Mum shares routine for getting twins to always sleep through the night
She said they started using the routine when the boys were just six months old
A mum has shared the routine she says helps her twins sleep through the night every single time. Check it out for yourself here:
Katie Hillier, 30, admits that she was struggling to function due to sleep deprivation until discovering the routine for her twin sons Oscar and Brooks, who were six months at the time.
Prior to introducing the new routine, Katie said that she and husband Harry Bunton, 38, were unable to get more than 20 minutes sleep at a time due to their sons’ crying.
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Knowing they couldn’t continue as they were, the parents decided to take action and came up with the routine, which they say works perfectly for their boys, who are now 18 months old.
Katie, who works in the fitness industry, said: "The question I get asked more than anything else, for good reason, is how we get them to sleep so well.
"Sleep deprivation is shocking, it's absolutely horrible. It's way worse than people even admit, and you don't realise how difficult it is until you're going through it.
"When the boys were around four months old they went through sleep regression and cluster feeding, so for a six-week period we weren't sleeping for more than 20 minute intervals.
"It was one of the hardest things I've ever been through in my life.
"But we were adamant that it wasn't an option for us to let this be our life, we wouldn't survive. So we did our research and we implemented good sleep habits."
Katie and Harry started by implementing a strict bedroom routine that begins hours before the kids go to bed.
After tucking into a dinner of solid food at 6pm, the twins are bathed at 6.25pm - with the lighting in the room kept low.
They then receive bedtime massages from their parents before being put into their PJs and soothed to get them into prime sleepy condition.
The twins then have their last feed at 6:45pm - which usually consists of either breast or bottled milk - and are read a bedtime story until 7pm.
Then the parents bid them goodnight and leave them in their cots until 6am.
Once settled, they never remove the twins from their beds, and instead comfort them by tapping or rocking them within the cots.
Katie and Harry began doing their routine when their babies were just six weeks old, and it took time for it to take hold.
She said: "We didn't do anything quickly and we didn't rush it just because we were desperate.
"Some of it was really hard to do, like moving away from contact napping, because in the moment it can feel so much harder.
"As a new parent all you'll want is for your baby to sleep, you'll do whatever it takes for that to happen.
"But although it's hard in the moment, in the long run it's gold, and I think that rings true for so much of parenting in general."
Claire Reid