Major bedtime drama

The boys have always been exceptional sleepers if they're swaddled up. They usually fall asleep within a few minutes, sometimes with some minor fussing, but nothing that can't be cured with a bit of rocking.

The last few nights however, we can't put Austin down. He gets swaddled and cuddled and he just keeps crying as soon as he is laid down. Tonight my husband put him to bed and he flipped out,so hubby picked him up to rock him for a while and he was fine. Then he laid him down again... screaming! I finally laid him in his crib and massaged his belly and read him stories and sang to him for a good 40 minutes before he finally stopped screaming and went to sleep. Both twins have also been quite screechy through the day unless someone is holding them.

Are we being played? I want to provide cuddles if they need them, but this is getting slightly out of hand. I can't get anything done with my arms full of twins all day long, and I certainly don't want to get into the habit of having to rock a kid to sleep for 2 hrs every night. What can I do to nip this in the bud?

I should add... this is after their last feeding when they're nice and full, they've been burped, changed, cuddled for a while and there's really no reason for them to be upset.

 

If it just started today (well, yesterday) I'd give it a few more days before deciding there is really nothing wrong. They may be getting a cold, have gas, beginning teething, could be anything. I say this because they've been okay to this point and then being fussy came out of nowhere. I wasn't one to carry babies around just because they were fussy. I'd sit with them, have them near me while I was doing something, talk to them, etc but there are things you have to get done. If they were super fussy, yes they got held and cuddled more than on a regular day but I still did what I needed to do. As far as sleep, if you're pretty sure there's nothing going on other than they just don't want to be put down I'd lay them down but stay right there shhhing, rubbing, patting in the dark with white noise on until they fell asleep. Around 3.5 to 4 mos each mine had this sort of awakening that there was way too much going on in the world to want to sleep when they were tired. They would much rather stay awake and cry their fool heads off!

 

No you aren't being played. Likely it is teething or some developmental milestone they are about to reach that is causing chaos at bedtime. I would give it a few days, make sure they aren't getting sick, see how things play out. It may just be a short-lived phase they are going through & they are needing some extra cuddles. Hopefully, it won't last long. :hug:

 

Ditto, on both counts. I tried not to panic (not saying I always succeeded) about any new behavior unless it lasted more than a week. Most of the time it turns out to be something transitory like teething or a cold.

That said -- it was around 4-5 months that both of my babies became much more resistant to being rocked to sleep. We finally realized that Sarah actually preferred to fuss herself to sleep. (Well, I don't know if you can ever know what a 4-month-old baby "prefers" -- but she would not fall asleep if someone was holding her. We had to put her down and let her fuss and then she would conk out.)

Amy needed to be rocked to sleep until about 4.5 months, and then it became simply impossible to get her to sleep that way. We would rock and bounce and jiggle and everything, and her eyes would just stay stubbornly open and she would holler. She fought it tooth and nail. So, it was at that point that we did CIO. She fought that too, but after a few days, she was falling asleep on her own within 15 minutes or so. I wouldn't have minded rocking them to sleep a bit longer, but I wasn't about to spend two hours doing it every night if I could do CIO and get over the hump.

 

I dont think he is playing you either. I think he is just more aware of his surroundings and doesnt want to go to sleep. They all go through that phase. You can always try and skip the rocking and go right to the soothing in the crib and see if that solves the issue.

 

Tonight there was no bedtime drama, but I went out for 2 hrs, and apparently little Mr. Austin screamed his little turkey head off all night. He must be going through a cuddle-me phase as he doesn't have any symptoms of teething, he's not sick, and everything else seems normal... knock on wood.

I guess we just get to pace with him and hope he passes through it quickly.. and that Mr. Miles doesn't get any ideas!

 

I agree that it could be that he's waking up, but it could also be an ear infection. If he's doing it during the day too, during naps or anytime he's laid down, if it's an ear infection the pressure change from laying down can cause pain.

None of my kids show any "signs" of ear infections except extreme fussiness. After a week or more of it I'll take them to the dr, and sure enough, they have an ear infection! A quick round of meds usually clears it up.

In the meantime you can try some tylenol to see if he sleeps better, it might take the edge off any teething or ear pain that might be causing the resistance to sleep!