For nearly 10 months, the girls have been in a strict bedtime routine. Once they go upstairs to bed, they don’t go downstairs until the next morning. We stick to this rule rigidly...or we did until last night. ..

G has been having sleep problems on and off for the last week or so. She goes through phases where she sleeps brilliantly and phases where she’s an absolute nightmare. Her current phase is going to bed fairly peaceably at 6.30-7pm and waking up at 1am and staying awake (and angry) until about 4 or 5am, for no apparent reason.

Last night, she went to bed as usual and there were little rumblings on the monitor, nothing serious, for a few minutes. Dh was working late so I decided to have a bath. I was relaxing in the bubbles listening to 80s music when I heard a loud wail. I tensed. It stopped. I settled back into the water. A few seconds passed. Another wail. Longer this time. Argh. I waited for it to stop. It didn’t. Sighing, I drained the bath, got out and turned the radio off. The music had masked how loud the wailing actually was. It was a proper scream. I trundled upstairs to check on the girls. As I reached the top of the stairs, it stopped. I stood for a few seconds and listened to the silence. I turned around and walked back down the stairs. Before I reached the bottom, the wail started again. I went back up the stairs and walked into the nursery. The screaming stopped and was replaced by a quiet sob. The girls were both awake – R was lying facing G with a puzzled look on her face. G was lying on her back, breathing heavily and sobbing. Her face was swollen, red and wet with tears from crying and smeared with snot and dribble. Her eyes kept closing. She was utterly exhausted, but determined to stay awake. I stayed with her, rubbing her stomach and whispering soothing mutterings at her. I applied more teething gel to her newly-grown teeth and the surrounding gums. She seemed to settle, so I kissed her on the head, went over to R’s cot, did the same, tiptoed out of the room and closed the door behind me.

I didn’t even manage put a foot on the first stair before the screaming started again. Resolute, I went back downstairs and decided to leave her for a few minutes to see if she would settle herself. No chance. She merely ramped up the screaming so after 10 minutes I went back up. R was desperately trying to sleep but G’s noises were just too much and she was lying in her cot, chatting to herself. I like to think she was saying: ‘Please shut her up! I’m really tired and need my sleep!’. G was still wailing like a banshee. I went over to her cot and leaned over. She stopped for a brief moment, looked up at me and smiled. The little sod! I settled them both again and left the room. I made it most of the way down the stairs before the screaming started again.

This time, I marched back into the nursery, picked the hysterical G up and swept down the stairs with her in my arms. I sat her on my lap in the dining room. Miraculously, the screaming stopped. What are the chances?! I noticed that she was sucking her fingers and felt quite warm. I gave her some Calpol, which I hate doing because I feel like I’m drugging my babies but I’d run out of ideas.

Five minutes later, dh arrived home. He was (to put it mildly) surprised to see G. She was absolutely delighted to see him. The monkey. He gave her a quick cuddle, took her back upstairs and settled her in her cot again. This time, she stayed put with hardly a whimper.

Apart from a couple of short wails in the night, at 1am and 6am (the latter is quite normal anyway), she slept through. That, or we were so wiped out we didn’t hear her. I reckon she was really overtired, as she hadn’t napped particularly well during the day and that, added to the general teething woes, was enough to tip her (and me) over the edge.

Gah. In a really stupid way, I feel like a bit of a failure. I deal with bedtime and night-time every other week so I’m used to it and I usually manage it really well but last night I didn’t. I will resolve to do better tonight.