Tuesday, November 14, 2006

desperation..

this is an emergency... we are desperate for some much needed sleep.. things seem to be going from bad to worse with the boys.. they don't nap, don't sleep.. they are miserable.. well not all the time but when they are tired.. umm which is most of the time. i am sleep deprived and running out of patience... my poor husband is almost near non functioning because of lack of sleep at night and hard work all day..
the boys nap about 2-3 time per day (if we are lucky) but only for 30-45min (if we are lucky) they nurse about every 3 hour. in the evening they are always TIRED.. and miserable.. i will nurse them about 8or8:30, burp, change and put down by 9 usually.. they sleep restlessly till anywhere from midnight or sometimes 1am and then all hell breaks loose. they are crying, tired and just plain horrible for the rest of the night.. none of this seems normal to me..
i have read everything from no cry sleep solution to the baby whisperer and even tried a bit of CIO which doesn't help them at all... it does make them go back to sleep after 15min of crying but only for an hour max and then we are up doing it all over..
now lets remember that i don't have ONE baby i have TWO and this makes life very difficult..
since i am being honest i don't really want comments telling me to hang in there it will get better and all that cuddling crap (right now thats how i feel) if you are reading this and you have some tried and tested methods of schedules or sleep advice then you can comment or if you just want to tell me man heather that sucks.. that would be great... otherwise just read and move on and pray for us... good thoughts for the difran clan... so before anyone writes this deep down i know...
THIS TOO SHALL PASS BUT FOR NOW ITS NOT WORKING!!! any advice????

ok adding this a few hours later.. all the above is still true with the modification of they are not always miserable.. they are sweet, cuddly, and they smile lots. they don't play strange and when they laugh its enough to melt my chilly heart... i love them to pieces

12 comments:

lagiulia said...

Oh Heather! How awful! We have been through rough patches with sleep too. Twins sometimes wake each other up and KEEP each other up. It becomes a terrible problem. Remind me of how old they are? When ours hit 6 mos., we ended up doing CIO out of absolute desperation. One night I said, "That's it! They have to learn to work it out between the two of them!" I couldn't take it anymore. I was non-functioning. It was a really awful week, but they did begin to sleep from about 6:30PM to 4:30AM or so, at which point I'd nurse them and they'd go back to sleep until about 6AM. Even if you are not interested in CIO, email me, and maybe I can come up with some other ideas for you- or at least support you when you need it. And, by the way, I know that you love them to pieces. No one would ever, ever doubt that. These rough patches wear us down to the bones, but that doesn't mean we love them any less.
Email: jbhovis@hotmail.com

Courtney said...

Heather,
Jared doesn't sleep either! We are up all night and all day too. When we come on Dec 12th we'll have to share strategies that work. Some days I think I'm going insane...

Anonymous said...

man heather that sucks...

by the way, what's CIO?

Emily Deu said...

heather that sucks! I love you, miss you, and I'll ask my sister what she did, I know abraham starting sleeping from 7pm to 7am from age 5 months. But I dont know anything. I will pray for you guys!

SuJ'n said...

i'm so sorry :(

Anonymous said...

Wow, that does sound frustrating. i wish i was there to make you a good cup of coffee and do something usefull for you like clean or do the chicken dance. either way, your still a hot mamma and I'll be adding the little onces (and hot mama and dave) into my prayers

Anonymous said...

I just came across your blog and hope I'm not intruding. I have a six and a half month old who also doesn't sleep well. One thing that helps him to have longer stretches of sleep at night is a white noise machine in his room. Sounds weird I know! It's the only thing that's worked for us!

Raising one baby is exhausting beyond imagination ... I can't imagine how you do it with two!

Heather said...

Jamie - CIO - Cry It Out. Sounds painful. Is painful. but does seem to work for people.
All of you are awesome. Just the things I needed to hear. Thank you.
Lagiulia - an email is coming your way.

The Pauls' Family said...

Have you read baby wise?
I know this has been a controversial book in some aspects but what has really helped me is the wake, eat, sleep cycle.
Yes, and CIO is tough for the first while, but it does seem to work. I think it hurts the parents more than the kids. We have done this with all of our kids and they seem pretty normal (most of the time, hee, hee)

lagiulia said...

Hi again. Just checking in. You know, making sure you're still alive! There is some really good advice here, but I'd suggest modifying some of it for success with twins specifically. So when you have time, send me a message. Still thinking of you, wishing you the best!

The Rupps said...

heather, i am SO sorry, my heart went out to you as i read your post because the feeling was so familiar and so terrible. i remember feeling like i was sure i would never sleep again for a full night. that seemed unimaginable. we didn't really do CIO, but we did just try to stick to a really regular schedule. and after a while she finally got it. but it took a long time and i know this place you are in is NOT easy. i will say a pray for you and the boys....love you, amanda

Heather said...

i am overwhelmed by all of you.. thank you so much.. (the boys are 6months old next week) again good stuff here.. i am feeling your love..