Milestones for 6 months old twins?

[katrus78]

Now I know many of you would say every baby is different, they will do things at their own speed, but maybe I can do something to help my babies to achieve those milestones a little faster? So here is what I see as a problem:

Rolling. Sophia at nearly 6 months is not rolling, neither direction, not even trying to move her leg over. She is my chubby twin, weighing apprx 18lb now. Maybe she can't do it cause she is just heavy, but still... Maddie can roll both ways, much easier from back to tummy but I have seen her go the other direction as well. She doesn't like to stay on her tummy though for a long time.

Sitting. Maddie is really leaning forward when she sits, and falls over forward and to the sides a lot. Sophia has got a better "base" lol, so she sits much better and much longer.

Sleeping. They both wake up several times a night, more than 3 times, and not at the same time of corse! Maddie is a little better, she will usually just top at 3 times, but Sophia cries at night up to 5 times, not kidding! She is looking for a bottle and settles with the bottle for a little while, but than cries again. She also moves her legs a lot during sleep waking herself up. I don't know what kinda reflex that it, but she bangs her both legs really hard against the mattress. Usually I end up laying her in my bed and pet her legs to settle her down. But it really hurts my sleep!

Please help! Especially my fellow twin mommies who have around 6-month olds, can you share your experiences?

Thank you!

 

[Meezerowner]

Mine seemed to take ages to roll too. They finally did it at 22-23 weeks (both of them).
They do better with less clothes on - try putting them on a mat wearing just a nappy and see if they find it easier. I started to do a lot more tummy-time around 22 weeks I think that helped a bit. All babies are different though and will prob just get round to it in time.

I know I always felt bad at baby classes as younger babies than mine were doing the cobra and rolling around and mine were like overturned beatles - legs waving but no rolling!

We are 31 weeks/7 months now so a bit further on than you... but my small girl still doesnt do an awful lot of rolling and neither do much sitting unaided.

 

[san fran shan]

It sounds to me like your girls are doing just fine, but I know how it feels when younger babies do stuff sooner. I always have to remember to subtract 4 weeks and see if they are still behind or not.

Lots and lots of floor time is the only suggestion I really have. Mine spent hardly any time in the swings or bouncers and we don't use them at all now. We don't use jumpers, exersaucers, and we were just given bumbo seats, but hardly use them (the posture just isn't right). I sit on the floor with them as much as possible. We took out our living room rug and replaced it with the bright color foam mats that interlock together so they have a large play space. They would lay on her backs and lift her legs in the air. I started helping them by pushing her legs to the side and helping her body turn and showing them the motion to get over. Now that Emma is up on all fours, I encourage crawling by putting toys just out of her reach. She gets so mad since she can only scoot backwards

Mine aren't siting unassisted yet. Emma is close and can sit leaning forward for a few seconds. Owen is a little behind Emma. When we are on the floor, I put them in the sitting position and take my hands away and prop them back up when they start to fall. We just practice a lot.

As for sleep, we give them 6 oz at bed time which is usually around 7 or 8 PM. If they fall asleep while eating, we gently wake them up. We put them in their separate cribs awake, curtains closed, white noise on medium level (we used to run it full volume). 98% of the time, Emma sleeps through without a peep. We are working on Owen and when he wakes up we either pat his back, rock him, or as a very last resort feed him...which means waking Emma and feeding her too (its our #1 rule...always feed at the same time). We know that we have to get tough with Owen and talked to his doc and she said it is OK to let him cry at 2AM until he falls back asleep. We are assuming it will take a week or more to break the habit and might move Emma to the office until he is good. We know he isn't hungry as we can rock him back to sleep so we just have to get him to put himself back to sleep. I am not totally ready to get tough on him though. Last two nights it just took back patting, so we might not have to get to the cry it out point. He has always been the baby that lets out a good cry before falling asleep even when being held.

Anyways, I feel like I am just rambling on and on about my babies. We have worked really hard to encourage good sleep habits and it didn't just happen over night. It took time, patience, and consistency. We aren't always patient or consistent...but we try. There are many mornings Owen ends up in bed with me because I just can't deal with it. So we send him mixed signals and then want him to sleep through. Oops. Oh well. We will all get there eventually!

 

[jackie2012]

The leg thing, do they have bouncers? My boy does that at night because when he nap during the day he usually bounces himself to sleep in the bouncer and if he wakes he bounces himself back down lol so at night when he wakes he tries to bounce in the crib. Or maybe just restless legs maybe working out her legs before before bed could help?

