One Twin is Waking up in the Middle of Night (14 mths)

Help. I have twin boys and one wakes up screaming in the middle of the night. I used to go in and soothe him back to sleep so the other wouldn't wake up. Now he's waking his brother up. They won't soothe together and since they are 14 mnts, I really don't want to get them in the habbit of getting milk...though we tried that, still doesn't work. One night I tried letting him scream it out. His brother woke up on and off and they took turns crying for 2 hrs. Last night I tried again..but 3 hrs later he was still awake, he even got milk and tylenol. There isn't a pattern to his waking either. Sometimes 10, 1 or 3. Sometimes he's out in 15 min...sometimes never. I am really tired. I watch him fall back to sleep sometimes and he sometimes jumps in his sleep and then is awake. Please let me know what has worked for you? Ideally, I would like to have them just scream it out and be done.
I tried extra milk at night. I tried no afternoon nap. I tried extra hugs. They were sleeping perfectly and I have no idea was caused this. They have a set schedule, a nighttime schedule, a sound machine and humidifer, Blankies, Pacies, Stuff animals....Everything seems to be a temporary fix and I need a permanent. Please Help.

 

I have one DD who goes thru occasional night wakings. At around 15 months we had a lot because she was getting a bunch of teeth. I wish I had some tips for you, but like you I found some things worked some times. It was very exhausting. :hug: I hope this is short-lived for you.

 

I wish I had a magic trick for you to have him sleep thru again. I have found when ours wake in the middle of the night either it's due to teething or nightmares. It sounds like you have tried everything. I don't know if your little man might be teething and you might want to try Motrin, which lasts longer then Tylenol. I hope this is phase he gets through quickly and you all can be sleeping peacefully again. Lots of :hug: for you.

 

My boys started getting their molars around then and they are BIG! I started giving them Motrin before bed and that seemed to help. Other than that, there wasn't much I could do.

If you see no signs of molars (or teeth in general) I would probably call my pedi. She always has some kind of advice depending on how long this has been going on, it might be a sign of something. My Jake only STTN about 4-5 times a week. He usually wakes for his paci, but if he's up for more than a few mins it usually means he is getting sick or teething.

 

QUOTE(Leighann @ May 15 2009, 10:23 AM) [snapback]1314912[/snapback]
I have one DD who goes thru occasional night wakings. At around 15 months we had a lot because she was getting a bunch of teeth. I wish I had some tips for you, but like you I found some things worked some times. It was very exhausting. :hug: I hope this is short-lived for you.

Did you ever seperate yours when only one wakes? or do you just figure they have to get used to tuning the other out? It seems he can do a better job of tuning his brother out..but as soon as he sees me, then I have 2 up.

 

Mine got all their canines and all four molars between 14.5 and 15 months...they woke a lot during this time and it was very random.

Have you checked to see about any teeth coming in?

I've never separated mine and they still share a room (never shared a crib except when they were tiny) and they've mainly learned how to tune the other one out.

 

QUOTE(talk2jackie @ May 15 2009, 02:01 PM) [snapback]1315191[/snapback]
Did you ever seperate yours when only one wakes? or do you just figure they have to get used to tuning the other out? It seems he can do a better job of tuning his brother out..but as soon as he sees me, then I have 2 up.


Only recently have we set up a pnp in our bedroom and if one wakes up thats where she goes. Interestingly she almost always falls right back to sleep in there. Before that though DH or I would go in a shush, pat, etc and the other DD would sleep thru the whole thing.

 

One of mine just wakes in the middle of the night occasionally. When he does it's usually teething. Giving him motrin before bed helps. He's also very difficult to get back to sleep.
My other twin will wake at least 5 nights a week. I suspect it is nightmares because sometimes when we are exhausted we bring him to bed with us. He'll still scream some but appear to still be asleep and is hard to calm down, even with us next to him. I couldn't stand the thought of making him cry it out in his crib when their is a real problem, so he often ends up in bed with us.
Because I got tired of having two awake babies in the middle of the night, I have put their cribs in different rooms until they both consistently STTN.

 

The ped says she saw molars...but it's been like 6 wks..I don't see anything breaking through. I thought it could be a combo of teeth and nightmares, b/c he's so startled in his sleep...but I had read they didn't start until 18mths...more fun to come. I'm going to buy Motrin tonight. He is soooo content when he's next to me in bed...so part of me wonders if it's me he wants...then in that case we have to break the habit. If I sit in the corner of his crib he falls asleep, then "jumps" awake, crawls over to give me a hug an then trys to fall asleep again. I thank you all for your advice. There aren't any twin groups by me

 

How did you make out tonight? I hope everyone slept well!

 

QUOTE(talk2jackie @ May 15 2009, 02:01 PM) [snapback]1315191[/snapback]
Did you ever seperate yours when only one wakes? or do you just figure they have to get used to tuning the other out? It seems he can do a better job of tuning his brother out..but as soon as he sees me, then I have 2 up.


I frequently have one wake lately and most of the time then the other is up. Around here though giving milk to both kids gets them right back to bed. I bring them both to my bed and prop them on my comforter hand them bottles and as soon as they finish put them back to bed. I do give in and give them both milk because I really dread that the other wakes a while later and then I have to get up again. I find if I just give them milk then they sleep a really really long time after that. Its the same thing.... molars. They STTN some nights and then others they wake. Its the same as you too that there is no predicting if it will happen and the time is always different.