Development phase, undone sleep habits, or something else?

One of my twins (14 months) has always been a very restless sleeper. She would motor around her crib and even cry out, but in the past she was always able to stay asleep. She was even the better of the two at getting herself to sleep. We could put her in her crib, and she'd move and talk, but eventually go to sleep without crying. She has also been sleeping through the night the longest.

Last week, our whole house got a bad stomach bug. A lot of our sleep habits necessarily had to change because we were evacuating everything out of our bodies from both ends all day and night long. The twins were REALLY sick for a week. It took them 11 days to get back to normal energy levels. I am not convinced their G.I. tract is back in order yet - BM are now solid and most of the stinky gas is gone, but they still have more gas than I recall them having before.

Sleep has returned to normal for one twin, but my restless twin just cannot get her sleep back. She will sleep for maybe 3 hours at the start of her night time sleep, then her little body starts moving and she wakes up screaming. She will then wake every 30 or 60 minutes until I get so frustrated that I give up and get her up. This has been going on for over 7 days. She is exhausted, very touchy, and has huge bags under her eyes. I have been trying to compensate by giving her more naps (she had 3 the other day) but that’s not helping. I am exhausted, frustrated, and desperate for a solution.

Here’s what I have tried, and what has failed so far.

- I thought it might be teething, but after giving her ibuprofen for 3 nights in a row with no noticeable improvement, I stopped.
- I thought it might be hunger and have been giving midnight bottles that are sometimes 6 oz. (We took them off all dairy to try to get their GI Tract back in order and rice milk just isn’t fatty like whole milk).
- I thought it might be gas and have given her tons of Mylecon and tried various changes to her diet (all carbs – no veggies, fruits, or other gassy foods, no milk products – I haven’t tried no wheat yet, but that may be next).
- I have rocked her to sleep.
- I have stood by her bed for over two hours shushing and rubbing her back every time her she picks her head up and cries out, hoping she will eventually fall into a deeper sleep.
- Against my better judgment, I even tried to see if she could cry it out. The first 2 nights I went in every 5 to 10 minutes depending on how upset she was. After 2 hours I gave up. The second night, I started going in every 5 - 10 minutes, then finally didn’t go in for 30 minutes. After 2 hours, I again gave up.
- I even have pulled her in to bed with me to try to get some sleep. Last night, after rolling around like crazy ( I had a leg across my face at one point), she finally fell asleep for 2 hours – but it was hard fought for sleep and she twitched the entire time.

She is becoming a lot more vocal and trying to talk. Could it be developmental issues?


I am hoping someone out there has dealt with something similar and either has suggestions or words of encouragement that we will get through this! HELP!!!

 

Goodness, that's a tough one....you've tried most of the things I would suggest. If her GI tract is still messed up, how about trying probiotics for a few weeks? You can buy powder and add to her milk once a day. That really helped get our guys back on track when they had a stomach bug around Easter. The kind we used is called Primadophilus Children's - we buy it at our local health food store, but it is also available online - I used it for months when they had reflux as infants. Now I use it periodically whenever they seem to need it. You could also try gripe water - it never did much for us, but I know some people swear by it.

 

Along the same lines, yogurt has active cultures in it (like what's in probiotics). I wonder if the gas was due to the reintroduction of the whole milk after an upset tummy?

I see that you are really, really, really exhausted. It seems like you have a plan but give up in the middle of the night. I would say that you should give it a whole night or two to see if a tactic works.

I wouldn't do 3 naps, either, as I would want her to sleep at night.

Finally, after a year I started talking to them and explaining my expectations- like "I love you, good night. See you TOMORROW."

When mine get up I hold him, give Mylanta (he has reflux) and hold him for about 4 minutes. Then I say "it's time for night-night" and lay him back down. I don't go back in unless he has fallen asleep and woken again.

Good luck and I hope you get some rest tonight. :hug:

 

I am seriously considering this and appreciate the brand recommendation. In theory, probiotics sound good, but I always prefer to try something someone else has experience with. I find it easy impulse buy in health food stores.

Tried it and it was rejected by with the funniest, most insulted look.

Sorry, I guess I didn't explain well - my list includes things I have been trying for at least two nights for the last now 8 days, although some things we did in combination (EX: we were milk & dairy free for 72 hours, 48 of which I was also trying ibuprofen for their teeth, and during which I would also try one technique to get them to sleep for the whole night. The only thing I have given up on "in the middle of the night" is crying it out, which we tried for two nights the night before last. I think 2 hours of non-stop screaming is enough. Plus, I usually only try CIO when everything else has failed, it's 3 am or later, and I have given up hope that if I just rock and shush her one more time that it will be the magic time. 5 am is an undesirable, but acceptable wake-up time in our house.

I am, however, increasingly starting to suspect it is just part of a developmental phase. Last night, when she woke at 2, I patted her to get her to stop crying. Once she calmed down, she started babbling and kicking her legs! She was WIDE awake. Since I just didn't have it in me to CIO it one more night, we got up and played. I know this is a HUGE rule break, but after playing for an hour in a dimly lit room, she went back to sleep for 2.5 hours. The second longest stretch of sleep of the night.

Hmmmmm.

 

I would try the probiotics as well; they work wonders for GI issues. Also stick with the ibuprofen or tylenol for teeth if she's teething. Aside from that it sounds like you just have a tough little kid who might need less sleep than her twin. I would try cutting out/adjusting nap times during the day so that when bedtime rolls around she is good and tired. I would also stick with CIO and let her do it for a few solid days. Have a very consistent bedtime routine and just tough it out for at least a week until you see whether it's working or not. Make sure there's a book or toy in her crib so if she wakes up in the middle of the night she can play. Good luck! Sleep issues are the worst!