Mine will be 8 months soon they don;t do what a 8 month old does but they are hitting the milestones for their adjusted age and have just started to really roll around and inch along the floor slowly most in reverse lol and sit up unassisted. i don't really encourage them to so wasn't surprised they took so long but with my oldest i would do the stuff that shan was talking about going over the motions of how to do it over and over again. Normally they don;t get overly concerned (unless they are way behind) until after they are 2. by two they should be relatively close to a 2 yr old born that was born at term.

for the sleep we have a routine have pretty much the same one as when we came home from the hospital. eat bath read bottle bed. during the day they have 3 naps a short one in the morning a long one after lunch and another short one in the afternoon.
If they wake my boy usually does at least once, they just need a little drink and will go back to bed. i usually wait a min. before i go to him he cries in his sleep so half the time if i dont rouse him he will settle back down. My girl if she cries shes thirsty if i leave her to try settle herself she will just get mad then be up for hrs but if i give her a drink right away she settles back down right after. If they miss a nap or don't eat enough during the day then they are up too many times to count at night. once we went from doing 6oz bottles to 8 and started solids they seemed to sleep a lot longer before needing topped up.

Maybe adding another nap during the day will help?
oh and since they decided they don't want their soothers anymore my girl has to have a dolly to hug or she won't sleep my son has to hug his sister. Maybe offering something for them to hold onto while they sleep? white noise helps too.

 

[katrus78]

Well, no, mines don't use bouncers but do use a lot of stuff like jumperoo, exersaucer, piano thing with a seat and a good old play mat. They do to really like to lay around, neither of them... Not even for the toys. They just love to be upright though. I will try to do more floor time with them.

For the legs kicking, it kind of just stopped in a past couple of days. Weird. Just like that.

My mom and I just had a talk about trying to feed them less during the night. So far we didn't really have any good night routine. It was like: babies cry, up we go, feed a little, and they go right to sleep. Maddie cries for a really long time if she wakes up all the way, but she doesn't eat much at night either. Sophia does eat a lot at night, and that's our biggest concern. Should we try giving her water?

 

[san fran shan]

I don't know about water. We have only given ours little sips when they eat purees in the high chair and only recently. Do they have a nice big feed right before bed? I always wonder if the night feeds are because they are truly hungry or its just a comfort thing. If they are really hungry, I would feel bad not feeding them. Since we can usually rock them back to sleep, I know they aren't hungry...unless they wake up all the way and then start to feel it. I always took things slow...like since we are trying to stop the 3AM feeding, we rock and pat and comfort and will slowly do that less and less. Do yours take pacifiers? Mine flat out refuse them, but Emma loves to suck on her sleeping bag for comfort.

 

[DCDA]

mine are 6 months on Tuesday. currently my oldest and smaller twin has show zero interest in rolling, she lifts her legs and has started turning on her side but as soon as she goes on her tummy she just can't seem to get her leg round enough. Saying that she is sitting much better, she can sit unaided for minutes at a time and if you put her int he corner of a chair she will stay there happily, she can also turn pages unaided. My little boy has been rolling for months and can go both ways he happily rolls his way round the floor, he's not interested in sitting just slides down but he loves the stand up activity unit and can move the rotating seat all the way round. we have been weaning since 4 months and have just introduced breakfast there both really enjoying food, but have yet to grasp the faster flow of sippy cups.

 

[MrsPeacock13]

There isn't a way of making them achieve these things faster and honestly, why would you want to? All babies, as you say, are different. Just relax and enjoy them for what they are able to do, not for what you think they should be doing.

 

[katrus78]

Mine will be 6 months on Sunday, and Sophia does not even try to move to her side. it's not that I want to rush them, just want it to be a little more fun for them to be able to do more things. Sophia also sits much better and longer, and talks much better, so she is progressing in her development, just not in rolling and slipping. She has also been falling asleep without a bottle, for three nights! She still fusses at night, taking in a whole bottle throughout a night, around 8oz, but at least she can fall asleep with no bottle now!

Sophia left, Madeleine right
https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/e0c7cc94ab49191397c1fb36206c42f1.jpg

 

[MrsPeacock13]

The trouble with twins is you find you are constantly comparing them with each other. Are they identical?

 

[MrsC8776]

Katrus your girls are beautiful!! I can understand what you're saying about wanting them to be able to enjoy each other and have more fun together. Being a twin mom has it's challenges and I think milestones is one of them. We see one child doing something and wonder if the other child will do it as well. Then I'm sure there comes a time where we worry if it will ever happen. Does Sophia watch Maddie when she is rolling around? I've found that putting them face to face during tummy time makes them so much happier! One of my girls rolls in both directions where as my other daughter will roll from her stomach to her back. I see her watching her sister during tummy time and I think with enough watching she will catch on (hopefully). Do you by any chance help her by showing her how to roll and move her legs like that? Sorry if you already mentioned this.

