what happened to my great sleepers?

amd1982 · February 2014

hi SAIF ladies - i hope you're all doing well. we've had a rough go in January and February! at the end of Jan, we all came down with a horrible stomach bug that ran through our house like the plague. then a couple weeks later DH and i came down with a flu, and the kids just got over it about two weeks ago. so there have been a lot of nights where we've been up with them or they've come into bed with us, but rightfully so when they are not feeling well.

well, now it's been a couple weeks and they're doing well health wise. however what hasn't returned to normal is their sleeping habits. they sleep in separate rooms right now, and used to be 7pm-6am (give or take a half hour in the morning). for the most part (6 nights out of 7) they were STTN, with the occasional wake up which was no biggie. now they are waking up each once or twice a night, but every single night, and really flipping out for long periods of time. dh and i have stopped the rocking in the middle of the night and just tell them in a nice, firm voice that it's time to go back to sleep. but then the other one inevitably wakes up and screams in the other room, waking the other twin up again. it sucks. i don't want to seem like i'm complaining, but being pregnant and working full time - i'm exhausted at like 8pm and need some good shuteye. last night i was awake from 11pm-2:30am and i'm like a zombie this morning. plus the kids are total crankpots. ugh. any ideas? i let them CIO last night, but i'm starting to think it's time to just put them in the same room and let them be miserable together haha.

laura1 · February 2014

It is so hard to tell. My DD#2 goes through rough patches too, and it is usually teething related - could they be getting teeth? When we have a rough night, the following night we will give her ibuprofen before bed and often that will help - if it doesn't we bring her into bed with us. Not ideal, but at least we all get to go back to sleep! The other thing I have discovered lately is that sometimes she is thirsty in the middle of the night. There have been times that I gave her a sippy cup of water when she was yelling and she stopped to drink her water then went back to sleep. Now I leave her sippy in the crib with her.

Do they have sound machines? If not that might be something to look into so they don't wake each other up. All that being said, we usually end up letting DD#2 cry after giving her the ibuprofen. And it is loud, but usually only lasts a few minutes before she conks back out because she is so tired! And she shares a room with her sister - DD#1 rarely wakes up with the crying, but since we don't want to risk it, we will often bring her into our room and put her in a pnp - and that is where she does the crying.

Good luck! I have found that once you complain about something being an issue then come up with a solution, it probably won't happen again...I hope that is the case for you tonight! You need some sleep!!

mcgeeva · February 2014

I would just think it's from being sick and when they get sick their schedules are off. Just taking them a while to get back into that routine. HAng in there I wouldn't change what your doing and eventually it'll get back to normal. I am a CIO fan if I know they are not sick, full bellies etc. But again I've never had a baby cry more then 5 mintues so that would probably make a difference. I hope you get some shut eye soon!

pb_bride · February 2014

Gosh, that sounds awful! I can deal with a couple of nights of this, but not couple of weeks of MOTN wakeups. Could they be teething? M has been sick on/off for the past month, but it was way worse when he was teething on top of being sick. He literally would scream his head off. M also gets bad separation anxiety when he's not feeling well (plus he just reached the walking milestone). We didn't want to bring M into our bed, so there were several nights DH or myself ended up sleeping on the couch in his room. He always calms down when he sees us, but screams the second we leave his room.

If you think there's a chance they could be teething, try giving a dose of infant Advil at bedtime and see if it makes any difference.

Hope you get your good sleepers back!

TJ1979 · February 2014

I agree with @mcgeeva. Hang in there. But also, make a decision am be consistent. If you're going to CIO, then CIO every night. Otherwise they don't know what to expect.
GL. I know this is a really difficult time. Sleep issues are hard enough, but especially tough when pg and exhausted.

Ruthie04 · February 2014

I'm really sorry. Twin wake ups are exceptionally hard to function through. It's a crazy balance of trying to soothe one so the other doesn't wake, yet trying to get them to sleep. Our boys recently had a bout of molars/colds and it took them a couple weeks to work out their issues. We never sleep trained, so I don't have any tips. We just rode it out and it resolved on its own. It was still a rough go and I'm so sorry you are dealing with it. Hope things improve soon!

amd1982 · February 2014

Thanks so much for the advice! We put then in the same room tonight. Minimal fussing but we will see what happens during the night. Thanks again so nice to have a place just to vent and get some feedback.

srveatch · February 2014

We are going through a rough sleep time right now. Normally we let her CIO but she cried for over an hour last night. I knew her bottom lateral incisors are coming in but I felt around in there this morning just to check and I found three of her molars had popped through! Poor baby has 5 teeth coming in at once. We gave her ibuprofen tonight and are hoping for a good night sleep. I hope you get one too!

what happened to my great sleepers?

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