6 months still waking...

[Sunspot]

Twins are still waking 2-3 times during the night. Any suggestions? They go down between 6-7pm. We've tried letting the "cry-it-out" but they scream and scream. Could it be teeth? That they are now eating solids? (They are still being breast-fed) When do most kids not wake during the night?

[mjs64]

You're going to get lots of different responses here because there could be lots of different reasons and lots of different approaches. My suggestion is to read Ferber, ch. 4 and 6, as he covers a variety of reasons and approaches and his method--modified and consistent "CIO" solved the issue at 7 mo. But this approach is controversial, even though Ferber's method doesn't mean letting them cry for extended periods. Anyhow, referring to an "expert" text was really helpful for me. Weissbluth helped me figure out naps. Again, just what worked for us. Good luck!

[rin]

Er, this probably isn't what you want to hear, but my DD didn't start reliably sleeping through the night until 17-18 months. She's 19 months now, and still occasionally (1-2x week or so) wakes up during the night. She goes down at 7pm and sleeps until 7:30am or so.

She got so upset if we left her crying that she threw up (this was after about 5 minutes or so), so CIO wasn't an option for us. Sometimes one of us had to sleep with her. I generally ended up nursing her back to sleep, which wasn't my ideal but it was the best plan we could come up with that resulted in the most sleep for us as a family.

Do both your DC have similar sleep patterns? Is one of them a sounder sleeper than the other, or do they both tend to wake up at about the same times/in the same ways? Are they in the same room, and if so could one of them get moved into your bedroom at night so they don't wake one another?

[hellokitty]

It is very normal for babies that age to wake up at night. I don't know any that age who don't get up at least once.

[Melaine]

Also, don't forget to adjust for prematurity....unless your twins were lucky enough to be full-term, you do have to take that in to account when looking for milestones like STTN. I kept reminding myself that even though they were 6 months old, they were really only four months old, which sort of alters your expectations.

My girls were still waking twice a night until about a year, IIRC.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My boys were still waking up at much at that age. Growth spurts, physical milestones, teething, emotional milestones...so much interferes with sleep at that age. If they are just waking up for food an going back to sleep then I would just roll with it. Both boys I always find that sleep comes in phases- a few better weeks, a few bad weeks. Neither reliably slept through till 17m. Sorry!!

Beth

[DietCokeLover]

I think that's pretty normal. My DS woke up no less than 12 times per night until he was 11 months old. We were headed to the sleep clinic soon if that hadn't passed. But, DD didn't sleep through the night til 12 or 13 mos.

Hang in there!

[veronica]

We've never been able to recreate DD; EBF and sleeping from 7-7 by ten weeks....ODS had horrible reflux and woke very often. Once the reflux was under control with meds, he continuted to wake until 15 months.

Our twin boys are now 6.5 months old. One sleeps from 7-6 or so. The other will wake and we can adjust him to go back to sleep a couple of times. Eventually, he does want a bottle by 3a.m. or so , but he drinks less than the other twin during the day, and will purse his lips at the sight of food, so we are fine with feeding him!

good luck, I hope it eases for you.