Sleeping problems

My twins are teething like crazy right now. I haven't slept for more than 4 hours in over a week. I ruled out ear infections...the doctors said all the problems with sleep and eating and the constant screaming is most likely due to teeth. Okay. I get it....

While Jacob isn't great at dealing with it during the day he has not been up too many nights and when he wakes we give him a little tylenol and usually he goes back to sleep. But if Carter wakes up he wants nothing more to do with the crib. He wants us to get him and he absolutely will not go back into the crib without screaming. If I let him in there to scream, he will throw everything out of his crib and try to undress and screams for over an hour. He isn't a self-soother. He doesn't use a pacifier, doesn't have a lovey...nothing (which is the exact opposite of Jacob). He wants to sleep on me or my husband (usually me) Last night, he woke at 1:30 and fell back asleep by 2:00 on me. The second I tried to lay him down he was wide awake and screaming to be picked up. One of my problems with letting him cry is that he wakes everyone else in the house and we are in a row home and I know he can be heard next door.

What should I do? Let him scream? Let him sleep on me? Do you think it is temporary? I know that part of this is teeth related but another problem is that when he was born they did a Nissan surgery for reflux. He has a horrible time with gas because he can't burp. I know that sometimes when I get him from the crib he is having pain from gas bubbles. We give him mylicon almost every night. I am wondering if it is time to make an appointment with the surgeon to see if they would remove the nissan. About a year ago, I asked and they said they don't like to do another surgery and most kids just learn to deal with it. He doesn't seem to...

I am so tired....I would just like one night where I didn't have to get up with the boys. I went to bed at 8:30 last night so that I could make sure I got a few hours in before someone woke up. But I am not getting anything done. I have alot of work to do!!!!

Thanks for letting me vent...I needed it!

 

Here is how we got through the worst of teething. We used motrin at 4pm. Then at 10pm, we would give them more like a dream feed. That allowed them to be pain free from bed time until 4am. Usually they slept until 545/6am. Good luck.

 

Oh boy. Wish I had some great advice... Only thing I'd do is give them Motrin before they went down for the night and hope that would take "the edge off" and let them sleep.

As far as getting out of his crib, does he damand that when he is not teething? I'd dread the CIO method if we had close neighbors, but it does work for us after a few days...

Good luck! Keep going to bed early if you must!

 

I understand how you feel....we went through a VERY rough spell of teething from 6-8 months (our boys each got 8 teeth in those two months!). We did lots of tylenol (and/or motrin), and lots of sleeping with them on the couch, etc. Even so, some nights I think I got about 2 hours sleep.

Once all that was over, we did CIO and they now are pretty good sleepers. For now, I would do what you have to do so that everyone can get some sleep! I would also definitely see a surgeon to check on the medical issue. That might be the cause of a lot of the problems, and it's worth at least having it checked out.

 

I wouldn't do CIO if he is in physical pain. But once he isn't if he is still waking I would do CIO. I did it in an apartment. I KNOW my neighbors upstairs heard the boys. But I figured if it was a few days with no sleep would be better than them being up every night.

 

I was going to say that I always found motrin better than tylenol for teething because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Also, would he let you rub his back to calm him down instead of laying on you. I often have to do that with my DS after he wakes up. You could try that as an alternative to cio. Sometimes if mine aren't wanting to go back to sleep I will sit on the floor in their room and just tell them its ok and go to sleep every time they try to get up.

 

I think that if he is in pain, I wouldn't do CIO. I would do what you have been doing, as hard as it is. I also used Motrin, and found it worked better than Tylenol. I know I hated when the boys wanted to sleep on me... but knowing it is temporary, helps. They are changing all the time, so that may be what he needs now, but he may not need it in a week. Teething supposedly comes in waves. Take it day by day. You will survive this as hard as it is. I would also consult the doctor about getting the Nissan taken out. It's worth talking about it again.