Night wakings

Hello,

My DS and DD randomly waking during the night screaming crying. DS will not even search for his paci and often won't even be sitting up and DD will stand with her paci in her mouth and her kitty in her hand. We often let them cry for a few minutes before going to help. Lately we're having a terrible time getting them to go back to bed. They will calm down immediately when we hold them/rock them. Last Thursday night/Friday morning, I spent from 4am to 5:30am in my DD's room trying to get her to go back down. She wouldn't even get in her crib when she'd start screaming again. Finally at 5:30 I took her to bed with me which my DH and I don't want to get into the habit of doing. Neither one of us sleep well with co-sleepers and we don't want to develop that habit. Any suggestions about why they may waking at night and what we can do to get them back to sleep???

TIA!!!

 

Bad dreams? Separation Anxiety?

I like the book Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West aka The Sleep Lady. She does a modified CIO technique. We've never brought them to bed with us. I have enough sleep problems already.

 

My girls are 22months as well. Right now knock on wood we aren't having any problems. But about a month ago my one DD was up every night. You would try to put her in her crib after rocking for awhile and as soon as she realized where you were headed she would scream bloody murder. I brought her too with us in bed but like you REFUSE to get in that habit. So I brought a PNP in our room, put it in my large walkin closet closed the door and she was fine???? That only lasted a few times and then she didn't like that either. During this period I never thought it would end. I was so sleep deprived literally being up with her b/t 1 1/2 hours and 2 hours a night. But low and behold she got out of it. I think it is just a phase. I am sure it will re-show its ugly head at some point. I don't have any suggestions just sympathy and the knowledge that you aren't the only one.
Good luck!

 

Our boys are a couple of months older, but we've been dealing with this for over a month here. They haven't been good sleepers for a long time, but I had one ds who I could rely on to sleep through the night, and the other one would normally go back to sleep if I sat beside his crib and held his hand. After they both came down with the stomach flu, however, everything took a turn for the worse. Now they regularly wake up about 3-4 times a night each, and not always at the same time. Sometimes they'll go back down quickly, but other times I've been forced to give up and 'get up' for the day as early as 4am because I was worried that the one restless boy would wake up his brother!

So I have no advice for you, other than to say don't do what I've done. In my desperation for more sleep, I have started giving them sippy cups of milk when they wake up in the night. I know it's horrible for their teeth and habit-forming, but as a mom who nursed them back to sleep through night wakings for nearly 2 years, I didn't really know what else to do. The milk normally works like a charm, but I'm still getting up about 5 times a night to deal with them in some form or other.

Now, after a bad case of hayfever then a cold, they are finally healthy, and I'm determined to try to break them of this new, unhealthy habit. I have a feeling it will be a while before we all get some proper sleep again!