Here's the deal...we have a solid bedtime routine of dinner, play time while we clean up, baths, bottles and bed. They go to sleep like rockstars. That's not the issue, nor has it ever been. The issue is waking up!
We hit solid patches of sleep from 7:30ish-6ish and I think 'yes! They got it!', but it's followed by a period of wake ups at 12, 3 and 5! Ahhh!!! It always seems to be a reason for waking up. We had the great hand-foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2013 so they were both a mess and took a few days to get back into a solid sleep routine. Fine, I get it. Next up, molars so we have random wake ups. Those pop through and we're on a good routine again. We attempt a vacay in the mountains for a weekend and the babies are forced to share a room (how the heck do people have babies in the same room?!). Ella is having allergies (so we think) and is up screaming, thus waking up her brother. What we thought were allergies is actually a cold and now they both are congested and waking up. Seriously?!
I had a break down at 3:30 this week and said 'let them scream.' This is ridiculous. Ella was up at 12 crying and needed a paci. She was throwing a fit again at 3:30, but a paci/comfort wouldn't cut it. She wanted a bottle. No freaking way. They DO NOT need a bottle at 3:30 in the freaking morning at 14 months. So we let her cry. Of course she woke up her brother, who was then wanting a bottle and refusing to go back to sleep. Again, how in the heck does room sharing work? Ours are down the hall from one another and have sound machines but still manage to wake each other up!
We let them cry, but it didn't stop. There were breaks, but finally at about 4:15 we broke down and fed them a bottle so they would just go back to sleep!
I know sickness and teeth happen and sleep will get interrupted, but it seems like we have too many patches of waking up throughout the night.
I thought once we went down to one nap a day it would help. Maybe they just weren't tired enough at night? Well, we are on a solid one nap a day schedule and it hasn't made a bit of difference.
I feel like everyone else's babies sleep like little angels for 12 hours straight and ours are the only ones who go through periods of shitty sleep. Please tell me I'm not alone here... Does anyone else have this problem??
I don't know if they should still be getting up around 4-5 to eat, but they do. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. We've tried several things to get them to sleep, including letting them cry. They will cry and cry and wake up the other, so it is just easiest to feed them. They eat a ton of food during the day. Some meals I think they eat more then we do. They are great at eating, so I don't know how I could cram in any more calories.
They are on the skinny side, so maybe they just have fast metabolisms and can't make it 11-12 hours without eating? Maybe they are just awful sleepers and I am destined to walk around with bags under my eyes? Maybe we're doing something completely wrong?
When I get a solid night of sleep I find taking care of our Duo to be much more pleasant and easier. When I have a few nights of waking up every 2-3 hours (especially when its a night I worked and didn't get to bed until 12 to begin with), I turn into a horrible cranky mom and wife. I just need some damn sleep.
So, what's the answer? Sleep in the basement for a few nights and let them scream their heads off? Keep trucking along and hope the periods of solid sleep take over the crap nights? I don't know if there is something we can do or if this is who they are. I just want to sleep.
