12 Months and Still Waking At Night

My twins recently turned 1, and one of them is still waking twice at night. I don't think he is hungry for the wake ups, as he only eats 1-3 ounces from his bottle and then goes back to sleep. Any suggestions? I can't do CIO as they share a room, and if I let one cry too long, I have 2 awake babies who start dancing in their cribs and I then spend a few hours getting them back to sleep. Putting them in separate rooms is not feasible either due to the layout of our home.

Suggestions?

 

What happens if you don't feed him when he wakes up? Can you just comfort him and get him back to sleep? You actually can do CIO with them in the same room - we did it with our guys. Initially they did wake each other up, but after a few nights, that stopped.

 

i was also going to suggest trying other ways of comforting them back to sleep. if you want to try a gradual approach, you could reduce the number of ounces of milk/formula offered, then switch to water, then nothing to drink & only offer a quick cuddle & tuck back into bed.

 

I also have twin girls and they share a room. One of my girl never slept through the night and was awake like million times during the night. We always ended up having her in bed with us and all three of us couldn't sleep. I also tried CIO but it did not work. What worked for us was that I slept next to her crib. She would wake up in the night; I would calm her and lay her down in her crib. I never picked her up from the crib and I just sat there. She would lift her head and see me there and go back to sleep. Eventually it got better (in around one month) and I would only sit next to her crib when she cried and after she went back to sleep I would leave the room. Now she sleeps through the night without any problem except for 1 or two nights. It worked for us.
Hope things improve for you.

 

We did CIO around 8 months with both girls in the room. Some nights they'd wake each other up, other nights they wouldn't, but it worked great and after about a week there was significant improvement. Still took until 10 months for them to fully STTN, but it was a lot LOT better. The first night was the worst, but after that it was generally less than 20 minutes until they both settled back down. They do use binkies, though, and it wasn't until they were old enough to grab them and pop 'em back in themselves that we tried the CIO.

Also, we stopped their overnight bottle right around 6 months - maybe 6.5 months. I personally was nervous they'd wake up hungry in the middle of the night, but they never did. They were going from 7pm to about 5:30am/6:00am. This was based on what we read in Baby 411 and Dr. Ferber's books.

Once you get those babies sleeping well, your life will be soooooo much easier!!! Good luck!

 

Another one here who did CIO with them in the same room. They are still in the same room and can sleep through the other one laughing, talking, yelling the other one's name to tell them to get up, etc. so I think it may have even helped to have them in the same room! We stopped giving middle of the night bottles at about 5 months and what worked for us was that we gradually gave less and less and then intended to move to water per the docs instructions but they stopped waking for it before we got to water! I definitely don't think he needs food and he probably just needs help figuring out how to comfort himself and put himself to sleep. We did that by putting them down drowsy but awake and on a definite schedule and after a consistent bedtime routine and then CIO (only needed for two days) when ds tried to see if we would let him get up if he cried!

 

I don't think you can be sure a baby isn't hungry at night. Amy chugged a whole bottle until she was about 12 months old -- she was really hungry as far as I could tell!

But it sounds like your DS is at the point Amy finally got to around 14 months -- not so into it anymore, but still waking. What we did was gradually wean her down from 6 oz to 3 oz (half an ounce every couple of nights) and then, once we were down to 3 oz, start replacing 1/2 oz of formula with water every couple of nights.

By the time she was getting 2 oz of water and 1 oz of formula, she wasn't much interested in it. At that point we stopped going in to her (going in without offering a bottle just made it worse), and I think she cried for about 15 minutes the first night and 5 minutes the second night. Then it was over.

I know you are reluctant to let him cry because you don't want the other baby awake too (we were lucky that Sarah could sleep through a hurricane at that age), but IMO it's worth it for a couple of nights if it solves this problem forever.

 

Me too - boys in same room. Did CIO at 8 months. It took 1 bad night (not even that bad) and then another night of a little crying in the middle of the night - and that was it. The best thing i ever did.

 

My girls woke up a few times a night until they were about 15 months old. We were nursing and I started putting them to bed with a sippy cup of water and after a couple of nights of crying they learned to sleep through each other's crying and now they rarely wake up at all and even when one does, the other one almost always sleeps through the crying. My 9 year old shares a room with them and she doesn't notice when one wakes up crying either so I really think it's possible for them to learn to sleep through it (kind of like how I rarely even hear my husband's alarm clock go off in the morning - I've just learned to tune it out). Good luck with what ever you end up trying, though. It's really nice to be on the other side of it!

 

I never did a full CIO... but I will say that it's amazing sometimes what one will sleep through! don't be afraid to try it. Also, definitely switch to something not as appealing, like water! I nursed, and finally started "offering" a bottle of water in the night and that highly discouraged them getting up!

good luck, lots of good suggestions already.

 

One baby may be waking up hungry, but it's not because he NEEDS to eat at his age. He has been trained to eat - and expect to eat - when he wakes up - you just need to figure out the easiest way to change what has become habit for him. I agree with others who have posted that CIO might work for you, even with your babies in the same room. My twins share a room and I am shocked (on a regular basis) about what they can sleep through from the other!! It might take a couple of nights experimenting, but you can make it through. Good luck!!

 

We did CIO in the same room at five months, and it was fine. Yes, they woke each other up, but it was fine. Even now if one of them wakes at night, I give them a minute to see if they will settle, then go in and tell them to go back to bed, and leave. This usually results in BOTH of them crying for a couple of minutes, including the one who was not up before (this is why I try to wait and see if they will settle on their own).

If your other LO really can't handle it, then could you put your good sleeper in a pack n play in your room for a few nights while you do CIO? It really only takes a few nights.