I have eighteen month old twin boys, as well as a 12 year old daughter and a 10 year old stepson. I am still nursing both twins, both in the night and the day.
One twin, we will call him M, has never been a great sleeper. We have two king sized beds in our bedroom, and with various arrangements of Mama, Dada, M and E, that has worked somewhat for us. Over time, a few times, M has woken up in the night and taken a long time to go back to sleep, but lately it has been happening more often, and it happened both of the last few nights. Up at 11, down at 3. Up at 10:30, down at 2. I spend part of his awake time trying to sleep, but he crawls on me, kicks me, and he especially likes to sit on my face and bounce up and down. He nurses for part of the time, but doesn't fall asleep. I am so tired (even on a good night I get woken up to nurse from 3 to 6 times) as a baseline that this is pushing me to the edge.
We have white noise on in the room. His diaper is fine. his jammies are cozy. He has a lovey tht he loves.
I usually bounce him on an exercise ball to fall asleep at bedtime (for naps he falls asleep at the breast) and in the night he falls asleep on the ball, but as soon as I get him to the bed, he wakes up and tries to sit on my face again. I am so tired I fall asleep on the ball.
My stepson has special needs, he has sensory integration dysfunction and emotional issues, and he is disturbed by loud noises. He is a sweetie when he is managed well, but one of the essential pieces of his management is a good night's sleep. At this point I would let M "cry-it-out," but there is no place to do that where he won't wake everyone up and make Dada's day at work exhausting, and disturb all the other kids, especially big brother. Also, if M cries enough, it gets E going and then nobody gets to sleep, ever.
Why is he waking up? Why won't he go back to sleep? Help, my sanity is crumbling. I get so exhausted that I get angry, and that is not like me, and it scares me.
Help, please.
One twin, we will call him M, has never been a great sleeper. We have two king sized beds in our bedroom, and with various arrangements of Mama, Dada, M and E, that has worked somewhat for us. Over time, a few times, M has woken up in the night and taken a long time to go back to sleep, but lately it has been happening more often, and it happened both of the last few nights. Up at 11, down at 3. Up at 10:30, down at 2. I spend part of his awake time trying to sleep, but he crawls on me, kicks me, and he especially likes to sit on my face and bounce up and down. He nurses for part of the time, but doesn't fall asleep. I am so tired (even on a good night I get woken up to nurse from 3 to 6 times) as a baseline that this is pushing me to the edge.
We have white noise on in the room. His diaper is fine. his jammies are cozy. He has a lovey tht he loves.
I usually bounce him on an exercise ball to fall asleep at bedtime (for naps he falls asleep at the breast) and in the night he falls asleep on the ball, but as soon as I get him to the bed, he wakes up and tries to sit on my face again. I am so tired I fall asleep on the ball.
My stepson has special needs, he has sensory integration dysfunction and emotional issues, and he is disturbed by loud noises. He is a sweetie when he is managed well, but one of the essential pieces of his management is a good night's sleep. At this point I would let M "cry-it-out," but there is no place to do that where he won't wake everyone up and make Dada's day at work exhausting, and disturb all the other kids, especially big brother. Also, if M cries enough, it gets E going and then nobody gets to sleep, ever.
Why is he waking up? Why won't he go back to sleep? Help, my sanity is crumbling. I get so exhausted that I get angry, and that is not like me, and it scares me.
Help, please.
