So the last three nights LO has woken up in the middle of the night screaming around 2:30 or 2:45 AM and had difficulty getting back to sleep. Having ruled out illness, diapers, or hunger....I'm thinking teething?
Last night, after he'd been crying for a good long while and daddy wasn't having much luck, I gave him a dose of tylenol and snuggled with him for a while until he could fall asleep. The tylenol, or the lullabies, worked.
DH and I had a debate tonight about whether to try dosing with tylenol at bedtime to preempt the teething waking would work. We're not usually big on giving the kid drugs, and hear that tylenol is now associated with asthma?!? but also would like him not to be in pain (and us to get better sleep tonight).
What do you think?

Re: preemptive bedtime tylenol - good or bad idea?
Since Tylenol is only a 4-6 hour dosing, it wouldn't really help with pain that springs up at that hour of the night. Advil is 8 hours, which may help more, but I understand your concern.
It could also be just the normal, super fun, random waking that these kids do. I'd give it another few nights and see how he does. Good luck!
Ginny DX 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Charlie DX Specific Antibody Deficiency & ASD
Grrrr, I had a response all typed up then it gave me an error.
Anyway, yes, we give ibuprofen before bed if she has been grouchy, drooly and looks like teething. After a couple nights we try it without and see if she is ready to sleep without it.
Thanks ladies! We gave him some ibuprofen and will see what happens.
Hopefully we won't all be up from 2:30-4:00 AM again. But just in case, I'm going to bed. Can't take another day of sleep deprivation!
You've probably already made your decison as it's 11:30 here on the east coast but I say do it. We have done it in the past for that same reasoning. We don't make a habit of it and we usually find that after a night or two of the preemptive dosing, she's worked through whatever the issue was and back to her usual sleep routine.
Don't feel bad, everybody needs sleep!
ETA: I should have read all the way through the comments before posting since you posted back already. Duh.