Oh hun, those early months are damn hard work and people really don't realise just how tough and demanding it is. Huge hugs to you, believe me when I say it does get better.

How did I survive? Good question. I am like to and am by myself with my girls most of the time during the day and night wakings generally falls to me. I love weekends and when people pop around as it means extra set of hands to hold a baby which I found invaluable, however, I realise this isn't always possible. I absolutely second the electric swings - they saved my sanity many a time as the girls would drift off to sleep in them or, at the very least, hold it together while I tended to the other.

A couple of things have made all the difference day to day for me. Let me emphasise that this is what has worked for me, while other twin mummies may have completo opposite of what works for them. Bear with me while I try to remember what I did at 4 months. Firstly, in the mornings, when one baby woke, I fed her then got her sister up straight after as it meant that they were more or less on the same timeframe for the day, minus the hungry screams of baby who was having to wait for food, plus it meant that there was a small gap between showing sleepy cues. I think by four months, I was trying to implement feed play sleep, though I generally did give a little top up before sleep as I found earlier on, it sometimes tended to extend day sleeps a bit. As for play time, I always used to wonder how in hell I was supposed to keep two small babies entertained with minimal tears before it was time to go down again. Usually, by the time I had fed, changed and dressed for the day, I really only had about 40 mins or so to entertain them before it was wind down time again. My girls used to love having nudey time on the floor and this was probably what kept them happiest. When that got old, we would move to the playmat. I think round about this stage, we started using an exersaucer and a jolly jumper and this combination usually filled in the time and kept both babies relatively happy, plus wore them out a little bit!!!! I was a bit miffed when I got told that I shouldn't use the jumper and saucer but I figure as long as they aren't in them for hours on end, its ok - I mean, we all used them as kids and turned out fine. Anywho, my pair were up for no longer than 90 mins on a three hour routine, then I would prepare them for bed as a matter of course, whether they were looking tired or not but 90% of the time, they were. I guess if you were wanting to transition to a four hour routine, you could try keeping them up a little bit longer if they are tolerating it. How long do they usually last before they start getting cranky? As for the day sleeps, I wish there was a magical answer to get them to sleep longer. Unfortunately some kids are good day sleepers and some aren't and some get better as they get older. One thing we used religiously, and still do, is white noise on LOUD. Like, really loud. As loud as we can. Apparently it mimics the sound they have in the womb so is soothing, plus it means you don't feel you need to creep round quite so much for fear of waking them. I just plugged my ipod into speakers and put the radio on static but you can download white noise apps. Something I have had a bit of success with is semi rousing after about 35 mins of sleep to reset into the next sleep cycle. It is a fine line between waking too much and not enough but does work.

My girls are now ten months old and I have to say the only real routiney sort of thing I do is get them up at the same time each day. Other than that, I demand feed, use sleepy cues etc etc but because they are up at the same time, they want similar things at similar times and it is rare that I have one or the other of them up all day. I love my girls to bits but it really has only been in the last two or three months that I've been able to see the wood for the trees and actually be able to enjoy them because it was just so damn overwhelming before that. Hang in there mumma, you are doing a fabulous job. Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions or pm me with a vent cos no doubt btdt. Hugs xxx