Chaya Burstyn asked the group for suggestions re scheduling (sleep and feedings) for her six-month-old twins. Here is what she gleaned. (FYI more than one parent recommended the Weissbluth approach to sleep scheduling. And remember to ask a pediatrician if you have concerns re calorie or nutritional intake during this period.) Thanks, Chaya!

I started giving rice cereal at the second morning milk feed.  As you increase the amount of cereal at that feed you will decrease the amount of milk.  Keep in mind that you are making the cereal with milk so there is less need to offer cereal and a bottle.  Once you have that first morning feeding set, then do the same with a late afternoon bottle (this will eventually become dinner)....then once you have the morning and afternoon set, you will do some shifting and sorting to fit in the lunch.  Sometimes mine ate lunch before their afternoon nap and sometimes after.  After some trial and error I find it better to get it done before the nap.

I sleep trained my kids first and then started the feedings.  At 6 months I put both in the same crib at 7:00pm and let them cry it out.  After 3 days, all was well.  The awoke at 6:30am and I nursed both.  Then again at 10:30am, 2:00pm, 4:30pm and 6:45pm.  So we put breakfast at 8:30am and dinner at 4:30 (replaced that milk feeding) and then eventually I had to cut out the 10:30am milk feeding and make lunch 11:15am and then nap from 12-2.

Now the schedule is pretty much the same.
7am wake up and nurse
8:30am cereal w/fruit
10:15 small snack
11:30 lunch
12-2 nap
2:30 milk (nursing or bottle)
4:45pm dinner
5:15 baths
6:30 milk (nursing or bottle)
6:50pm bed

I am pretty strict but it helps me catch up on the sleep I lost for the months prior to birth adn the 6 months of not sleeping.  I learned that the naps evolved from them sleeping at night.  So it was important to get them sleeping at night.

They do usually fall alseep after the first 7am nursing for about 20 minutes and then they may need a 20 min nap around 3:30 if they wake up before 2am.  It is tricky at first but you want to make sure that they get the minimum amount of milk but you base it on whether they are getting milk in other ways.

Don't despair, eventually your kids will fall into a schedule. If I were you I'd make a conscious effort to stretch the time between feedings. Maybe you can offer more milk per bottle and see how that goes, but even if they cry a bit (and they probably will), try to console/distract them and wait it out. I found the Gina Ford book to be very helpful with feeding/nap schedules: The Contented Little Baby.

I nap my kids now two times a day and I too find the afternoon nap so hard to keep because I am out and about. My schedule for eating is as follows:

8am offer an 8oz bottle
12 noon cereal and fruit/veg and then offer an 8oz bottle
4:30/5:00pm cereal and fruit/veg and a 4oz bottle after
7:00pm 8oz bottle then bed

My pediatrician told me to offer the food and the bottle together. I was alternating food and a bottle almost every two hours and I felt like I was feeding my kids one way or another all day long. I do give the food first because if I give them the bottle they don't want to eat the food after.

Marc Weissbluth. Read and live by it.

Andrea Rothman put questions to the group about sleep issues she encounters with her 2-year-olds (switching to beds, early waking, objections at nap time/short naps). Many of you said you wanted to share what she learned, so she collected the following for us. Thanks, Andrea!


I was scared to take my kids out of their cribs but as long as I keep their routine the same, they stay there! Wow!! Hopefully the same will happen for you. If YOU don't make a big deal out of the fact that they are in beds, they won't either!

You may have already received more help than you need on these questions, but thought I'd throw my thoughts out there.
1. If you've never watched the show "Super Nanny," try to soon! She is really great at explaining the method for keeping kids in beds. Her big key is to make it clear that you mean business and to give no rewards (especially attention) for getting up. The first time a child gets up, you say, "It's bedtime." Put them back. Next time, no words, no interaction. Put them back. Keep doing it. It might be a long night, but if you stick to it, you'll be successful.
2. Rewards and consequences. Make a chart. If you stay in bed X nights, you get Y. Also, if you don't stay in bed, you don't get Z.
3. I would encourage putting them down the moment you notice they are sleepy. 8 pm is on the late side for bedtime. Even if you don't notice that they sleep later, it will likely make it easier to get them to stay in bed as they won't be overtired or wound up.

My guys are almost 26 months and on a similar schedule as yours--up at 6:30/7, down at 9, nap 2-4. Our pediatrician highly recommended retaining the cribs as long as possible (he just got rid of his son's at age 3), precisely because once you get rid of them sleep is more of an issue--they want to run around the apartment, get into your bed, etc. We have had crib tents on the beds since they were 20 months old and started climbing out, and while I thought they'd be terrible cages, they are really just airy tents rising above the cribs and the kids love them. Doesn't resolve the basic issue of how much sleep they really need, but I found that once they started climbing out they were refusing to sleep because it was just so much fun getting out. Anyway, I'm dreading the end of the mid-day nap, so hoping that's not the consensus.

My twins will be 4 years old at the end of Dec. I gave up naps this fall due to school schedule. Before it didn't matter what time I put them to bed at night they always would wake up like clockwork. Now that the dust has settled I put them to bed 7 and the sleep until 7 sometimes later. It did not happen at first. It took some time for their bodies and for me to adjust to no naps. We do have a quiet time before school since they attend a 1:30pm program. Quiet time in their room in their beds with books and some toys. I don't mind their talking. They enjoy this and it lasts 45 mins-1 hour. I took them out of cribs at about 3-1/2; I had one that started to climb out of the crib and had my pediatrician talk to him, hope this helps.

My kids were climbing out of their cribs before age 2, so we converted to beds for safety's sake. We found that as long as we put them to bed before they got tired, they actually went along with the plan and went to sleep! Nap time and night time. The key was putting them to bed on time; only when they were very tired did they get a mischievous second wind. I'm a Weissbluth convert so I say do NOT cut out the nap yet, they still need to sleep during the day at this age. Try to put them down EARLIER for naps, see if that works. Also, try putting them down to bed at 7/7:30 instead of 8pm. Sleep begets more sleep, but they'll only sleep if you put them down before any fatigue creeps in, you have to beat the curve.

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