Thursday, April 2, 2009

Dealing With Multiple Schedules

Probably the most difficult part of raising triplets, or any multiples for that matter, is keeping everyone on the same schedule. Right now, as I type this, my son is awake but my two daughters are not. They all share a room, and if I go in to get him, the girls will wake up. If you have young children you probably know that waking a sleeping baby could turn disastrous. I prefer to let them wake up on their own, rather than risk having a very cranky baby (or two) for most of the day. So, as long as the boy is happy in his crib (not crying), he's gonna stay there until his sisters wake up.

Then comes breakfast. He will more than likely be hungry and eat most of what I give him. His sisters will probably rather wait a short time before they eat. So, do I make the girls eat when they're not ready, or make him wait until they're ready. Feeding them at different times is most definitely out of the question, since that would not only result in my being in the kitchen all day, you also can't leave two eighteen month children unsupervised for any length of time and expect them to be free of tears or blood.

And then there's nap time. One is almost always ready for their nap two short hours after they wake up. The other two, not so much. And putting them down for naps at different times is out of the question because that would throw the entire day off schedule. So we make the one who wants the nap wait a little while until we see the signs of sleepyness in the other two. Sometimes this is easier said than done.

I'm sure there are many other examples of how difficult it is to keep three little indiciduals on the same schedule. If you have any stories or tips on keeping multiples on the same schedule, feel free to share them in the comments section.

1 comment:

  1. Live and die by the schedule... whatever the schedule is today:) Ours still share a room at 2 1/2 but we sometimes have to move one if they are upset/sick. We are blessed that they usually don't wake each other up. So if one or more are crying when we put them down then so be it. Now that we took a rail off their cribs it is a whole new ball game.....

    Keep the faith,

    Al

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