[vagabonder]

I am at my wits end here, partly because I have been sick for the past week and dd's new sleep patterns are making it impossible for me to get the rest I need to get better. Dd (12 months) has been waking in the middle of the night screaming crying. She has a couple teeth coming in, so I presume this is from teething. I then give her the Hyland's teething tablets and try to comfort her until they take effect. When she finally feels better, however, she decides that she has gotten her rest and that it is now time to play and will not go back to sleep for another two hours. She does not want to play independently at that point, either, so it is not like we can sleep through it. She wants to crawl all over us, give us kisses, and in general uses us as her "toys." I really cannot take much more of this, especially with me being sick right now.

Any suggestions how we can get through teething without the night wakings? What do you do when your LO wants to play in the middle of the night?

 

[LCBMAX]

Yeah, we are in the same boat at 10 months. What I do is try to rock, bounce or walk him back to sleep, rather than play. Usually, by the time he's decided it is playtime, there has already been so much nursing that the breast is of little use. Then the most reliable trick has been to get his favorite teething toy from the freezer (a baby toothbrush) and let him work on it while carrying him in the ergo on my front, pacing up and down a dark hall. When it falls to the floor I move to the bouncing ball where I slowly sneak the carrier off, bounce some more to make sure he's out, and then move him back to bed. It usually takes less than one hour, but not always, depends on how fast I figure out that he's about to move into play mode. The faster I make myself get up and really deal with things, the faster he goes back down. I hate pacing the cold night house, but I hate 2am playtime worse. I'll be thinking of you tonight when we get up...

 

[vagabonder]

Thank you so much for your support! I am so happy that last night she did not wake up from teething at all! She slept 13 hours and I finally got to catch up on some much needed rest. I will definitely try the ergo trick next time (if I can muster up the energy at 2 a.m.!). Good idea with the bouncing ball as well. I hope yours gets through teething soon!

 

[LCBMAX]

That always happens to me -- just when I am at my wits end, and I post to MDC, suddenly I get a break. Hooray!