Thanks again! I love input from people who are going through or have gone through similar situations.

Debbie, proud Mom of triplet girls:
Amelia, Jordyn & Olivia
born 10/28/10 at 35 wks & 4 days

Great post! I am not a fan of CIO, but what I've been doing to eliminate their night bottle just hasn't been working that great. I'd made a post shortly before you and followed some advice there.

In hearing how this has worked for you and how quickly I might give it a go. Love the advice you got as well. I'm going to try adjusting our nap schedule a bit as well.

Christina

Daughter born 1/4/09
BBB born 9/9/10 @ 27w 5d
Daughter born 8/14/12
http://schroeters.blogspot.com/

It took us one night of about 20 minutes of crying. Each night since (about 2 weeks ago) it's 2 minutes most nights. Everyone once in a while it takes 5 minutes but that's usually because we didn't follow the nightly routine well (got home late from church, were out and about and they missed their nap etc...).

Ryan & Megan
GGG Born 8/9/10 28 weeks 5 days
Lily Ann 2lbs 12oz. 54 days in NICU
Emma Grace 2lbs 6oz. 55 days in NICU
Abigail Rose 2lbs 7oz. 55 days in NICU
http://thesmithfamilytriplets.blogspot.com/

Ryan & Megan,
Glad it's working for you! Isn't sleep wonderful?! I noticed your trips were born on 8/9/10, what a cool b-day, though they were very early! Hope everybody is doing well! I kinda wanted to have my girls on 10/10/10, but of course wanted to cook them as long as possible!

Best of luck, thanks for sharing & I look forward to more updates!

Debbie, proud Mom of triplet girls:
Amelia, Jordyn & Olivia
born 10/28/10 at 35 wks & 4 days