What is "normal" night waking?

So DD2 has never been a great sleeper but things are getting worse and worse at night. She wakes about 3 - 4 times, which doesn't sound much at all, but once she wakes, it takes anywhere from one to three hours to get her back to sleep. We have tried multiple, multiple things to help her sleeping but nothing seems to make any difference?

Is this normal? If so, how do you manage on such a small amount of sleep yourself? She is seven months old this month, and because she is a twin, I am regularly having nights of two hours of broken sleep. Bloody exhausted.

TIA :)

:hug:
It must be extra hard with 2!
In my experience, yes, that is entirely normal. The only way to survive this is to bed-share and get whatever rest you can at other times - calling in any help you possibly can.
Both my kids woke 6+ times a night pretty much every night till they were over 18 months old. But I only had one at a time.

For reference, one-third of 4 year olds wake in the night and need help from a parent to go back to sleep.

Sounds normal to me too. Bed sharing and day naps were the only way I survived. I found my babies we through wakeful stages just before crawling and walking and then settled again. Also after I introduced solids.

It will pass, but you need to prioritize your own sleep and have a catchup session every weekend.

Yup, I had one of those. Not only regular wakings but long stretches awake. I just pulled his cot up against the side of my bed and if he would tolerate wriggling around in there I'd leave him, or I'd pull him out and know he was safe as the cot acting as the bed rail. Could never fully sleep while he was awake but at least managed to doze. I didn't cope with the exhaustion particularly well. But in hindsight I wish I'd just set aside many of the things I thought I 'should' be doing and just tried to rest and hang out with the kids as much as possible through the day instead of cleaning and doing activities and outings. Honestly, it drove me nuts and some nights I got really irate and would huff off for a while and leave DH to manage him. It's so tiring and you're less rational and tolerant at 3am. But I did try to remind myself that DDs sleep issues passed and this would too. And it did... eventually! By 11 months he was still waking but going back to sleep with a cuddle/boob about 95% of the time.

*hugs* with 2 it must be hard.
Spock is now 8 months..but was 7 months when we had that few weeks from hell where she would wake every hour and sometimes not settle for a couple of hours. she has gotten better, now i get 3 nights of 3-4 hr stretches with majority of the wake ups just needing a quick cuddle or some boob and she settles, to 1 night of hell.
maybe it is an age thing? I dont know, I still don't know what caused it for her, and what is still making her so restless at night. we tried a lot of different things, and none of them made an obvious difference...
so no real advice. but that it could be normal, and even if it is it WILL pass.
*hugs*

I could handle it if it wasn't for the multiple stretches of two hours awake per night. And she is not awake quietly either. If we leave her, she screams her lungs out but doesn't particularly want to be held/cuddled/fed either.

I'm sure her gp must think I'm the most paranoid mother because I've been so many times to get her checked cos she is so unsettled.

yea Spock did that. or if she was settled it was when she was on the boob. alot of nights on the couch.
only tips i have is everything ppl suggested for us. but eveb then i dont know what helped...cause it still happens just not every night

My five month old wakes a couple of times in the night, but really only needs a feed once. Otherwise I try to settle him by returning the dummy, if that doesn't work, patting and shushing, if that doesn't work, a cuddle (sometimes I get a burp which settles him) and as a last resort, the boob. The latter works 99% of the time. We have a very rare occasion when he decides he is a wake and wants to play - I just refuse to engage, make no eye contact, don't talk apart from sh... sh... , keep things dark and keep shushing, keep offering the boob, and eventually he'll drop off again.

You ask if this is 'normal', so I'm giving you my story of a better sleeper, just to let you know what is 'normal' for me. I guess it's really common to have a bad sleeper, but I guess if I were you I'd keep trying things to improve her sleeping, in order to improve life for you and therefore all of you. You don't mention what kind of things you have tried, so it's hard to suggest anything else...

Yeah, I think it is harder when they won't just go back to sleep. DD was like that, also. It got better as she got older, though. I think by 13-14 months she didn't do it any more.

Ummmm what have we tried? We always have minimal engagement during the night and in the dark. DH settling her rather than me, shushing, patting, cuddling, rocking, singing, won't take a dummy, feeding more during the day, dream feed, solids, more layers, less layers, wrapping, not wrapping, letting her have a bit if a grizzle ( escalates quickly), boob, water, nappy change, someone else taking her for the night, night light, no night light . . . not sure if I've missed anything

Massive hugs for you. My DS didn't sleep through until he was 11 months old compared to DD who started around 6 weeks. You just have to wait it out as best you can. I wish I had a brilliant "do this" success story for you but I don't. The only thing I can say is that once he started sleeping, I was so relieved and proud that I had waited it out and waited for him to be ready rather than go to controlled crying. That's just me though.

seen as you have tried everything on the list if none of it made a difference then do what you like best/works fir you.
thats what i did i figured well if it wont make a difference i might as well be comfortable.

how is your other girl?

Eliza is really good on the whole. V cruisy baby, generally goes from about 8 to 5 with the occasional grizzle. She was a bit bunged up last week so had a sore tum meaning her nights weren't flash but she is chirpier now.

7 months old? No sleep is normal at that age. Maybe half-hour long naps, maybe time where they'll only nap in your arms or being walked around in a pushchair if you're lucky.

I managed it with "this too shall pass" and thinking how fab my body was looking with all the extra exercise.

Liebling is 6 and still doesn't sleep through. Next time I'm just going to go with the "I like exercise" route as this doesn't pass.

Perhaps it's a reflux thing? DS4 was awake and just not happy for hours of a night. Cue Losec for undiagnosed reflux when he was 12 months and he turned into a great sleeper. We tried taking him off it about six months ago and the night waking started up again so he's back on it now. If not reflux maybe its food related? Like allergies/intolerances making her feel yuk? Sleep deprivation is cruel - for you and her :( Hope you find some answers soon xx