Sleeping habits...

Well, Monday and Tuesday night were not a huge sleeping success. The boys both woke up early on Monday night (actually 4:00 am on Tuesday morning) for a feed. They were not overly difficult to put back to sleep but I sadly needed Steve's help since they were both awake. Tuesday night went ok, but Nicolas feel asleep early and did not want to go back to sleep after his 4:30am feed. I was so exhausted that I stood by his crib and had a little breakdown. All I wanted was for him to go back to sleep. Thankfully Steve was there to help and save my sanity. I am very lucky that he is so willing to help out. It is really difficult for him since he has to get up and go to work.

Last night was a great success! Zachary did not wake up once (he slept from 11:00-6:00 and then from 6:30-9:00). Nicolas was asleep by 10:00 and woke up at 6:00 also. He cried for his pacifier twice during the night but all it took was for me to pop it back in and rub his head for 30 seconds... I can deal with that!

We are trying to alter their sleeping habits. The goal is to teach them how to soothe themselves back to sleep without having to feed or pick them up. This teaching does not involve letting them "cry it out". That is not a technique I am overly fond of and one that would not work very well when trying to put two babies to sleep. Steve is a little braver and less of a sap than I and he puts them to bed almost fully awake (but tired of course) and helps them to drift off by rubbing their backs and talking to them. The time needed for them to drift off will hopefully get shorter and shorter. I did not think this plan would work very well, but decided it was worth a shot.

So, I tried it for nap time this afternoon. It took all of two minutes for Nicolas to fall asleep. I was very impressed! Zachary took a little longer, but it still worked. I didn't think that it would be that easy. Since they were tired and needed nap, a little coaxing was all they required! This is wonderful and should set us up for a few less battles with sleeping time in the future. I guess we will have to wait and see...