help! he's not sleeping thru the night.

Hi. My name is Tracey and I am a new mum of Twins, Jade and Roman who are 8 3/4 months old. I am having difficulty with Roman of a night time. He wakes up during the night and is wide awake. He is hard to settle back down without making too much noise.(they share the same room). I have weaned him off his night feeds a few weeks ago, so I know that he can go through the night without his milk but after 2 hours of trying I give in and give him a small amount just so I can get some sleep. I wrap him which has worked beautifully uptil now. I cannot apply "control comforting/crying" because of his sister being in the same room. Jade sleeps all the way through, does not need wrapping and wakes up around 6 ish. Please has anyone any ideas on how to settle him without much fuss and crying.

HI
My name is Hayley, i'm a first time mum of Jai- 7 months had a similiar problem, a friend suggested a distraction so i bouught one of those ufo lamps which distracts him and he eventually falls back to sleep. Hope this helps. Hayley

give him a bath and than feed him so i hope it works let me know if it works .....

Hi, I'm Stacey and I am the mother of almost-one year old twin boys. We did the controlled crying with our boys about 4 months ago and it worked a treat. The one thing that amazes me most about it all is that if one baby is crying (sometimes even screaming!!), most of the time they don't disturb the other one. Other twin mums told me this but until I witnessed it with my own boys, I didn't see how it could be true - they've disturbed me so how can they not disturb the baby lying 1 metre away, but they don't. For your own sanity, don't try it out until you feel you are able to listen to him cry and be strong enough not to go to him straight away. It's tough but remind yourself that it's in everyones best interest in the long run - a well-rested and happy mummy means a happy family!! Good Luck. I hope I have been some help.

Hi Johanne. I have a routine of a night time where I feed my twins, bath them then they have a bottle just before bed. So I know that he is going down happy and content. Thanks anyway and sorry for the long wait on this reply.. Keep up the advice thou because you never know what might work.

Adelaide S.A 10mth twins

Hi Stacey. Wow two boys. I thought one was enough. Are yours just like little hurricanes too! Anyway I haven't tried control crying because of the thought of disturbing Jade but listerning to your advice I might just have to bite the bullet and give it a try. The only problem is that I wrap him up in a sheet and have done since he was born. He wriggles out during the night and this also disturbs him into waking and crying. Do you have any Idea on how to ween him out of being wrapped. Could this be the problem all along. Sorry this has taken so long to reply. Thanks for the help.

Tracey 10mth twins
Adelaide S.A.

Hi Tracey, Have you thought of buying a baby sleeping bag, you can get them from Big W. I was wrapping my little boy until he was about 10 months but he kept wiggling free and waking up, he also got to the stage he didn't like being wrapped but wouldn't go to sleep if he wasn't. Any to cut a long story short we bought a sleeping bag from Big W and have never looked backed he loves it and will go and get it for us when asked to and if he is tired and ready for bed before bed time he will grab it also. They have sleeves so that there arms are free and ours are all button up though I think you can get them with zips. Ours are wintery ones so we need to go and get some cotton summer ones. Good Luck!

Hi Piglet.
I finally got my son to sleep through the night by letting him cry it out. He went on for 55mins before his sister started to wake and cry. By that time we both had engough so I picked him up and gave him a long hug. From that time on he has slept for 10hours straight. It has been 4days since this happen and we are both happier for it. The only thing is that he still likes to be wrapped so I will go to Big W and buy some sleeping bags. Are they for babies these sleeping bags or do I have to get on older childs bag. Thanks so much for your help.
Cheers!!
Tracey twins 10mth

Hi Tracey

It seems that the crying for 55 minutes must of scared him, so hopefully he won;t do it again!

I also have the same problem with my son, 5 months, as he is sooooo dependant on his dummy.

He will fall asleep for a couple of hours, then wake and cry with his eyes closed, and mouth open, ready for the dummy to be put back in his mouth.

It is my fault that he has become like this, so now I'm paying for it by LACK OF SLEEP.

I want to try the controlled crying thing, but I'm not sure of how far to go. I guess it depends on the child.

Touch wood, Roman keeps on the right track, as I can imagine how hard it is with twins,a s I find it hard with 1 boy - who doesn't even crawl yet!!

Good luck and keep everyone updated

Hi Jackie. It did work on Roman for a few nights then he cried again for attention. I let him go on for 1/2 hour before picking him up. Since then he might sleep thu two nights in a row and then the next 3 he wakes up and wont go back to sleep.So after all of this I don't have much faith in this control crying thing or maybe I am doing something wrong?????? He use to like his dummy too but was never dependent on it. (I wish sometimes that he was and that's what the problem would be).
Anyway for your dilemna you might want to try and replace his dummy with a toy. Everytime he goes down for a sleep so does his toy with him. Well good luck and keep us posted.
Tracey and the twins

Hi Tracey

Good idea - I will definetly try the toy idea. I guess it can't hurt to give it a try.
But I might wait until his first teeth cut through as the last couple of nights have been an absolute nightmare for Nicholas, my husband and myself. He screams out in pain with his fingers and fist in his mouth and won't let me feel around on his gums. I fight with him to apply the teething gel so I end up appling it to his dummy which helps only half the time. Even panadol doesn't seem to do much. Oh well - it's all part of them growing up!

As for Roman, remember to be persistant (as I keep getting told!) and hopefully it will work out. AT least his doing it a couple of nights in a row - I bet you can't wait for this to extend to more than a few days in a row!!

Count your lucky stars that your daughter has been an angel and is sleeping through it all - she must give you hope that it actually will happen!

I'll try the toy idea in a week (hopefully his teething will be relieved by then) and I'll let you know.

Thanks

Hi Tracey, So sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Our boys were wrapped for what seemed like forever. We asked several people what to do about getting rid of the wraps and they all just said to gradually loosen them. That didn't seem to work for us, so we just ended up going 'cold turkey'. Our boys were belly sleepers (couldn't get them to sleep on their backs) and that helped a bit too cos they don't have the startle reflex as much. Maybe try not wrapping him during the day sleeps and see how he goes. I also suggest getting the BIG W sleeping bags (much cheaper than anywhere else). We had wintery ones and now the boys are into just t-shirt material ones. They are a size 1, so just get them from the kids section. So you had so-so succes with controlled crying??? I'm not sure what routine you're doing, but this is what worked for us (as suggested by Tresillians)- put them to bed wide awake and tell them 'goodnight' or whatever word you use, but keep it consistent. Leave the room don't go back in unless they have been crying for 10 minutes, then if you do have to go back in, just do the same routine over again. Don't pick them up and don't pat them back to sleep, cos that way they aren't learning to put themselves to sleep. Keep this up for about 45 minutes and if he's still awake then maybe you'll want to help him get to sleep by patting him off, but try not to pick him up. It can get quite tough, but since you have sort of tasted victory I'm sure you'll consider giving it a go. Even though we did it months ago we still have relapses occassionally and have to become 'strict' again to get things back the way we want them. Good luck and I hope this works for you.