When we first found out we were having twins, Terri and I agreed that one thing we did not want to do is have the girls sleep in our bed.
It was the one thing we were absolutely sure about -- the girls would sleep in their own room, in their own cribs. Our bed was OFF LIMITS.
Fast forward to this week.
A battle of wills has developed between the parents and the kids.
Starting this past weekend, it's as if Katherine and Caroline have conspired to find a way to get into our bed.
It started with Katherine. One night she just would not go to sleep in her crib. She continually cried, stood up, and shook the bars of her crib until we came to get her.
We tried the whole "
Ferber Method" thing, and that had been working --- until this week.
Katherine just kept shaking the bars of her crib, yelling and screaming, until we got her. I half expected her to start shouting, "
Attica! Attica!" a la
Al Pacino in "
Dog Day Afternoon".
Finally, exhausted and frustrated, we brought Katherine into bed with us, where she promptly fell asleep, and spent the rest of the night in blissful slumber.
Things have gotten worse as the week has progressed.
Katherine has gone back to sleeping in her crib, but Caroline has picked up where Katherine left off. It's almost as if they are working in shifts!
For the past three nights, Caroline REFUSES to lay in her crib. She will stand at the bars of the crib and cry until we come to get her.
Two nights ago, we tried the Ferber method, and within the first five minutes she cried so hard she threw up her whole dinner. Nothing like your child vomiting in her crib to get you to ditch the Ferber method!
If we hold Caroline until she falls asleep and then put her in the crib, that will work . . . for about an hour. After that she will wake up and proceed to cry until we come get her.
For example, the first night we got her to sleep, put her in her crib at 9 pm, then woke up when she started crying at 10 pm and repeated the procedure. We proceeded to wake up every hour on the hour until finally, at around 3 am, we gave up and just brought her to bed with us.
Last night, exhausted from five straight days of these late night battles, Terri and I capitulated at about 2:30 am, and brought Caroline into our bed.
Once in our bed, Caroline falls asleep immediately, and sleeps through the night.
We've tried every trick we've learned so far, with only moderate success. We will continue to try, of course, and hope that this is just a phase that will pass with time.
But for now, the girls know they have an advantage over us -- they don't have to work the next morning! They have all day to sleep! So they know that if they keep it up, somewhere around 1 to 3 in the morning, they can look forward to spending at least part of the night in Mommy and Daddy's bed.
The battle of wills will continue into the early morning hours at the Lim Household. To be continued . . .