 

Hi there,

We have 14 month olds as well and have gone through something very similar after they just got over a bad cold.. the cold just seemed to last and last for 3 solid weeks. Like you, I have one twin that is much more restless at night and normally cries out 2-3 times per night but never really wakes up.. until the cold happened and then things got really nasty at night. My girls have slept through the night for the most part since we did CIO at 4 months.. we've had a couple of hairy days/weeks where we have to go back to the cio thing, but I feel like we are still fighting the sleep thing since our cold was over a few weeks ago...

What's happened with us is that nap timing has been really off and then they don't nap well and that translates into really bad wakeful night sleep for both of them.. but mostly my restless twin.. what has worked for us is a consistent very early bedtime until the naps and the nighttime sleep corrects itself.. I also had to play with the timing of the naps.... I also suspect that we are in the process of losing our morning nap very slowly, so that has complicated matters. My girls go down at 5:30-6:00pm and sleep 12-13 hours.. I notice that if I get them down later than 6pm we start to have the crazy wakefulness at night again.. so have you considered a super early bedtime.. I know it's so hard to put them to bed that early when it's really light outside, but it really worked for us. We also never go to them if they wake before 6pm. I've also tried to stay consistent with my timing for naps, which after a couple of weeks we are finally back to a somewhat normal sleep schedule.

I'm 30 weeks pg with #3 and, like you, the lack of sleep has been killing me.. I also wanted to add that lately I've been a bit skeptical of earlier bedtimes=better sleep, but I've done some experimenting with both the girls' and my own sleep.. for instance, I went to bed an hour later than normal and I realize that I just toss and turn all night long.. the next night I went to bed early and I slept so much better. I've done this several times over the past couple of weeks and it is very consistent for both my and my little ones... earlier/more timely bedtime= more restful sleep.

Good luck- keep us posted on how it goes!

 

I totally agree on probiotics. I used to give it to them a lot in first year. Now I still give it to them when thy have stomach bug, constipated, upset stomach, ezema. It works wonder.

My kids went through the phase waking up at night, playing for hour them back to sleep. I just left them alone and they didn't cry at all were just happy to play. We didn't have todo CIO. Now they sleep through the night.

Our Pedi told me that if they used to have reflux as infants, then reflux will come back for a while when they have stomach bug.

Hang in there. It will get better soon.

 

Well, I'm going to say development phase. My twin son did the EXACT same type of thing. Don't hate me...but it took a good 6 wks before he started sleeping better. He slept thru the night first, he was the easier twin to get to sleep, he'd stay in his crib all night whereas my dd tended to need to come snuggle with me partway thru the night.

And then, shortly after he turned 1, it turned into a nightmare. And, like you, I tried EVERYTHING! Everything you mentioned, plus trying gel suppositories thinking he might be constipated, tried bringing to the couch to snuggle/sleep. Nothing worked. He would just cry and cry and cry if I didn't go in there, but even taking him out didn't settle him down.

And i was exhausted! I not only had his twin sister to deal with the next day, but my two older kids as well. I felt like a zombie. Eventually he started only waking up every day or two, and then just a couple times a week, and finally, about 6-8 wks later, he started sleeping normally again. I have no idea what happened, what was going on or what. I was just SO thankful he started sleeping again!

:hug: I feel your pain, and I have no good solution for you....just know you aren't alone, you will survive, and there's hope at the end of a *sleepless* tunnel

 

Thanks so much everyone. I am pleased to report that last night we had a good night's sleep! And I have absolutely no idea what changed to get us there.

My girls took two good naps at their usual times (10 and 2:30) and we got them to bed at 8 - but that is pretty consistent with what we always do. I did add a third nap for the restless twin because she woke at 2AM and I thought 2 - 10 was too long of a stretch to go without a little sleep. I added the third nap in a way that she "woke" at than acceptable wake-up time.

Last night, the restless twin only really woke up twice. The first time was about an hour after she went to sleep. I reminded her that this wasn't a nap and it was sleepy time. After a little patting, she drifted off to sleep again. When she woke at 2, I went in, changed her diaper and told her it wasn't time to get up yet. Then, I patted her and she again went back to sleep without fighting.

She slept until 5:45 and woke up happy! All I can figure we did different was that she spent the day with my parents yesterday, so each twin got 1-on-1 time all day. My dad said she talked his ear off. While I am still going to try the probiotics (it arrives in the mail today), I really think it is just developmental. During the day, she can do things with her body to occupy her mind. At night, all she has in a dark room is her mind. They're getting more 1-on-1 time today, so we will see if this continues.

 

The probiotics wont' hurt at all if it IS developmental - so its worth a try no matter what. I always give my crew probiotics as soon as any kind of stomach bug starts up. I take them regularly 24/7 myself for another issue I have,

 

Quick update. My one good night was followed by 2 more bad nights and then last night my restless twin (Twin B) slept like a rock - even through her sister woke up screaming with a tummyache - Twin A demanded to eat some of daddy's sandwich and it disagreed with her. Also, both twins naps have also been really off. For the last 3 days, they have gone down for their morning nap a bit later than normal, and then slept 2 hours or longer! I think they are just transitioning.

I have been giving the girls probiotics and that may be helping, but I suspect I gave it wrong a couple of nights. Without even thinking about it, I mixed the probiotic into warmed food. I suspect it didn't completely kill the good bugs, but I also suspect it wasn't fully potent. Can I claim sleep deprivation? After finding a way to work in a few naps over the weekend, my head is screwed on right again and I am now mixing it with chilled applesauce.

 

:hug: it definitely sounds like a developmental thing, when they start learning something new during the day they'll often regress in other areas, and sleep is included in that! I hope they start sleeping better for you soon, both of them! :hug: