Baby Wise, sleeping through the night (STTN) and crying it out (CIO)

I've been reading "On Becoming Baby Wise: Giving Your Infant the GIFT of Nighttime Sleep" with the lofty goal of trying to get the twins to sleep through the night (STTN). Right now, they average about five to five and half hours between a feeding at night. So if Darren feeds them at 11:30 pm and puts them down at 12:30 am, they wake up usually around 4:30 am, maybe 5 am. Once they went 6 hours 45 minutes between a feeding which was magical.

Anyway, Baby Wise is supposed to be the Bible of knowledge for getting your infant into a sleep routine with the goal of STTN. It operates on a feed-wake-sleep principle where you break the day into feedings, followed by wake time, followed by nap time. We've been mostly following this anyway, not because of my amazing parenting skills but because that's how they did it in the NICU and that's what the girls are doing naturally. In the book, however, the author insists that babies be put down for a nap in cribs only and cry it out (CIO) for as long as 20 minutes! That seems crazy to me. There is so much conflicting info out there but most people say an infant should not self soothe (meaning no CIO) until they are at least five months old. Also, we've been operating more on the let them fall asleep wherever philosophy, be it rock n' play sleeper, bouncy seat, swing, in someone's arms, the bassinet, boppy pillow, etc.

The entire time I've been reading this book I've been smugly thinking "yeah it's easy when you only have one baby. I bet if the author had twins he would be in a totally different mind set." Well let it be known that Gary Ezzo has TRIPLETS. Which I learned when I read his chapter on getting multiples to bed. Hanging head in defeat. So somehow Gary Ezzo got his triplets to STTN following his system.

So I tried this week to get the girls to nap in their cribs. Massive failure. The first time, I put them down when they were drowsy to see if they would fall asleep on their own. I can't handle the idea of them CIO so of course the second they start crying I just scoop them up and comfort them. I gave up after about twenty minutes and moved them downstairs to the rock n' play sleepers. Today I tried moving them from the rock n' play sleepers after they were dead asleep into their cribs. They stayed asleep for a few minutes after the transition but woke up shortly after and would not go back to sleep. Sigh.

So Gary Ezzo father of triplets, I am still in love with the idea of getting the girls to STTN (he promises seven hours by seven weeks from due date) but not sure how this will play out. The girls are 12 weeks tomorrow (six weeks adjusted) so we have another week to hit his seven hour prediction. Holding out small amounts of hope.