Bo: “People will really think I'm completely crazy, but because of this my babies slept through the night...”

Back when I didn't have children, I always thought: “Once a baby sleeps through the night, they will sleep until about seven o'clock”

Now that I'm a mother, I know things are quite different. Wow, what a baby can go through: sleep regression (I had really never heard of this before), growth spurts, teething, and so on! Two babies in one bedroom, that's how we set it up, until we noticed that the girls were sleeping worse. Puck and Sam would wake up at night from each other's noises. One would start crying, which would wake the other, and she would start crying too. This would repeat itself in the morning, causing the girls to wake up early and upset.

“This isn't working anymore, it's time for something different,” I thought

The timing was perfect, as we were leaving for Cornwall two days later. A cottage with three bedrooms. Upon arrival, we immediately put the ladies in separate rooms and they fell asleep almost instantly. Unbelievable: a new environment and everyone on their own. Wow! Proud! The ladies slept until 7:30 am every morning. "Gosh, we should have known this sooner," we said to each other. Until we continued our plan at home...

We went home one day early to tackle their rooms

We turned one bedroom into two bedrooms. This meant that the little bed was moved from their old room and the second bed was moved to the new room. But who did I let sleep in that new room? I thought that was quite a thing. It's strange there and still a big change. At that time, Sam was the 'easiest' sleeper, so we chose her. We told Puck and Sam that evening that Sam is going to sleep in her new room (not that she understood any of it), but it was still nice to discuss it with her, right?! We put the girls to bed and they fell asleep almost immediately.

That morning, Sam woke up crying at 4:00 AM

Jorn immediately went there and took her to bed with us. She fell asleep with us almost instantly. Both the morning and the afternoon naps went terribly that day. They cried for half an hour before falling asleep and eventually only slept for half an hour. There it was again: guilt and a huge stomachache. "Okay, put things into perspective," I thought quickly. "Sam just needs to get used to her new room. This will take some time." I played with Puck and Sam in the new room. We closed the curtains together. I told them that everything is alright.

The days and weeks that followed were no different

Every morning, Sam started her day between 4 and 5 o'clock. Almost immediately after she woke up, we would lay her down with us so she could continue sleeping. Every day that I was at home with the girls, I dreaded nap time, especially Sam's. In the afternoon, the girls went to bed at 1:00 PM, and every afternoon at 1:45 PM, the baby monitor would turn on. What did I do? I took her out of her bed and laid her down with me, rocked her to sleep, and then put her back in her bed. If I was lucky, she would sleep until 3:00 PM. This was so exhausting and stressful for me. I saw Sam change from a cheerful baby into a frustrated and tired one, who started crying quickly and was often grumpy, but I also slowly turned into a grumpy, tired, and especially insecure mother.

Why did we set them aside?

Why doesn't she sleep there? What are we doing wrong? After a week and a half, I contacted both the child health clinic and the physiotherapist and they advised: “Just let her lie there and cry. She will fall asleep eventually”. Okay, I did that, once and never again, whether it's pedagogically sound or not, but never again! I put Puck and Sam to bed at 1:00 PM. At 1:45 PM, Sam started crying and I let her cry. However, it wasn't a cry to fall asleep, as she had already slept for 45 minutes, it was a hysterical cry that I could hear very well even without a baby monitor! After 45 minutes of full-on crying, and her sister Puck awake too, I went to her. Sam was completely distraught. She cried for another 10 minutes while I comforted her. Okay, so never again! I immediately reported this back to the child health clinic and the physiotherapist. We were dealing with two babies; if I let one cry, the other would wake up, and we had no need for two awake and overtired babies. What I've often noticed is that most (well-intentioned) advice is aimed at a single child and not suitable for twins.

That evening we put Puck in the 'new' room

I had stomach pain again. Sam needed a moment to recover, and so did we. You won't believe it, but Puck had exactly the same sleeping pattern as Sam, and Sam slept well again in her old familiar room. "Gosh, this is so frustrating. Why won't they sleep in that new room, and what's wrong with them?", I thought desperately. How nice it was that Sam became that cheerful girl again, and how awful I felt that Puck was getting more and more tired. "Okay, we're going to put them back together, because this isn't working", I decided. That wasn't a good alternative either. They had restless evenings, had trouble falling asleep, and woke up early. One would make a little noise and the other would start crying because of it. And now? In the end, we put Sam in our room because that new room just didn't work out. It was even so bad that we tried to sleep in that room for one night. Guess what, we couldn't sleep there either...

In general, I am not superstitious

I do believe that there's more between heaven and earth, but I've never been preoccupied with it. I think I'm too down-to-earth for that. Until this situation occurred. It was indeed very strange. I've seen that over the past six weeks, which is how long this 'misery' lasted, no one could sleep in the new and strange room. Sleeping with a baby in the room was something I absolutely did not want. Through a tip, I was advised to visit someone who can remotely detect water veins and entities.

Two weeks later, we had an appointment at A.

He told us that there were water veins under both rooms, and just where a little bed was placed. That man didn't know where the beds were, but he could tell us this. He could also describe the personalities of our girls, bizarre right?! Once home, we immediately moved the bed. And what's the situation now? Since the bed has been moved, Sam sleeps until 7:00 AM, she naps for one hour in the morning and over two hours in the afternoon! We firmly believe that this was the problem, no way we're putting that bed back there! There will be people now who think I'm crazy, who find me flighty or whatever. Whatever it was, we're just glad that the girls (for now) are sleeping well. Until, of course, the next phase or whatever comes around the corner...

BO