2.5 month olds aren't napping!

Hello! My boys are always wanting to be held to fall asleep. For naps, I try to feed, then burp, then rock. Once u think they have fallen asleep, I will try to place them in a swing. Sometimes, the other one starts crying so I have to tend to him. But the one I placed down usually wakes right up unless I was able to hold him for at least 20 minutes. I know they are overtired, but have no idea of hiw to get them down to nap. I am breAstfeeding and one of my friends thought maybe they weren't satisfied with my milk.
At this time, I am trying to nap in the living room. I do have a 2 year old who is active (loud at times). Should I bring twins up to their room in crib with white noise machine? At night they sleep in their rock n plays initially. I do give one night time bottle between 6 and 7. They usually take 2 ozs and pass out. We bring them upstairs, and they will sleep anywhere from 2 to 5 hours at a time. When they wake, I will nurse them, burp, and then hold to sleep. Same thing happens if I put them down- they wake up! They need more sleep!!! Please help!

 

Trying their cribs probably wouldn't hurt. I doubt that it's due to dissatisfaction with your milk. All my babies have gone through multiple periods where they don't nap/sleep well. When all else fails, I move bed time earlier until they are better rested and then work our way back to the original bed time. One thing I have learned is that good sleep begets good sleep so if you can get them sleeping a bit more at night for a few days it actually helps that napping. HTH!

 

So, first, it's not your milk!! (I'm assuming there have been no other concerns with growth, latch, etc) What you're describing is pretty common, normal newborn behavior. Are you swaddling? If not, I would definitely try that. I would bring the white noise machine down to the living room for now & place it by where they're sleeping. My little ones didn't ever seem to take to the swing much until they were a bit older (3-4 months).

Do you have any wraps or slings? Will they nap well in there? Depending on how big they are you could wear both in a Moby wrap or if they're too big for that, you can use woven wraps & wear one on your front & one on your back. Or just focus on wearing one & getting that one better rested & sleeping in the crib/swing & then do the same with the other.

 

No, it's not your milk. :hug: At about 2.5-3 months is when I started transitioning to a crib in their room. Maybe they sleep better sitting up in a bouncy or swing, which is fine, too, but about then mine were starting to not be able to sleep through anything (ie other toddlers ). So I'd work on one at a time, whomever is easier I'd tackle first in hopes that you'd get one baby sleeping ok then you can focus on the other.

 

Yup this! and ditto - it's not your milk! Like Michelle, I started transitioning them to their crib for naps around this time too (maybe a little later because I put off going up and down stairs Lol!) and like you I had them in a pnp in the living room to begin with. We have a study downstairs so I moved the pnp in there and initially had the better sleeper in the pnp and the other in the swing in the other room. I second the swaddling, it helped a lot with our babies - I swaddled before feeding and that way if they fell asleep before finishing the feed, I was able to unswaddle to wake them up.


When you put them down, have you tried patting them and shushing, for a little amount of time to see if they will settle that way? I remember this time being the hardest of all, being pulled in two directions. If you have a wrap, this might make it easier to settle one, while you carry the other. My girls didn't really get used to the swing either until around 4 months, so sometimes I used a single stroller inside the house, pushing it up and down while I shushed and patted the other in the pnp.

Hang in there! It'll definitely get easier...