Supernanny features triplets
I don't watch this show, typically. In fact, if I do catch a preview of the show or see a portion thereof I am often very scared when I start to imagine how it is that one gets to such a dire place with their children. Last night I was feeding Sammy while Benjamin was in que to be fed. Livi was on the floor under her frog mat batting at the dangling toys and admittedly with myself and A both in the room, it was to capacity. Will we need to share the space with three "naughty seats" as well one day?
We watched with slight attention last night as the show featured triplets. It featured a family of five, two boys and a girl - so it particullary caught my attention. The father was gone 5-6 days a week in Kansas for work and scheduling seemed to be the main issue as the Mother is left outnumbered. Granted I didn't catch all of it, but certainly it appears the show has featured worse situations. It seems the main issue they were tackling in the program was routine and scheduling. I think this is a critical theme for all children. I know our eight year old lives for schedules - but I don't believe she would tell you so.
We have been in a constant battle with scheduling and each time we make headway we wonder why we didn't do that before. The answer is - strangely enough - time. Not only does that it takes a good amount of time and committment from us to start a new routine it also needs to come at good timing for the babies. As they change and develop so quickly these first few months, so do their needs.
At roughly 10 weeks we stopped the "on demand" nightime schedule they were practicing and started to get them into a routine which included a bath and bottle for each. One of us takes to the house turning down lights and noises while preparing bottles while attending to those two left in line (the fussiest always wins the top spot for bathtime). The other picks out fresh clothes and then starts bathing one by one. The routine generally lasts 90 minutes to 2 hours. Now several months later the routine remains.
A is now attempting to get them into a napping routine, which will allow for all of them to be on a simular schedule and provide her a little relief and time to herself during the day. Even 30 minutes can help you relax mentally enough to take on another handfull of hours. The time isn't usually for yourself, but A can take some of it to get things done and get collected. Originally this went pretty well. The babies each went down somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 and slept anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours. They all went down again for another nap in the late afternoon. Lately they are starting to wake up earlier and we are working to adjust their schedule to go down a bit earlier in the evening. Of course, it isnt' as if they all start to wake up earlier at the same time. Usually it is one who leads the way in new developments like this. Sometimes it isn't even a developmental thing at all but rather a personality trait that might make someone, such as Livi, the early bird. It takes a lot of work and commitment from parents to keep to a schedule, especially if they aren't as used to being on one themselves, but this scheduling is probably the single most important thing you can do for both yourself and your children.