For twins in a routine....

(11 Posts)
Cheeka Mon 04-Nov-13 08:33:18

What do you do when one wakes up much earlier than the other? DTD tends to wake up a full hour before her brother. Should I wake him up to keep them in sync? Seems a shame because he's obviously likes a lie in whereas she is an early bird. To be fair, they do even out by bedtime but during the day there's always a bit of a lag. Eg she's just been put down for her nap but DTS is still feeding...

sandyballs Mon 04-Nov-13 08:36:37

The only way I could stay sane with my twins was to get them into the same routine. Does seem a bit mean though to wake him up. How old are they?

Cheeka Mon 04-Nov-13 10:42:07

7.5mths. I do think they need to be in sync because when I put him down for his nap, DTD woke up at her usual time and woke him up! So he's now in a grump!

I keep them roughly in sync. So everyone up by 7am unless by some miracle they both sleep later than that or one of them is ill or had a particularly bad night. It's too hard otherwise, particularly when I am trying to settle one for a nap and the other is awake. Nap times are fairly flexible - but if one wakes after 45 mins, in the morning, the other will get max an hour and then I aim for longer hpnaps in the afternoon. If they both sleep for longer in the morning, I let them. Afternoon nap, I only let them sleep until 3.15 otherwise they won't go to bed at night. So they get 2 hours (ha! RAre!) or until 3.15' whichever is earlier.

MisguidedHamwidge Mon 04-Nov-13 18:24:17

My twins are 10 months and I have given up trying to sync then. DTD is up at 6am but her brother stays in bed until 7.30/8am. He also has a long nap during the day - sometimes 4 hours long! Whereas his sister doesn't sleep for more than 1 hour at once, a maximum of two hours throughout the day. If I woke DTS up with her he would be seriously sleep deprived grin

AbiRoad Mon 04-Nov-13 18:26:12

i think if it looks like one just needs more sleep than the other, then let them sleep. If it more that they get a similar amount of sleep during the day but are a bit out of sync, then try to sync ,

Mine have the same routine thankfully. If one does wake before the other I leave them in their cot to babble away until the other wakes. They are also very good at ignoring each other. If one is crying, the other will raise her head, look at her sister, stick her thumb back in her mouth and go back to sleep. Reading some of these replies makes me realise I should be more thankful of this grin

MultipleMama Germany Mon 04-Nov-13 20:53:09

Mine put themselves in sync they've shared cot since they were born and used to wake each other up constantly. Since I tandem feed I just fed them when they woke each other up and about a couple months in, they dropped into a routine. They're now 1 and although still share a cot they hardly wake each other. During naps we seperate them if one goes down first. I.e one in cot, one on beanbag in lounge with me.

DragonTwins Tue 05-Nov-13 00:53:34

It looks like all girls are early birds. Mine are exactly the same-DTD is up at 6.30, DTS at 7.30/8.00. They are 17 months now and down to one nap. DTS dropped his morning nap at 8 months while she napped for 1 hr at around 9.30 plus in the afternoon until 14 months. I've never tried to put them exactly in sync. They had their afternoon nap together in buggy (yep, I've done 4 miles every day for 15 months, thats when they started napping in cots) and then settled very easily for the night together smile

MultipleMama Germany Tue 05-Nov-13 02:46:00

I would give anything for those 6.30am/7am! My boys are buggers for 6am starts and on occasion 5am. Mine really don't have scheduled naps, they basically sleep when and if they're tired and are both but go to bed at 6pm!

Don't you ever sometimes miss those mornings where you wake up and spead a few minutes waking yourself up followed by a lazy showers. Now, I drag myself out and plonk the kids in the shower with me haha.

Preciousbabies Tue 05-Nov-13 21:43:59

I have b/g twins. G goes down easily at 7.30pm and doesn't stir again until 8am whereas B needs settling a lot more and might not get to bed until 9. He might sleep through / he might not and his wake up time is pretty unpredictable. i do get them up at 8am together as B happily babbles to himself until G wakes up too. They also have different nap times. i think it's best for them to have their own separate natural sleep rhythm rather than trying to get them in sync. They are individuals after all.

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