Frustrations

You know how babies go through phases of not sleeping great for naps? Well, such phases can really become frustrating when it's two babies. For the past several days, both babies have taken pretty crappy naps. They always take daytime naps in their swings, which until now, have worked their magical powers quite beautifully. But now both of them will only sleep for a short period of time and then wake up. I'll get one baby back to sleep, and like clockwork, the other one instantly opens his/her eyes. This process usually continues until it's time to eat again. (Their tagteaming skills are unrivaled, I tell you!) I would love it if they would sleep in their crib during the day, but whenever I've tried, both of them sleep for 30 minutes and then pop their little eyes open. Then I'm stuck trying to get both back to sleep for usually another hour. At least if they're in their swings, it doesn't take quite as long to get them back to sleep.

Their swings have vibrators and even noise machines built in, so I don't think it's background noise waking them up. They're both snuggled up in their awesome swaddling blankets as well. Today I even rolled up blankets next to them so their pacifiers wouldn't come out of their mouths before they had fallen asleep. It may have helped slightly.

The other frustration right now is little N's eating habits. When we first started on formula, she would gulp and gulp, probably due to the fact that she hadn't been getting enough with breastmilk. But in the past week or so, she will eat only a few ounces and then become completely uninterested and usually drift off into a doze. I tickle her jaw, burp her, take off her clothes, and play with her hands and feet. If that doesn't work, I resort to taking a cool wipe and running it over her head, face, and neck to get her to pay attention and stay awake. In the meantime, little A has completely finished eating and is usually starting to get annoyed. He's so business-like about the whole thing. Get in, get the job done, and move on. Barely any spitting up and hardly any burping.

I don't think it has anything to do with the formula itself; I think she just gets bored or decides she feels good with a few ounces, so why continue? I know that if I just let her eat those few ounces and don't push her to eat more, she'd be hungry again in an hour. And I just can't spend all day feeding her. The other problem is if she happens to gulp at the beginning, she may projectile spit up halfway through, just for kicks. *Sigh.*

I really, really hope these eating and napping issues are just short little phases that will work themselves out sooner rather than later. Any advice would be most appreciated!

On a very positive note, both babies have slept for five hours straight for the past two nights. That in itself wouldn't be that out of ordinary, but both times they slept the entire time in their crib. Most nights, I end up with one baby asleep on my chest and one lying next to me. They always start out in the crib, but after putting them both back to sleep two or three times, I give up and bring them in bed with us. To have five hours of sleep without any little people nearby was most glorious. :)

P.S. I did get a picture of little N smiling, but she moved and the pic was blurry.