Sleep training

[Narwhal]

So our boys have been sleeping like crap for the last month or so. They are up at least 2x a night but usually more like 4-5x. So, my question is-how in the world do you sleep train with them both in the same room? They don't wake each other up all of the time, but they do on occasion, particularly when the awake one is pissed and crying. I would assume if we are doing CIO or some variation of sleep training (we'd like to avoid CIO but were getting to the end of our rope), they will just keep each other up or stir each other up more. 

How do you sleep train? Did you moms of older twins move them into separate rooms during the training? Just figure they needed to get used to each others noises and train together? Help!! We only have two bedrooms upstairs, so having them in their own rooms isn't an option for us. We need to fix this issue soon. Mom and dad are going to lose our damn minds and our boys are miserable all day because they don't get any sleep!

Thanks for any and all help/suggestions!! 

Edited to add- they will be 6 months adjusted on 9/11 

[lauren9317]

Hi! My twins are the same age as yours, just a few weeks older. I would strongly suggest CIO, even though I know it doesn't sound ideal. But I believe it's usually the only thing that works, and it works well.

We were lucky that our daughter was a good sleeper from the beginning but her brother was more difficult. She would sometimes wake up when he cried, and sometimes she wouldn't. At about 7 months, he started this thing where he would go to sleep at 7, same as her, then wake up screaming at 8 and wouldn't go back to sleep at all. We would be afraid that he'd wake her so we'd whisk him out of the room. This turned into offering him a bottle which he clearly didn't really need and then just sitting up with him in front of the tv until he conked out. It was ridiculous. Finally a little before he turned 8 months, we decided to let him cry. And we did the "extinction" version where you don't go in the room at all. I know that sounds harsh, but we had the done the gradual version of CIO with him in the past, where you comfort after 5 min, then 10, then 15 etc and that just didn't cut it. He would still expect us to go in and get him and would just cry for as long as it took for us to go to him. So anyway, that night, he woke up at 8, started crying and I watched him over the monitor to make sure he was fine and to make sure his sister wasn't too bothered by his noise. She stirred a little but she was ok. It took 2 hours for him to fall asleep. Again, I know that sounds harsh but he was not screaming crying the whole time, it was just off and on. He was so used to us coming in to get him and he had to learn that it was sleep time. The next night, he woke up at 11, cried for 15 minutes and went back to sleep. The next night there was a huge thunderstorm which woke him up. He didn't cry at all, just sat up, played for a minute and went back to sleep. We've had no crying since then.

Sorry for the long post but I know how it goes so maybe this will be helpful. In conclusion, I would go ahead and try CIO with both your boys at the same time, in the same room. The first night you do it could be stressful and they might both be up for a while, but it should be a lot better the next night.

[cayl]

I was terrified about doing CIO since they share a room but we did it around 8.5 months (7.5 months adjusted) and it was fine. It amazes me how even now one can be up and making noise and the other one will just stay asleep. They learn to ignore each other, and since mine will be sharing a room for a long time I'm happy about that.

[demandypants]

I haven't had my twins yet, but I do have a singleton, and as I recall isn't 6 months one of those lovely developmental leaps/sleep regression hot spots? I am not against some form of sleep training around this age. However you may be more successful if you ride this one out and wait for a better opportunity. Fun things like learning to crawl, sitting up, and teeth can really eff up sleep.

Good luck!

[fryjack2]

Have you spoken to a sleep specialist?

The only reason I hesitate to encourage sleep training was because we were advised to wait until they were around 8 months corrected age when we tried it.

My twins ( 2 years and 5 months old)are in the same room and we have had to resleep train last month. It SUCKS. When one would quiet down, the other would start up again causing the first to start again. BUT they for the most part sleep now. They still wake up 1-4 times a night for a blanket or binky replacement but its 10000x better than it was.

I have to say that my heart strings weren't pulled as hard this time around. 2.5 years of sleep deprivation has caused my heart to grow cold