It has been a rough month of sleeping, but I think the rough patch is finally over!
At the beginning of February, Emily, the triplets and myself had the unpleasant experience of having the stomach flu. Emily was the first to get it on the Friday and then that Sunday the triplets and myself got it. It was my first experience of us all being sick at the same time, and of course it had to happen on my birthday!
Luckily for Emily it only lasted a day, but for the triplets it really threw off their schedule and habits. Before this they had excellent sleeping habits and would only wake up once throughout the night. They would go to sleep between 10-11 pm and wake up between 7-8 am, with one feeding usually between 4-5 am. They were eating cereal twice a day and loved eating their veggies. After the stomach flu they wouldn’t touch their cereal or veggies and were up constantly throughout the night.
Over the last 4 weeks we were lucky to get an hour or two of sleep straight. The triplets had been waking up multiple times throughout the night and at all different times. Olivia would wake up at 1, I would feed her, then she would go back to sleep. 2 o’clock would come around and then Jackson would wake up, I would feed him, put him back to bed and less than an hour later Levi would wake up. After finally putting Levi back to bed, it would be 3:30 and Olivia would be up again and the whole process of feeding and putting back to sleep began again. It was like this almost every night and some nights they would be so tired they would just cry and nothing we did seemed to calm them.
We came up with so many different reasons as to why they did not want to sleep and tried many different solutions. I know the fact that they weren’t eating their cereal played a part in them waking up to eat, but that is best saved for another post all together. We thought, maybe they were gassy or constipated, so we tried gripe water and giving them an ounce or two of just water, but that didn’t seem to help. At the beginning of all this, they were still sleeping in our room. Olivia was in the bassinet and the boys shared a crib together. We thought, maybe they were getting too crowded and would be better in their own space. So we set up the third crib, moved all 3 into one room and hoped this would help. It didn’t!
We tried bringing them into the bed with us and cuddling them, it seemed to help a little, but it would take a while to actually settle them down and they still wouldn’t sleep for more than 2 hours. We even tried bringing them downstairs and placing them in the swings, hoping the constant motion would keep them asleep. That only lasted a couple of hours.
The lack of sleep Dan and I got, definitely took its tool on us and our relationship. It was hard for Dan because he would get up to help me, but still needed to go to work all day and be able to function. For myself, it was hard because Emily would be up all day, the triplets would be up during the day and all 4 would still need to eat and be taken care of. With both of us being so tired, we would become irritated with each other over little things and it would result in us fighting. We would both try our best to not let the lack of sleep get to us, but it was hard.
I felt bad at times and felt like I wasn’t being a great mom. I let the lack of sleep affect me and during times when the triplets were crying, I would think of the pointless reasons Dan and I were in an argument and it would frustrate me even more. As a result, times when I would be calm and have no problem handling things, I felt I lacked patience and the ability to be calm to help the babies calm down. I think when you are stressed your baby can sense it, causing them to become stressed as well, which is exactly what was happening.
Dan and I almost went a whole week not talking to each other, which made me realize how hard it is when we don’t work together. At the end of it all, we didn’t even realize what we were arguing about. We also realized even more how important communication between us is. We were both feeling the same way and let the lack of sleep get to us and had we talked about it the moment we felt it was, we could have saved all the trouble of fighting. In the end we stopped to think about everything, had an entire day to talk things through and work things out and were able to come to the conclusion that working together is the best thing.
For the last 5 nights Olivia, Jackson and Levi have slept through the night! They have gone to bed by 9:30pm, have woken up between 5-6 am, have gone back to sleep and got up for the day between 8 – 8:30 am. It has been the best feeling to sleep for 4 or 5 hours straight and it truly makes the biggest difference in how you function during the day.
I don’t know the exact reason as to why they have gone back to sleeping through the night, but I can only hope that it lasts for a long time. Maybe they were going through a growth spurt, maybe they were not feeling 100% from the stomach flu, or maybe they were just uncomfortable. The only real difference that we did do, was to put them in outside onesies. We did this for Emily and we found she slept right through the night and also because I was too scared to use blankets in her crib when she was sleeping in a different room. I think that it gives them a sense of comfort and closeness and it also keeps them warmer than a blanket would. For us this has worked for the last 4 nights and we have both seen an improvement in our mood and it has been so nice to sleep through the night!
Have you experienced sleepless nights with your little ones? At what age did they finally sleep through the night?
Do you have any tips or tricks that you found worked the best to help your little ones sleep through the night?
Are you still experiencing sleepless nights and if so what are the challenges and problems you have become of this?
The Baby Gang 
Your publication really touched me. When we don’t sleep enough it begins quickly to be submerged by the small things of life that we’re usually able to do without any problem.
Babies can feel everything. I’m sure of that. Once I was so tired that I begun to cry in front my 3 months old baby because she was crying for one hour and I didn’t understand why. I just told “I’m sorry but I don’t know what to more except hugging you and I’m tired”. I cried for 2 minutes and she stopped crying look at me and smile. She didn’t cry much for the rest of the day.
