Bedtime Troubles

Like I have said in previous posts, every time we have a few good nights of sleep the following are sure to be not so great. We took 2 steps forward and 5 steps back! Jackson slept completely through the night on Thursday and Saturday and the nights before and after that were pretty good. But last night was back to the newborn days. We have established a bedtime routine, which consists of bath, boob, bed. I am a very ritualistic person by nature, so we literally do everything the same order every night. However, some nights (like last night) I have a hard time getting Jackson to stay asleep.

He always nurses until he passes out, usually after 20 minutes. Then I am able to carry him to his crib and he's good to go. On the bad nights, he wakes back up as soon as you lay him down and either cries or is wide awake and eventually starts to cry for you to come get him out. The cry it out method doesn't work. I know, I know, some of you are probably thinking that he will eventually cry himself to sleep - my child does not, he's like a freak of nature. The harder he cries, the more awake he gets. I usually wait a little while, nurse him again until he falls back to sleep and we try again. When he wakes in the middle of the night, he eats and goes right back down. I don't understand (but am thankful) how the middle of night feedings goes so well, but the initial bedtime can be so hard?!?

Last night I went to lay him down in his crib at bedtime and he was instantly wide awake. It's like he takes a catnap when he's nursing and gets a burst of energy. I was completely exhausted so I laid down of the couch with him and we were both out within minutes. Mr. Wilson woke me up at 11 to come to bed. I went to bring Jackson to his crib and he woke up screaming. It has been a few hours since I nursed him, so I fed him again and he went to bed. Then around 2:30 he woke up screaming again. Mr. Wilson got up, changed him and tried to get him back down with no luck. So, Jackson ended up in bed with us until 6:30 this morning. I fed him and couldn't get him to go back down. He usually goes back down at least until 8:30.

What is your bedtime routine, has this happened to anyone else? Do you think this could be signs of teething? He hasn't had fever, but his chewing on his hands and drooling like crazy. Christine, my sitter, called and said he has been wanting to sleep a lot again today...