Hush little babies don't you cry.....

I'm sure that from reading my blog you've noticed that I'm not in the best of states lately. Six months of demand feeding the little men, of waking up countless of times in the night - in fact hardly sleeping, of not getting any rest during the day due to the fact that the boys won't nap for more than 10 minutes intervals and when they are awake, want to be constantly held, has resulted in me being a permanent moody, emotional, tramp! (Not tramp in the slutty way but tramp as in I don't get to wash lately!)

I have therefore decided that for my sanity's sake I must use the "controlled crying method" to get the boys sleeping through the night and napping better during the day. For those of you who are not familiar with CC, here's how it works: You settle baby down while still awake and leave the room. Return in 5 minutes to pop dummy in mouth (if they take one) and to soothe them (I stroke their head or pat their bottom) for a couple of minutes, then leave the room again, even if they are still crying. Return at 10/15/20/30 minute intervals and repeat process until they fall asleep. I actually thought this method was quite harsh and I wanted to avoid it as I can't even hear my little men cry for 5 seconds, let alone 5 minutes. But desperate times, desperate measures! And so with the help and support of a fellow twin mum, who talked me through the process, and with a very heavy heart and nervous mind, we began on Wednesday.

Today is day three, and I cannot believe the change in the boys! Firstly I have to say, the method wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, although I have adjusted the times I go in as there's no way I could leave them to cry for more than 10 mins. So after 2-5 minutes, I go in, replace dummy, soothe and leave. From the very first day there was a major difference. The boys napped for 40 minutes in the morning, and over an hour in the afternoon. Last night Kaan only woke up once (at 2.00am) and whinged for about an hour until he settled back to sleep till 7 am. Kerem didn't cry at all. He stirred once, I popped his dummy into his mouth and he slept till 6am.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The boys having proper naps have meant that I got to shower yesterday and today (something unheard of in the last few months - a shower two days in a row! Madness!!) It meant I get to finish my meals. It means I've had time to sit and write this post! I am hoping that within the next week or so, the boys will be sleeping through the night. How great would that be. It would mean not having to go to bed at 8.30 pm because I'm so shattered. It would mean having my evenings back! Who knows, I may be able to be me again very soon, rather than the slightly smelly, very moody, incoherent mad woman that I've become of late. Watch out people, I'll be back!