mommy needs better sleep

I need a little advice/ encouragement on how to handle the night wakeups (and I feel silly asking for it since I already have done this with my older two kiddos!). The twins have been in a period of waking up at night probably 4 or more times a night between the two of them. I can't remember if something like sickness started the wakeups or what. They are still in cribs and they are not sick now. I'm almost certain they just expect that Mommy or Daddy will come in and put their blankets on everytime they holler for us--because that's usually all it takes for them to quiet down. (DH leans toward an attachment parenting style where they get picked up and rocked if they keep yelling--I'm a believer in self-soothing for the most part). I think I've had this knee-jerk reaction to run into their room in large part because they are so loud, can carry on for so long, and they are right next door to their older siblings who will wake up and come into our room (and DH will then be snuggling older siblings back to sleep).

Should I just go cold turkey, ignore them until morning and just know that my older two will be woken up for a few nights until twins get the idea that they need to put themselves back to sleep?

Maybe a little more of a weaning approach (like opening their door but not not going to their cribs or something)?

Not sure what to do. But I need to do something NOW because I'm not functioning very well and this is not good for the family!

Thanks,

Ava

 

:hug: What a tough situation. First off, I think, you and your husband should decide on what approach to take on this. :good: For me personally, at this age, if they aren't sick, I'd go in and tell them it's night time and that I won't be coming back until morning. They are old enough now where they can communicate if they need a drink or understand that you aren't going to keep on going in there.

Good luck. :hug:

 

Just want to let you know you are not alone. we are going through this right now as well. I was up so many times last night. Lorien has been waking 2-3 times a night for about 2 months now and Arwen just got a little cold last night so she was up several times. Dh and I are completely sleep deprived. I don't have any answers for you right now as I'm still not sure how dh and I are to approach this once we put our foot down and say, "That's it. No more."

 

We recently had a two week barfathon between the two of them and I was in and out of their bedrooms all night long and they got totally used to it. It continued way past their illness until I came out of my sleep-deprived haze and said "umm, isn't this why I sleep trained them when they were 7 months old?" I decided about 4 nights ago to cio again and they cried for, oh, about 2 minutes each time. That has continued since then. They wake up, cry for 1-2 minutes and then go back to sleep. If they were able to self soothe at all before they got into this stage, chances are it won't take much of a reminder at all to get them back to where they were.

Good luck.

 

I go through periods of this with Ainsley. I have had to tell her that Mommy and Daddy need to sleep too, and when you scream like that, it wakes us up and we think something is very wrong. You don't scream unless you are hurt or the house is on fire. Would you like it if I screamed at night and woke YOU up? If you want your blanket (that's what it usually is), you are a big girl and can put it on yourself. I put it on when you get in bed, and that is it. That usually curbs the night time screaming for a while.
Do they have a night light? That helps a bit, at least they can see enough to find their blankets and stuffed animals. Good luck, I feel for you, it's extremely irritating. If your DH insists that they should be soothed when they wake, well I would tell him HE can do it. Yes, I go to my children when they have a real problem, but I don't think they need to have their blankets put back on.