Week 31 with Triplets

What’s new in naps and snacks at Umpa’s daycare

The triplets recently spent a couple weeks at home over Christmas break. That much time with mom and they were certain to try a few new things around naps and snacks.

When the babies returned to my daycare, there were suggestions on continuing these at my house. Let’s see how that went….

Nap Time Changes

Our triplets have shifted from taking a short snooze between each bottle to two longer naps during the day. I was promised a two-hour nap in the morning and an hour-and-a-half in the afternoon.

In addition, we changed the location of the babies during nap time. After picking up a two-camera baby monitor system at a baby resale store, we split the babies up into different rooms.

• Baby A now sleeps in the office
• Baby C sleeps next door in the guest room
• Baby B sleeps in the daycare space with me

We’ve learned that Baby B needs to be as far away from the others as possible, because she has a history of being loud during naps. Anything we can do to reduce the risk of waking her siblings.

I was given their revised schedule and tried following it as closely as possible.

The first day back everyone fell asleep easily and things went smoothly. After that, however, sleep resistance increased and durations shortened.

It’s possible some of this was due to the babies catching a mild cold and not being comfortable laying down.

Mom and Mimi Go Sleep Shopping

In an effort to get naps back on schedule, realizing how vital they are to maintaining Umpa’s sanity, Mimi went shopping.

The babies are sleeping in separate playpen cribs, which Mimi was concerned were not comfortable enough for napping. She also made an excellent point that the playpens could be difficult to clean if things ever got “messy”.

So, the babies now have playpen mattresses and sheets to make them comfortable and cleanup easier.

Baby B is the only one who sleeps with a pacifier, but she is known to lose them while she sleeps. I was advised to buy a handful of pacifiers to spread around the crib so one is always easy to find in a sleepy haze.

Finally, the triplet’s mom is a big fan of blackout shades and believes they’ll help the babies sleep. In a stroke of luck I found two blackout shades on the clearance cart at Lowe’s that just happen to fit the office and guest room windows.

With all these pieces in place, we’ll see how things go in the coming week.

Does Umpa Take a Nap?

I was recently asked the question of whether Umpa naps after the babies fall asleep. The answer is yes and no.

There have been situations where the babies and I were in the same room as they drifted into a peaceful sleep. The circumstances are such that I’m able to shut my eyes for a little bit.

But when it comes to actually planning on a nap when they go to sleep, that has proven to be a terrible idea.

On one occasion, I was a little tired and looking forward to a bit of sleep during their nap. Unfortunately it was a day when not all the babies feel asleep at the same time.

This created a situation where, being tired, I could feel myself becoming frustrated with the babies. That is absolutely wrong and I don’t ever want to put the triplets in that position again.

At this age, nothing is ever their fault. If the babies aren’t doing what we’d “like” them to do, that’s on the adults.

Snacks at Daycare

Despite drinking ever larger bottles, the triplets sometimes struggle getting between feedings.

Mom sent over a few snacks to fill in between meals. These not only hold off the hungries, but make a nice activity as well.

• Toast with a little butter to soften
  • popular with the triplets
  • I do feel they’re mostly just sucking the butter
• Scrambled eggs
  • they didn’t like the texture in their hand, so none actually made it to their mouth
• Mandarin oranges
  • these stressed me out because I worried about choking risk
  • I’m sure they’re fine, so we’ll have to try them again
• Teething biscuits
  • the old standby when you need a snack they’ll actually eat
  • all three are making less mess and getting more in their mouth

Keeping Snack Time Tidy

The daycare doesn’t currently have enough Bumbos with trays or high chairs to feed three babies at once. After attempting to feed the babies one at a time, by myself, I quickly decided that wasn’t going to work.

This week we started with the livestock feeding approach, which consists of putting down a large towel and placing all three babies around a tub of food.

It has been working well with toys, so why not try food. In fact, it worked quite well and they also enjoyed grabbing food from each other.

When they were done, I simply changed them into a new outfit and we went on with our day.

Later in the week I decided to try making snack time less messy.

Feeling like we weren’t actually getting bread in their tummy, just butter, I wanted to try jar food again so I knew how much they were eating. This has been incredibly messy in the past, as they like holding the spoon and then touching everything around them.

My strategy was to feed all three at once, in trayless Bumbos on the kitchen floor. To keep things clean, I covered each in a tshirt to prevent grabbing the spoon (which I support, but sometimes tidy wins the day).

The little stinkers still managed to find the arm holes but, overall, it worked well. They stayed cleaner and the added benefit was using the tshirt to wipe their faces at the end.

Definitely a winner, but I might try turning the shirts sideways next time so the arm holes are harder to find.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

I’ve been told this is a good age to start putting the babies in front of a mirror. They are able to explore their own face and recognize their individuality.

We ordered a 12″ x 12″ acrylic mirror off Amazon and stuck it to the side of the baby corral in the daycare space. It was important to not use a glass mirror, for safety reasons.

The mirror has been a HUGE hit as the babies love to interact with their reflection. Baby B’s favorite new toy is herself in the mirror.

It’s also been interesting to watch them discover their environment both around them and reflected in the mirror.