Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Sleep training for twins

First, I want to say that I am trying not to judge. I am just speaking for what works for us. I've read a ton of books about this and I tried to make an informed decision for our girls. I think what is most important is that parents are informed in whatever sleep training method they choose. That means reading the books as opposed to googling for a brief synopsis.
After reading ferber, I could see when & why it would work but I knew it wasnt for us. My girls were flipping out from just being put in their cribs. I needed a method that would help them realize that their cribs were a safe place and that they would be okay.
I decided that The Good Night, Sleep Tight method was the best choice for us. Now, I am on the crunchy side of parenting and I am a very small minority in the multiples community. I just felt that the Sleeplady's methods were what jived with our parenting point of view and it seemed like common sense to me. I could comfort both girls by just being close to their cribs. With ferber, I would've been going in there every five minutes. I just dont see how it would work with twins when both babies are crying. I could see it working if you had a singleton or if just one of your multiples was having problems.
We started sleep training at 10 months. We also had to take time off because of obvious developmental milestones which impact their sleeping, such as teething or walking. I think it is really important for parents to realize that sleep is not a clear cut issue and that is the major problem I have with crying it out. Classic crying it out doesnt make exception for those developmental milestones and there are no guidelines of when to CIO depending on age, health, etc,etc. There are so many varibles that can impact sleep.
On the preemie front, my girls were not dismissed from the state early intervention. I am okay with this because it means they are getting the help they may need. I will say that I was surprised they still qualified. They are tested at their actual age vs. adjusted age and they should be doing things like going to get a toy if you tell them to, or helping with getting dressed by lifting up their arms. Those developmental acheivements never ever crossed my mind. Now that I know what they shoud be doing, I know what I should be working on. I can already see changes in the girls in the last two weeks.

and now for something completely different-
The fabulous Tobi is having a giveaway on here blog. She is giving away a beautiful blooming baby bouquet. I can attest to these bouquets. I got a kitchen one for my mom for Mother's day and she LOVED it. Actually it has been her dining room table centerpiece this whole summer.
Here is the link to the contest and good luck!
http://drbabymamadrama.blogspot.com/2009/08/giveaway.html

The Multiples...and more blog is having a giveaway of orglamix mineral makeup, eco friendly!
http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/2009/08/product-review-and-giveaway-orglamix.html

1 comment:

Lani said...

Hey girl- you won a giveaway at Multiples and More! Please email us at multiplesandmoreblog@yahoo.com