New parents of twins with questions

Hello everyone, great forum here and thanks for all the great info.

Our twin boys were born at 34w5d on 3/29. They were in NICU for 9 days. No real problems, just monitoring, some Jaundice, etc.

They are home now and everyone seems to be doing great. We also have a 17 month old big brother so we'll have our hands full for a while.

We're going to have lots and lots of questions from here on out, I suppose. I try my best to search the forums before posting a new topic, but here is my first question.

The boys are eating, peeing/pooping & sleeping, repeat right now. I vividly remember the first 2 months with our first boy (he was a 41 wk monster, relatively speaking - 9lbs 11oz) and how we would be scared to death when night-time came and we didn't know when we'd finally get him to sleep (even for just a few hours). Right now the new twins just sleep. I know since they're preemies, this is to be expected.

My question is how and when will this change? They'll be full term (adjusted) in early May. At that point, will they do a 180 and decide not to sleep at night anymore? I'm hoping that these first few weeks will get them used to their new environment and they'll transition more smoothly into the next 'phase' of their development and that we won't have to 'start over' with the night sleeping thing (even if it is only for 3 hour intervals, that's understandable and OK).

Can anyone lend their opinion?

Thanks so much! Glad to be part of the club...

 

:sign0016: to TS and congratulations on your baby boys!!

My girls were 34 weekers and when they came home from the NICU (after 2 weeks) all they did was sleep, pee/poop, eat, lather rinse repeat every 3 hours. I was amazed. That said, around 8-10 weeks old (2-4 adjusted) they started staying awake longer and becoming more interactive. But they were rarely awake for more than an hour to an hour and a half at time. GL and welcome again!

 

Ours were like that too at first, and it was a real gradual process where we slowly noticed them being more and more awake. Close to their due-date, I think was when they started to act like "real" newborns. However, we never had real bad sleep issues with them. They slept 7-8 hours at three months, and by four months it was more like 12 hours.

We kept their room very bright during the day at first, even when they were sound asleep, to help set their circadian rhythm. We also did the "never keep them up more than two hours" thing as outlined in Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child.

Good Luck!

 

Well, mine are only 3 weeks, but they are a bit more awake than just a couple weeks ago. They still sleep a lot, though they are fussy ALL evening long usually. I have to wake them every 3 hours to eat. They usually don't wake themselves to eat, but they have a couple times. Mine sleep at "night" (anything past midnight) and are fussy from 5 pm-12am off and on.

 

Welcome to TS!!! Congratulations on your twin boys!!!

Dianna

 

Even 4 weeks early mine slept the first month. But they never had days and night mixed up. I think sleeping all day and night helped that. During the day I would try to get them awake even if for 5 min so they could tell the difference between day and night. I also would wake them after 3 hours to eat so they didn't take really long naps during the day but saved those for night. But around their due date be ready for fussy evenings.

Congrats.

 

Thanks for the info.

I remember those fussy evenings from our first. We heard it referred to as the witching hour(s). Never could figure out why he was so fussy from like 6pm to 10pm. I can't remember how long it lasted. But, I guess we better get ready for that times 2, huh?

 

My girls were born 36w 4 days. I didn't know the thing about preemie's sleeping so when I brought them home I was so happy that they were sleeping for 3 hours at a time...I had no idea what I was in for! My daughter was born at 9lb 3oz, so she was always a good sleeper.

Mine were out of the sleeping a lot thing quickly. They were born 11/13 and were out of it by 12/10 (I remember because it was right when my mother-in-law came to visit!).