Sleep

We are at a loss of what to do to get our little Tyke-man sleeping through the night!  He used to sleep like a champ, up until we went to Oregon on vacation back in June.  Ever since then he has hardly made it an entire night.  I'm exhausted, we're exhausted.  Tyke averages getting up 1-3 times a night!  If it's after 3 a.m. we just put him in bed with us.  He sleeps really good there, yay but nay!  He sleeps good, we don't.  I swore we would never start this habit but I have given in because I just want some sleep!  He usually will fall right to sleep once he's in bed with us.  The last few nights though he cannot get comfortable and toss and turns and squirms and headbutts us.  He's asleep and restless but can't get comfortable.  I imagine this all has something to do with his teeth trying to come in.

Dr. Fullmer once told us: put Tyke in his own room, he'll sleep better and so will you.  I disagree!  He slept better when he was in our room by our bedside!  Dr. Fullmer also told us: feed him lots before bed, stuff him!  He won't/can't over eat.  He'll sleep better.  I disagree!  We feed that boy so much food to the point where his tummy tight and he's shaking his head no.  After dinner time we get him bathed and ready for bed and quietly play for an hour or so.  He starts to get fussy so we make him a bottle and out he goes.  He sleeps so sound in our arms, or on the living room floor.  The minute we try to lay him down in his crib he pops right up and cries to be held.  I'm not complaining!  It's the best cuddling ever!  He'll snuggle for a good five minutes and then it's safe to lay him down.  This is the routine every night!  

Last night Tyke woke up just before two and was so wide awake there was no getting him back to sleep!  Chad and I both tried and nothing worked.  We fed him a 6 ounce bottle, I ended up nursing him some too, and within 20 minutes we changed THREE diapers!  Tyke was so restless and whiny that I finally told Chad to get some sleep and Tyke and I went out into the living room and turned on the cartoons.  Even there he couldn't relax.  I gave him a small dose of Tylenol thinking it must be his mouth bothering him and he seemed to calm down a little.  We threw a blanket out on the floor and layed and cuddled while watching cartoons.  Tyke finally crashed around 3:30 am and I was really hesitant to move him to his bed.  I didn't want to wake the beast!  I was able to though and he slept until 6 am and then was up and crying.

I, we, don't know what to do to help Tyke sleep better??  We could all use a good nights sleep, that's for sure.  I'm really hoping our little guy grows out of this stage soon, but I fear he won't.  Heck, it's been 5 months of this now already.  Any advice??