This is my story.
Last year (2020) I gave birth to two beautiful, twin baby girls! They were born four weeks prematurely. I immediately reached out to Kristin to learn the most appropriate time to start the official sleep training process. She adjusted their due date with the birth date and we settled on starting when the girls turned five months old.
So, leading up to five months, I got a real taste of what twin sleeping (theirs and mine) really meant! At first, I had them sharing a crib when they were very small, and from the get go they were feeding every 3 hours. Until I began sleep training, this meant SIX feeds a night! (3 for each girl). This was an average of THREE wakings a night each, which basically meant my entire night was spent accommodating the girls – because before the sleep training I would feed one girl, then wait for the other to need a feed. On top of that, it was tricky because when one baby woke, they almost always woke the other, but having them in separate rooms was not an option.
Day nap routine was almost non-existent. The naps were sporadic, no more than 20 minutes in length, never in their crib.
The girls would very often sleep on me or on the nanny or in their playpack. To top it off, I have a 2 and a half year old son who makes quite a bit of noise! So, truly, it really was not a good formula. Also, about two weeks before I started the sleep training, I noticed that the girls were becoming increasingly cranky, miserable and just all around not happy.
Once the girls became five months, I hired Kristin immediately to begin the sleep training process. Because the daytime nap routines (or lack of) were so awful, she decided to focus on developing a consistent daytime routine before we tackled the nighttime.
Please remember we are dealing with twins here – so everything is DOUBLE the norm.
First, Kristin wrote a very lengthy and informative customized plan for the girls, which we tried to implement but quickly realized I, personally, couldn’t bear the length of the girls’ crying, in fact, double the crying! This was a non-negotiable for me so Kristin promptly adjusted and adapted the plan so that I was able to manage. We started putting the girls in their own room. I created a very dark space, got a white noise machine and started to put the girls down awake, without feeding to sleep, rocking to sleep, or asleep on me! Kristin “allowed” me to do more frequent check-ins and let a few things slide – I assured her that I didn’t mind if the process took a bit longer because of this, the stress of going all in had overwhelmed me.
After FIVE days of live coaching with Kristin, the girls were sleeping 3-4 solid naps a day, on average an hour 15 minutes, and they are always put down awake. It has been a true game changer, and I have noticed a huge shift in their behaviour. They hardly cry! They seem so content and happy – truly thriving now!
We then applied a similar plan for the nighttime, which involved gradually reducing the volume of milk they had during the night hours. After FIVE days of this gradual plan, the girls dropped all night feeds and are now put down between 6pm and 7pm, AWAKE, and are not taken out of their cribs until 6am or later. They are so content being in their cribs now and have really become comfortable and happy being alone and playing – once in a while I sneak their pacifier in for them though.
Kristin and her sleep coaching program WORKS. She holds your hand the entire time and is totally invested in reaching success for your babies, but more importantly, for YOU.
Nothing is, or will ever be perfect – but if I can now predict how our days will look, I consider that a success!
I now have a thriving and liveable day to night situation. The live coaching that Kristin offers is exactly what as described – she is there for you 100% of the time. If you are struggling like I was, and need to get your babies sleeping for their own health as well as your sanity, Kristin is worth everything!
Sarah, 5 month old twin girls
