WHY won't they sleep?! I am at my wits end :-(

[goldygirl1]

I have 20 month old twin boys, who have never been great at sleeping, but it could always be put down to sickness - tummy bugs, chronic ear infections, colds, etc.
Right now I have NO IDEA what on earth is going on with them! There is no visible symptoms just very irritable especially at night - squirming and wriggling and very obviously upset and waking up screaming.
I've tried pamol, ibuprofen, bonjela, and none of it makes the slightest difference.
I guess I'm hoping for some tiny minuscule chance that someone here has an answer, or at least maybe in the same boat or once was, will these children EVER just SLEEP!?
To put in perspective, when they are happy and well they sleep 7/8pm - 7am, now one of them wakes at 10pm and doesn't go back to sleep until 4am!!! Then is up for the day at 6.30am.

Sounds gross, but have you ruled out thread worms. The squirming might be a symptom.

Woops yes I forgot to add, yup tried that - I de-wormed them about 3 weeks ago, and that night they slept!! It was amazing! But that was it just that one night then back to 'normal'..

Are they in the same room? If so they could they be keeping each other awake? How long is their day time nap? If my dc has anything over 1.5 hrs a day or doesnt have a long enough gap between nap and bedtime, she wakes frequently at night. We have introduced a very calm bedtime routine but still having a problem with short night waking but it has improved.

Warning TMI ALERT if its worms, get rid of play doh and sand in sandpit. Could they be catching them from another child at nursery/playgroup/playground? Clean under fingernails/keep short, &vaseline on the bottom to catch the worms at night. Limit sugar intake too.

I feel your pain, I have 2 year old twins and one is a great sleeper and the other is the polar opposite! Nightmare.

Sorry if this is obvious but how do you know if your DC has worms? What are the symptoms (aside from seeing the worm itself).

Itchy bum and fidgeting - both at night. Horrid things

www.patient.co.uk/health/threadworms-leaflet

It might be worth repeating the dose after 2 weeks - worm medication can't kill the eggs. Did you treat the whole household and boilwash linen etc?

Thanks, it's so horrible even thinking about it. I think I may do a treatment and see if this helps.
OP - good luck with it all. I second shortening the nap, too much daytime sleep and mine stay awake for hours at night.

They are in the same room, but I don't think that's a problem as they sleep through each others cries.
I did treat the whole household for worms but I didn't do a thorough wash of the linen - I will give that a go this week as well as a second dose of worm treatment!
Thanks LovesYoungDream I will try your suggestions also!
Gah it's just so frustrating! Because they literally have NO other symptoms other than being very irritable/squirmy/distressed/etc and not sleeping well at all when I know that they can. I even took them to the doctors a week ago, who found nothing physically wrong and left me feeling like a worry-wart.

Their day nap is starting to get longer and longer the more they don't sleep at night. Sometimes they sleep for up to 3 hours. But even so, days that they only sleep for 1.5 hours they still sleep horribly at night

Hi,
we had this and it was an undiagnosed milk allergy. DS was up all night howling and crying (and so was I) for months - removed cow's milk under the guidance of a consultant paediatric allergist and within 6 weeks, he was like a different child and sleep improved dramatically! That was our experience - if there are any other symptoms of cows milk protein intolerance (wind, eczema, recurring ear infections, alternately diarrhoea/constipation, inconsolable crying, poor feeding, etc.) I'd advise asking for a referral. Good luck and hope you all get some sleep soon