 

[katrus78]

The trouble with twins is you find you are constantly comparing them with each other. Are they identical?

Nope, they are frats. I am guilty of comparing but can't help it

 

[katrus78]

Do you by any chance help her by showing her how to roll and move her legs like that? Sorry if you already mentioned this.

Yes, we do show, and she does watch her sister roll around but still wouldn't do it herself! Now Maddie actually lifts herself up on her arms, and she can actually move around very well, looks like she is trying to tummy crawl lol. So now the difference in their moving ability is even more noticeable. We used to put them on a large playmat together, and they used to stay there, but now Maddie gets off of that mat within 5 minutes, whereas Sophie will lay on her back or tummy and just try to entertain herself.

 

[PammyJ]

They look wonderful! I wouldn't worry! My friends daughter is 8 mnths old and is just sitting on her own now , they are all so different. With mine, Marley can sit up on his own, we just put a nursing pillow behind him, just in case he falls back, but hes pretty good. Lilly falls to the side all the time, so we just sit with her. They both roll over both ways...but more from back to tummy. All babies are different, even twins, so I wouldn't compare them...maybe try to entice her with a toy to the side to encourage reaching and turn ing on her side. If you're really concerned, talk to your doc

 

[katrus78]

Yep, I have an appt today, so I will ask for sure.

 

[katrus78]

Well, we went to the doctor and Sophia weighs 23lb! Doctor wasn't happy about it at all. She insisted we eliminate the night feedings as soon as possible. Man, it's gonna be hard! She said to mix the formula with more water, or to give water instead completely.

Maddie weighs 17lb, and doc said it is a perfect weight for a 6 months old.

 

[san fran shan]

Oh wow! She doesn't look that big in the pics. Hopefully its an easy enough fix.

Emma weighs 17 pounds now too!

 

[katrus78]

Yep, she is actually kinda heavy to carry around, and I feel that she is missing out on a lot of things to see since she doesn't move by herself that we'll, so we end up carrying her a lot.
Knock on wood, but I did just what the doc said and started giving water with some juice instead of formula to Sophie at night, and she takes it with no fuss! My mom also started giving her formula with more water in it, so like 3 scoops of formula per 8oz of water, and that seems to work for now. Hopefully Sophia will drop some of that heaviness and will start moving around more.

 

[Dollywally]

my two are 7 months.. Neither can sit without a pillow behind them. My older one can just about sit but then gets bored and just falls to the side. they can both roll from front to back but neither seem to want to roll from back to front. We do loads of floor time but they are not even close to crawling. I do worry about it sometimes but then i come to the conclusion that they will just do it when they are ready.. They are also terrible eaters and i feel like i spend my whole time stressing about the fact that i can't get enough down them.. They have never been keen on milk and like food but only sweet things.. Im running out of ideas!
They do sleep though and have done since 5 months when i realised they were getting me up for no reason so i just let them cry it out. It took three days and now they sleep through every night from 6:30 after their last bottle to 6. If they do wake in the night they will either talk to themselves or suck their thumbs until they fall back asleep.
Just wish i could fatten them up as they are pretty slim...

 

[katrus78]

So here we are, 7 months today. They now both have 2 teeth. Happy to report Maddie is now crawling like crazy, she can stand up on her own and stand for a long time! She is very eager to be walking too, when we hold her arms. However, Sophia still is not rolling over. She seems to only like to be sitting, and only likes to be laid down when she gets tired. I don't know what to do. We still show her every day how to do it, but nothing helps. She watches Maddie move around and gets angry when Maddie gets to the toys and she can't but she won't try to lift her belly off the floor or move her legs, or roll, nothing. Maybe it's wrong, but whatever, in all honesty, I am starting to worry. Any advise?

Here is a couple of our pics at 7 months.

Sophie
https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/11952858b53349affe10c4a00d2c1e9b.jpg https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/2a50b666f6709349054a1558bc2c89ae.jpg

Maddie

https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/c4803017fd3bb16779b77bdb437b081a.jpg https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/1bfbf3b7e1afc43b536eb438d2fb7a05.jpg https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/f17f2b7878a78a58855fa968e85ca250.jpg https://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/katrus78/11f14156d84b30b768ec2338d9a4b3ab.jpg