Thursday, January 8, 2009
HELP! I NEED SLEEP!
Let me give you a little history. Since October was born we have had sleep issues with her. She was born 8 weeks early. She was in the NICU for for weeks. When she went to sleep her heart would stop. In order to get her home she had to go a week without having any of these episodes. She finally did it and we got her home. We were scared and had her sleep with us. Well of course that started a bad habit. She would wake up about three times a night and have always woken up really early around 5:00 am. This summer I told the doctor that she does not sleep through the night and I didn't know what to do. He said it was because she slept with us. So, we moved her out of her bed. Spent a week with her crying all night, miserable. We finally realized she was afraid of the dark. So we would leave her light on all night. That seemed to work for a couple of months. Yea! we were so excited. Then David decided to go to night lights. This through her off. She would again wake up several times during the night and just cry. For some reason one night we had Dawson in there with her and she slept through the night again. So for the next few monts Dawson would slept with her. In November we decided Dawson needed to slept on the top bunk and not in her bed. She handled it pretty well. We gave her a big stuffed animal and she seemed to adjust pretty good. I was so excited thinking we had finally did it. Since we got back from Christmas she won't sleep. She stays up most of the night yelling or crying for us. I have tried the night light, leaving lights on and I have even given her Tylenol PM. Nothing works. I'm tired, irritable and I don't have any more ideas. I need help. Does anyone have anything new I haven't tried?
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6 comments:
You should call and talk to a pharmasist. I was at Walmart just two days ago and a lady came in asking for OTC sleep meds for her child. He told her that tylenol pm can sometimes give children the opposite effect, keeping them up. He took her over to the meds and gave her a recommendation. I couldn't hear the entire conversation, so I don't know what OTC she got, but I'm sure they can help you. I was only easedropping because Ethan has a hard time going to sleep many times.
Another idea, you could get her a flashlight and see if that helps her. My kids love it when they get to sleep with one.
Good luck with the sleeping. It can be so hard on a mom without sleep!
Ditto Dacia. I actually know of someone that has to give her kids some kind of special medication because they don't have enough of that hormone that allows you to feel tired... I forget what it is.. anyway. Also, I gave Annie Benadryl when she was a toddler, and she was FREAKING OUT, jumping off the walls, and going crazy... it just works different for her. Flashlights, rewards for sleeping through the night, prayer?? Rough. I feel for ya.
I was going to say benadryl, it totally works. If you give it to them up to an hour before it should kick in pretty good. Good luck!
Melatonin works. I've never heard of it not working because it is what your body makes to put you to sleep. You can get it over the counter, I'm not sure how easy it is to dose a little kid with the over the counter stuff, I do know that you can get a prescription for it from her doctor. My neighbor had to get one for her son when he started having nightmares everynight for weeks. It should work! Hopefully!
(Oh, and Tylenol PM is benadryl. It is just Tylenol and benedryl combined!)
I have also heard that melatonin works really well for kids and adults. I have never personally tried it, but my friend uses it all of the time for her kids and herself. Good luck with that. That is so hard to be a mom and not get any sleep.
I wish I could help, ever since we moved Cami comes into our bed about 2:00. I get about 3 good hours of sleep, nothing works for her either. Let me know if you figure something out.
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