Sleep Training

So tonight is night 4 of our attemp to sleep train James.  Josie doesn't need training because she is able to stay asleep from the first time we put her down.  James, on the other hand, falls asleep while drinking his last bottle and then wakes up 10-30 minutes later crying because he's hungry.  The books say to keep him awake while he eats but that's pretty much impossible.  My Dr. Recommended letting him cry it out.  This means letting him cry himself to sleep which can take up to 2 hours the first night and then is supposed to get shorter each night until he just sleeps.  Brian and I decided against this method because we don't want James crying into Josie's face for 2 hours and because we don't have the heart to let our little man cry for 2 hours straight.  Instead we are using the method from Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Twins.  When he wakes up we wait 5 minutes before we go in, then 10 minutes, then 15 and then 20.  

Here is how we are doing so far:

Night 1:  James fell asleep during first feeding so we put him to sleep in his crib.  He woke up 10 minutes later, so we let him cry for 5 minutes before going in to get him.  We fed him more and put him back in his crib.  He woke up again 20 minutes later so we let him cry for 10 minutes and then went in to get him.  We fed him more and put him back down.  He woke up again and cried for 12 minutes before he fell permanently asleep.

Night 2: Despite Brian's best efforts James again fell asleep half way through his bottle.  We put him to sleep and he woke up 40 minutes later.  We let him cry for 5 minutes and then I went in and fed him the rest of his bottled.  He woke up again, but only cried for a few minutes before falling asleep permanently.

Night 3: Brian was able to keep James awake enough to drink 3/4 of his bottle before he fell asleep and Brian put him down to sleep.  He woke up about 20 minutes later, cried for 3 minutes but then fell asleep permanently.  We did not have to go back in for him.

Night 4: After talking to my friend Renata (whom I consider an expert in all things twins) we tried starting our bedtime routine 30 minutes earlier so that James wouldn't fall asleep while drinking his final bottle.  It didn't work.  He fell asleep while drinking so we put him to sleep.  He woke up 20 minutes later, cried for 5 minutes and then drank another 3 oz before falling asleep again.  He woke up again about 10 minutes later but fell back asleep quickly so we did not go in.  It's now 8:30 and he seems to be settled.  We shall see...

Josie - when you are older and you are reading this, thanks for being such a great sleeper.  James - you're lucky you're so cute!

Update:  last night James woke up hungry around 11 pm which just happened to be when Brian got home from watching the Raptors game with some friends.  So, Brian fed James a bottle and he went back to sleep.  Josie woke up at 1AM so I fed her and then both babies slep until 5 Am.  

Today is day 5 and we got some great advice from Erin to keep James awake by keeping him in only a onesie and rubbing him with a wet wash cloth to keep him cool.  I tried this tonight and I was able to get him to drink 6.5 oz before putting him to sleep.  

As I write this it's been about 40 minutes since James went to sleep and he has just started to cry.  Thankfully only for a minute and he seems to have gone back to sleep.  Fingers crossed!