It was amazing to me to realize that she felt and in a way understood me.
I discovered your website some weeks ago and I have to tell you that I’m impressed by you and your husband work for your family. You 5 make a really beautifull family. Congratulation for courage and your family.
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Aww thank you! That is so nice to hear! I really do think they feel everything and babies react to you and how you are feeling. That is so precious and it is such a good example of their ability to sense how you are feeling. I bet her smile just made everything better instantly!
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Its so good to read this. I have a 7 year old and twins a little over 2 years old and we didnt sleep more than 2-3 hour in a row for the first two years. It takes such a toll of the relationship, and it is so important to talk about it and see that its not you who is crazy. Sleep deprivation does this to people. Our mantra has been: this will pass 🙂 and it will and you forget everything and start making plans for new babies 🙂 (or not :))
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I’m glad to hear you can relate! That is a good mantra and is very true. I remember with Emily, there were nights she didn’t want to sleep and I would have to rock her to sleep. I now look back and forget how hard it was and it didn’t stop us from having another (or 3) 😊
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I have twins and my daughter slept throught the night at 2 months my son at 8 months they are 16 months they are put to bed at 19h00 and wake up à 7h30. Im a single women no daddy to help
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That is awesome and very impressive you have been able to do everything on your own! That is also incredible they can sleep for so long! Emily will sleep from 9:30 pm to 8am and I hope the triplets will be there soon!
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Hi the baby gang!
When I saw your first viral videos, mom vs. Triplets + toddler, I was really amazed that she did a super amazing care. That was very challenging for us (as parent) to nurture and give the best of what we can do to our child. Its very hard to manage more than one babies at a time, yet its amazing! I started to follow your blogpost, because the story of your life is amazing yet challenging. I’m also a mother to my two child, they’re both raised in closest age. It was very hard for me when I gave birth to my second child, because all of task like household, caring;feeding;bathing to my first and second child, working as an editorial to the magazine was a great challenging for me. My husband worked at night and that was the biggest challenge in my entire life to do nurturing, breastfeeding to my second child, got the sleepless night, no subtitution, most important don’t quit! But despite of all these challenges, I’ve learn so much about life and how everything turns in different ways both tough and specially happiness brings by your child.
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Having children is the best thing in the world and like you said having more than one is challenging, but it truly is amazing! It is difficult to have children close in age, while trying to manage everything else, such as household chores and work, but as long as you know you are doing the best you can everything works out! I commend you for your sleepless nights on your own and knowing that you did what you had to do without quitting! Children really do bring a special happiness to your life and there is no love like the love you have for your children!
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We also have triplets and an older child. The triplets will be 3 in April. I remember going through a stage where they completely regressed with sleeping. Your blog sounds so familiar.We had babies in swings through the night still waking up. It was so frustrating. And draining. Someone once told me with parenting, you take three steps forward and one step back. Maybe it was a growth spurt or a major development stage? All I know is with triplets it’s amplified!!! Our trips still sleep in the same room at night but need to nap in separate rooms now because one of the girls doesn’t sleep but chit chats the whole time. =/ we still take it one day at a time with sleeping. It does get much better though I promise!!!
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It’s nice to hear we are not alone and you have been through the same situation! With triplets it is amplified and when you think you have one settled and you’re ready to go back to bed the next one is up, or you have the situation where they are all up together. That is too cute! Although I am sure you are just wishing they would sleep at the same time! I am still working on putting them down for naps during the day trying to figure out how to get them napping at the same time and in their cribs. They are in the same room too, but when they are on the same schedule as our oldest the girls will share the same room! Thank you for the insight!
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I think i’m always jealous of people whose babies sleep through the night. My little one is 6 months now and we are still waking up about 3 times a night every night. It used to frustrate me but I have since made some kind of peace with it. Still hoping it changes soon.
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That is a great way to look at it! Rather than trying to fight it, just embrace it and do the best you can! I hope that it changes for you soon too and you will be able to get a full night sleep soon!
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people often ask me how I cope with twins, and my answer is, how does someone cope with triplets. I guess we find different mechanisms that work for a while then adjust on the fly. My boys are 14 months old and sleep 7.30pm – 5.30am with 1-2 wake ups in the night. What reverberated for me in your post is your relationship – at one point the sleep got quite bad and my partner and I struggled with sleep deprivation. At some point you think ‘ok, go away and I’ll cope with this on my own, you’re not helping’ – but a small voice in your head tells you this will also pass. And then you remember that your relationship is like another child that needs to be nurtured, for you to be patient with it, and even when you’re really angry that you have to reach out and just give them a kiss. After a mild flu, they boys are sleeping much better this week but it’s time to cut the dummies (which they only use when they sleep) – any advice on that is welcome 🙂
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I feel for you because not having enough sleep is one of the worst feelings… Sounds like you are over the hump and hopefully on the way to better sleep! If you are interested, I just put up a blog post last week (10 tips to help your child fall asleep) on our company blog: http://blog.stonzwear.com/245-2/ but of course, it doesn’t mention triplets! Good luck!
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